Let's go back to the past

Just what does it take for a bunch of Republicans to come off the golf course and stand in line to vote out an incumbent District Attorney?

Pat Lykos might just know the answer.

Showing that the forces of inertia can overcome any thought outside the box, Harris County Republicans told Ms. Lykos to pack her bags and to leave the front door open for former state district judge Mike Anderson.

For all her faults, Ms. Lykos did have the ability - and the willingness - to re-evaluate the way the Harris County District Attorney's Office went about its business. Under Ms. Lykos the DA's office stopped prosecuting so-called trace cases (for evidentiary purposes) and instituted DIVERT - an illegal program that allows a motorist to avoid a conviction on a first-time DWI case. Most importantly, for all her faults, she was a break from the "good ol' boy" network that ran the DA's office for decades.

With Mike Anderson there will be a return to the old days. What remains to be seen is whether that means prosecutors will be handed a bit of discretion and responsibility or that "office policy" will continue to rule the day.

I have a feeling that some folks who are jumping up and down on the tables right now will be singing a different tune four years from now. Not that I'm naming names or nothing like that.

In other contested races affecting the criminal courthouse, Robert Summerlin took the nod in the 174th over Joe Vinas and the wingnuts came out in force to give the nomination to Dan Patrick's son, Ryan, in the 177th over Antonio Benavides. But hey, what's the courthouse without an ideologue running the show?

Kristin Guiney will put the R behind her name in the race for the 179th and Renee Magee is officially the lesser of two evils by picking up the nod in the 337th over Jim Barr.

So I guess it's time to party like it's 2004 all over again.

But, just so we don't end on a bad note, voters up in Williamson County finally got fed up with John Bradley and his antics as they gave County Attorney Jana Duty the Republican nod. Karma can be such a bitch sometimes, can't it?