Regarding your question concerning Ted Poe.
Rep. Poe was a long time State District Judge in Harris County. He was known as a hardline no nonsense Judge who used innovative sentencing. He ordered Domestic Abusers to wear "sandwich" type signs that read "I am an abuser" and stand outside the Courthouse. For one murderer, he ordered that a picture of his victem be placed on the wall of his cell so that he could contemplate his crime daily. There are so many examples of this type that they are too numerous to list.
As a Judge, he was the most popular Politician in Harris County and had no problem when he ran for Congress.
Thank you for providing info about Rep. Ted Poe, BnBlFlag. I'm not sure why GOP_Thug_Mom didn't want to answer my question, but I like having this info directly from FReepers who have known about his judicial and legislative careers.
This one was a bit amusing given the players:
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Judge puts foot down after lame excuse
Houston Chronicle, Apr 15, 1992
In a building where lame excuses are commonplace, Assistant District Attorney Johnny Sutton came up with a particularly unimpressive explanation of his tardiness in court this week.
""It's hard to get up in the morning,'' he told state District Judge Ted Poe.
""You think this is Holiday Inn?'' Poe demanded. ""You want a wake-up call?''
Poe held Sutton in contempt of court for being 15 minutes late. But instead of being jailed, Sutton was ordered to sit in the audience.
He spent Tuesday seated among 13 probationers, some of whose cases he prosecuted.