I recently saw a profile on Jennifer Woodall and why she is running for JP-1. She is so misguided on what she knows and what she thinks she knows.
She wants unquestionable integrity, meaning integrity cannot be bought, coerced, or persuaded, your words. She is talking about the manner that the 5 members on commissioner’s court selected Carlos Chavez. It is bold to say those 5 people were bought, coerced, etc. These are the same people that would approve your budget every year.
You are glad to accept the endorsement of the ECRP. Yet you say you are a constitutionalist. You are in conflict because you do not believe in free elections by the people in the primary. You want the ECRP to pick and choose without a vote. Woodall says there are complaints about how long cases go to court. Eviction cases have to be heard between 10 to 20 days set by the Texas Property Code. Generally done once a week. Civil cases have a minimum 45 day delay after the defendant files the required answer, again this is in accordance with civil procedure. Before that the plaintiff must get the defendant served with a “citation” before the clock starts running, this could take months.
Only then can a court date be set with both parties. A person with a traffic ticket must appear by a due date and request a trial by jury of judge, a date is set with the prosecutor. Jennifer as you can see there are rules that must be followed, just not your whim on how it should be done. When I left, I was caught up. You want openness and transparency, who is the District Judge who said some cases were 12 years old. If you cannot say then it is just barn yard poop. You cite your administrative experience and lack of by Judge Chavez. Carlos Chavez was a seasoned police officer, a supervisory sergeant responsible for investigating crimes, dealing with real victims.
You cannot match his 30 plus years experience and then call into question his ability. Nor will you ever see the conflict resolutions he dealt with as an officer and now as a judge. You say you want to get to know the story of those that come before you, you want to chat. It is a violation of the Canon of Ethics to have exparte communications with either party to a case. A judge is an arbitrator of the facts, neutral, not a den mother.
One side will be happy and the other side mad because of your decision.
You want to make Pct. 1 the top precinct in the county in terms of efficiency. This is not a contest, it is about justice, serving the public, you will not get a gold star.
Each precinct has its own geographical identity unique to it self, there is no measurement.
In closing, in my last election against Steve Brennan he got 23% of the vote, or 77% of the people did not want you to be their judge. Neither did the commissioner’s court when they appointed Judge Carlos Chavez.
Former JP Terry Lange
