Associate Judge Meca Walker was more qualified and had far more lawyer support than John Schmude, yet Schmude won the primary runoff. Schmude had few funds but he had the ideas, the shared revulsion with how nutty aunt Bonnie is running her court and, most importantly, the support of the conservative, "right-to-life" crowd that still dominates Harris County GOP politics. Schmude was greatly boosted by the candidacy of local hero Dan Patrick for Lieutenant Governor. Walker also had to deal with the fact that she is not white and that is, in all frankness, a handicap in Republican primaries. Our primary system in Harris County, where voters cannot possibly know much about judicial candidates, is not designed to pick the "best and the brightest," although somehow it still occasionally manages to.
The amazing accomplishment of Mr. Schmude in winning his race should not be downplayed, however. Schmude was a lone champion for reform in the 247th when almost no lawyers would even talk to him. I am guessing he will suddenly have a lot of new "best friends" this week. Schmude will face Clinton "Chip" Wells this Fall.
Meca Walker's experience and talent should not go to waste and I hope she is hired as Associate Judge by one of the new judges who will take office in January.
Galveston County Analysis
Wilfried Schmitz may now regret spending $56,500 of his own funds on his race for the 306th Family District Court. I certainly hope Schmitz (and Griffin and Quintanilla and O'Brien who also lost) regret using the services of Lianne Russell as a political consultant because her vile and misleading campaign tactics did not fool Republican voters in the end. A Republican candidate would be very foolish to use Ms. Russell on future campaigns, given the many elected and influential local leaders who are highly disturbed by her tactics.
The few attorneys who supported Mr. Schmitz over Anne Darring should demand a refund. Genevieve McGarvey, Sondra Kaighen, Erin Groce, Dan Amerson, Allison Jones, Donne Leleux, and Dennis Slate all are hopefully sending Mrs. Darring their warmest and most sincere congratulations this morning (just like I am for Jack Ewing!).
Young Donny Quintanilla ran a great race and impressed a lot of folks. Quintanilla came so very close to winning the judgeship once held by his father and Donny clearly has a bright future in politics if he wants to run again in the future.
