420th District Judge

In the voter's guide published in today's Sentinel, incumbent Republican District Judge Ed Klein said he can say "without hesitation" that he is the most experienced, best-trained and best-qualified candidate for the office.

We can say, without hesitation, that what he says is true.

Prior to being appointed to the newly-created court in 2003, Klein had extensive courtroom and appellate experience as a prosecutor, both here in Nacogdoches as district attorney and previous to that, as a prosecutor in Harris County.

His Democratic challenger, David Rankin, says that being a registered professional engineer, in addition to being a practicing attorney, gives him the unique ability to analyze scientific evidence to "ensure that everyone gets a fair shake unhindered by the gamesmanship surrounding the misuse of scientific evidence."

While there's no arguing that it is a unique ability, it could be argued that it's an ability which would have limited use in cases handled by the 420th court. And while his goal to expand the type of cases the court handles is a noble one, we're not sure that would be possible. It's already a challenge for the court to handle criminal and family law cases. Adding other types of civil cases to the court's workload would likely mean a longer wait in the disposition of criminal and family court cases. If these "other types of cases" are being adequately handled outside the 420th court, we don't see any advantage to adding them to this one.

Ed Klein has done a good job as district judge. He should keep it.

County Attorney

Incumbent Jeff Davis is not seeking re-election, so neither candidate — Democrat David J. Guillory or Republican John Fleming — have experience in that office. Both attorneys are about evenly matched in courtroom experience. Fleming has been in private practice in Nacogdoches since 1994, handling family law and criminal cases. Guillory has served as a prosecutor for the Texas Commission on Human Rights and the Texas Department of Public safety. He's also tried numerous civil cases in state and federal courts.

The office of county attorney, which includes two assistant prosecutors and investigators, is charged with prosecuting misdemeanor offenses, among them driving while intoxicated, assault, theft under $1,500, burglary of a motor vehicle and possession of marijuana under four ounces. Additionally, the county attorney files applications for protective orders and represents the Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services when a child is removed from a home on allegations of child abuse.

As Fleming pointed out in his comments published in today's voter's guide, approximately 12,000 cases were filed last year, and that doesn't include child protective services cases.

He and Guillory agree that the case load is only likely to increase in the future, which is likely to exacerbate the current backlog of cases awaiting disposition. Both agree that managing the case load in order to prevent or eliminate a backlog will be one of the primary challenges facing that office in the future.

But while Guillory embraced the recommendations offered by a study by the justice department, conducted at the request of County Judge Joe English in an attempt to find a solution to jail overcrowding, Fleming questioned the worth of recommendations made by "outsiders."

Fleming said that he has never heard anyone connected with Nacogdoches' judicial system complain about its functionality. Any backlog experienced by the county attorney's office, he attributed to Davis' aggressive prosecution of DWI's and reluctance to plea bargain. His intent, if elected, would be to manage the office as capably as Jeff Davis has done during his tenure, and with the same level of diligence and impartiality.

Guillory doesn't dispute Davis' ability as a prosecutor, but he believes that the office could benefit from some of the recommendations suggested by the justice department report.

That's our opinion as well, which is why we are endorsing Guillory.

While there's nothing wrong with wanting to carry on with tradition, there's also nothing wrong with wanting to build or improve upon it.

Changing for the sake of change isn't progress, but then, neither is refusing to consider it. Neither is refusing to accept that Nacogdoches County might benefit from knowledge or expertise offered by an "outsider." That would be the case, even if our judicial system was the standard to which all others should aspire.

Our belief is that there's always room for improvement. That's why we're supporting David Guillory.