What is it about the jail?  According to the Austin American Statesman, our jail flunked an inspection on March 23rd.  Our Sheriffs sure have posted a fine record - failing 10 out of 22 jail inspections since 1995.  For you math challenged readers, that’s a 55% pass rate.  That’s a big, fat F- in any grade book.

The prior failures had to do with overcrowding and non-existent medical record-keeping and planning.  You can place the blame for overcrowding on Commissioner’s Court and past Sheriffs - who were penny-wise but dollar-foolish when it came to ignoring projecting increases in the inmate population.  You can place the blame for the medical mess on the same people for the same reasons.  Jails are the neglected step-children of local law enforcement.  Faster cars and bigger guns are sooooo much more fun.

Per the Sheriff’s spin, this latest jail oops is not a real failure - only a technical failure.  It seems the jail inspectors noticed a little light shining on the fire alarm control panel.  Oh, not to worry, said our local jail tenders, that little light has been shining since the jail was hit by lightning on March 9th.  If there had been a real fire, the alarm would have worked just fine.  So you see, it’s no real biggie it’s not working right - since the jail wasn’t overcrowded, jailers can find medical charts, and the floors were bright and shining.  Just like that little light which, to his credit, the Sheriff had fixed the very next day.

Guess you can still pass a jail inspection even if you don’t check the locks on the infirmary doors and some horny inmates have the run of the infirmary (Tie a Yellow Ribbon).  The Sheriff got a pass on that one on account of the six-month rule.  But, Sheriff James gets to keep this one all for hisself.

UPDATE:  The Austin American Statesman ran another article on Sheriff James the day after this posting went up.  Our Sheriff says he’s shaved $1.6 million from his expenses by streamlining jail operations.  He also wants to modernize communications, putting mobile data terminals in patrol cars, and hire more patrol officers.  All we can say is …it’s about time!   

Early Voting is next week - Monday - Friday. Here’s a link to the polling places. Like we’ve done told you before, you can vote in the runoff, even if you didn’t vote in the primary.

Voters in Precinct 4 will choose their representative to the Gang of Four on Commissioner’s Court (see Deja Vu). All the rest of us only get to vote on the lawyers running for the Court of Criminal Appeals Place 8 (see Shades of Grey) and Place 3 on the Third Court of Appeals (see Justice Between You and Me).

Early Voting is a great excuse to put off working on your taxes for a while. Sample ballots will be posted soon on the county elections site.

Senator Steve Ogden will guest at the Cedar Park Rotary Club breakfast at 7AM on Tuesday, March 28.  His comments at Saturday’s convention were truly insightful.  Here’s a chance for all y’all republicans who didn’t make it to the convention to hear his take on the issues facing the lege.  But first, you gotta call Jack Spillman and let him know you’re coming.

There’s a special session coming up April 17th.  Take this opportunity to let our State Senator know how you feel about school funding and school finance.  If you can’t make it Tuesday morning, here’s a link to his senate office info - he has phones and email.

The dance card to fill late Commissioner Tom McDaniel’s seat is filling up fast.  In a story last week in the Round Rock Leader, County Judge Doerfler related he was considering appointing one of the candidates who ran for the seat originally in the 2004 republican primary.

To refresh your memories, those candidates & their votes were:  Don Dison (1,384 - 13%), Tom Pilgrim (1,745 - 16%), Chris Logue (2,096 - 20%), Jeff Stockton (2,599 - 25%), and McDaniel (2,775 - 26%).  In the runoff, Stockton garnered 3,266 (44%) to McDaniel’s 4,413 (55%).

Doerfler’s appointee will serve only through the end of the year.  Each political party gets to name a candidate for the November ballot.  The winner gets to finish out McDaniel’s term.  It’s pretty much a given that our republican nominee will get the nod in November.  So, it’s up to the party executive committee to name the lucky nominee that will join the Gang of Four on Commissioner’s Court.  The dimocrats will name their losing candidate on April 13, the republicans will wait until May 4th.  The deadline is May 11th.

Rumors are rampant about who is jockeying for the republican pole position.  According to this week’s Round Rock Leader, losing  former District Clerk candidate Valerie Covey has now tossed her bonnet into the ring.  She denied running in honor of McDaniel’s service or to further his agenda, stating she feels she has “something to offer” in her own right.  Jarrell City Councilman Jeff Stockton is also looking for a shot at the seat.  Stockton told the Leader “I was interested in (the position) when I ran and I am interested in it now.”

Looks like McDaniel might actually get to rest in peace and the voters will be spared the sight of his specter along the campaign trail.

You probably thought you were safe from our nagging you about judicial races, didn’t you.  Well, here’s another one.  Bill Davidson and Will Wilson are still in the running for Place 3 on the 3rd Court of Appeals.  The winner gets the honor of beating dimocrat Diane Henson like a red-headed step-child in November.  Hey wait, Henson is red-headed you say?

Remember what we told you about appellate courts in our previous post (Shades of Grey)?  Well, this Court is different in that these judges get to rule on both criminal AND civil cases.  That means they get to tell EVERYBODY what to do.  Nice gig, huh?

If you’ve heard stories about the circuit ridin’ judges of the past - this is kinda what these candidates get to do.  They’ve had to cover the 24 counties that stretch from here to West Texas and back again to beg for your votes.  That’s a lot of shoe leather, rubber chicken, and babies to kiss.

Both are fine gentlemen and excellent trial attorneys.  Say what you will about trial attorneys, but trial experience is an absolute must for this particular bench.  Both are vehemently opposed to the judical practice known as legislating from the bench.  Davidson, 67, has near to 40 years experience lawyering, but is closer to that ageist mandatory retirement age.  At 56, Wilson has two decades or so to go before he would be forced off the bench and is the only candidate with both prosecutorial and judicial (municipal and civil) experience.

Get off your duffs and get to the polls.  These benches are way too important to let only two percent of voters decide who gets to sit in them.  If not, we will surely get the kind of justice we deserve.

Did you know about the republican runoff between Court of Criminal Appeals Place 8 candidates Charles Holcomb and Terry Keel?  Didn’t think so.

We can hear you whining now.  We don’t want to hear it.  Back in government class you might have learned what that particular court does.  We’ll refresh your memory.

Appellate courts rule on cases.  Yawn.  No biggie.  Well, get ready for this - through its’ rulings, this Court can direct our police, our prosecutors, and our judges on how to enforce and interpret the law.  It can even tell our legislators how to write the laws.

Do we have your attention, yet?

Charles Holcomb, the incumbent is a reputable judge who has served Texas well.  Too bad he is so old.  We don’t think he is old, but the State of Texas does.  Holcomb will to be forced to retire some 20 months into his term.  Then, the Governor will let you elect appoint a replacement.  Happy 75th Birthday Judge - don’t let the door hit you in the butt on your way out.

Terry Keel is the candidate who tried to use a hyper-legal technicality to get his opponents tossed off the ballot, guaranteeing his seat on the bench without any voter input.  The courts stepped in and overrode his attempt to steal take the bench.  Keel’s legal antics may be a harbinger of the type of jurist he would be - one willing to bend use the law to his own advantage, agenda, or purpose.

As former prosecutors, no doubt both argued many times about the need to send the community a message via a verdict.  We believe Texas voters should be scared care enough to send the candidates a message via their vote.

In case you’ve forgotten to mark your calendars, early voting for runoff primary elections is April 3 - 7, with the runoff election set for Tuesday, April 11th.  The great thing about runoff elections is that, even if you didn’t vote in the primary, you get to vote in the runoff.  Is that great or what??!!

We want to remind you of the runoff between republican Precinct 4 Commissioner candidates Gary Coe and Ron Morrison.  Hellllloooo out there - anybody home??  Pay some attention here.  This is YOUR representative to the Gang of Four known as Commmissioner’s Court.  You know, the folks that set the county budget, the folks that set YOUR TAX RATES, the folks that are responsible for our quality of life here.  These folks are supposed to listen to you.  Your loudest voice is your vote.  An itty bitty turnout means you’re barely whispering to these folks.

We know you’re going to be busy working on your income taxes come April 11th - so beat the rush and vote early. 

There is a REASON we call them dimocrats here in Wilco World.

Uberwhiner Chris Bell managed to amass a whopping 1,444 of 2,625 dimocrat votes cast here with absolutely no campaign presence.  Zip. Zero. None. Nada.  How in the heck did Rashad Jafee wind up with 146 votes - mindmelding with voters?  At least “Mothballs” Gammage had the grace to stick a few of his signs in the ground.  Not that it did him any good.

To top it all off, 107 of ‘em didn’t even bother to cast a vote in the governor’s race.  That’s right, 107 of our home-grown dimocrats thought the three stunk so much, they left the bubbles blank.  BLANK.  Bwah hah ha ha ha.  We are soooo going to Ring Your Bell come November.

Bless her heart, Melissa Beaudoin, 3rd place finisher for Precinct 2 Commissioner, is in the news again.

According to the Hill Country News, she has up and filed for Place 4 on the Cedar Park City council.  Her opponent is another 3rd place finisher, Glen Fine, who most recently tried to win the dimocrat county chair.  Apparently a perennial candidate, dimocrat Fine ran for the city council last year.  The other seats, Places 2 and 6, are uncontested and will be filled by Stephen Berry and Cobby Caputo, respectively.

It doesn’t take any psychic ability to predict Beaudoin will cake walk into the council seat, but she really should update her website sometime before the election on May 13th.

The real fisticuffs will be in the Mayor’s race - which pits incumbent Mayor Bob Lemon against Mayor Pro Tem Phil Duprey.  The roadhouse brawl has already started, with some hot words about the comings and goings - and the goings on - during some past administrations.  Look for lots more shootin’ from the lips between now and election day.  

Someone recently boasted that there is no way, no how any dimocrat could be elected to anything in Williamson County.  Seemed like a pretty safe assumption to us.  Then, we started thinking about assumptions and began pondering. We pondered some more, searched, researched, parsed, cussed, and discussed, and eventually worked our way to the conclusion that there is a race a dimocrat could win.  It wouldn’t be easy, but it could be done.  We said that we would pick on dimocrats - if we could find some - and we did!

The answer is right there in the election returns.  It’s the race for dimocrat county chair. 

We wondered why anyone in their right mind would want to be the “leader” of the dimocrats in the most republican of counties.  We can’t resist stating the obvious - if they were in their right minds, they sure wouldn’t be dimocrats.  We won’t resist stating that you can’t lead if nobody follows, either.  That said, we were amazed at the three-way fight that ended in a runoff.  Yep, a runoff.  The dimocrats get to slink back to the polls next month and vote for their “leader”.  Yee haw.  We’re going to sit back and watch this dimocrat goat rope.