Posted on 05/31/2010 12:17:35 PM PDT by anymouse
Thursday, June 3rd, Galveston County District Attorney Kurt Sistruck will meet face-to-face with his opponent, Jack Roady, in a debate organized by the combined police officer associations of Galveston County.
Question: Why? Why is the incumbent district attorney, who has heretofore been endorsed and supported by the very same police groups sponsoring this debate, being exposed to his challenger in a public forum like this?
It is no secret that law enforcement in general is disenchanted with Mr. Sistruck and are adamant in their opinions that he has not been supportive of law enforcement during his seven years in office. Of course, there will be some that disagree. There are many who hold the DA in high esteem and applaud his performance as the county's top law enforcement official. But there are those who do not.
In an apparent effort to counter expected adversity in the debate, Sistrunk purchased a large ad in his hometown newspaper which appeared Sunday listing 11 items he claims to his credit during his legal career.
One of the items is "Capital Murder Cases Tried" to which he answers YES. There is mention of how many of these cases were won or lost. For the record, there has not been a death penalty handed down by a jury in Galveston County in almost 20 years and there have been many horrendous murders tried in the county, Robert Durst and Baby Grace to mention two during the Sistrunk administration.
"Seeking Justice Demands Experience" proclaims Sistrunk's newspaper ad. His opponent suggests that his 10 years as a prosecutor and appellant lawyer in Harris County, the third largest county in the United States, equals Sistrunks 20-year in the Galveston DA's office.
Republican challenger Jack Roady has also been awarded the public endorsements of several police officer associations which have previously endorsed Sistrunk.
Police officers from the street cop to the chiefs office speak, off the record, of their displeasure with Sistrunk and each of them gives more than one reason.
For one, his staff is young and inexperienced and makes critical descisions in cases with no oversight. In other words, Sistrunk does not supervise his office sufficiently. This, say police, results in much of their hard work in criminal cases being wasted when it dies in the DA's office.
For another, on more than one occassion Sistrunk says one thing and does another. A case in point was the infamous H2O fiasco during Hurricane Ike when a bunch of drunks confronted police in a bar that was not even supposed to be open for business. Police officials say Sistrunk abandoned them after first promising to prosecute the offenders.
From our standpoint, The Police News has found Sistrunk to be personally inaccessible for interviews or questions. In a recent effort to speak to Sistrunk about the grand jury indictment of a Galveston police officer Sistrunk declined a personal interview, directing us to submit questions by email. Those questions, he said, would be referred to his assistant assigned to the case, then he would respond. He claimed that due to incidents of being misquoted in the press and the difficulty with retractions, he would no longer engage in one-on-one interviews. He did admit, however, that he has never been misquoted in The Police News.
The debate promises to be an interesting event beginning at 6pm, Thursday, June 3 in the ballroom of the Galveston Convention Center, 5700 Seawall Blvd. The public is invited and there is no charge for admission.
A panel of police officers from the various associations throughout the county will judge the debate. It will be moderated by an official with the Texas Municipal Police Association, the largest police association in Texas with which most area police officer associations are affiliated.
We have spoken with representatives of some police associations in the county which have yet to announce an endorsement in this race and been told they are withholding endorsement until after the debate.
Each participating police association has submitted three questions which will be posed to the candidates. Questions from the public may be submitted in writing to the moderator prior to the debate. If appropriate, the question will then be posed to the candidates.
Your questions following this commentary will be forwarded to event officials.
Candidates will be given three minutes to respond to each question. His opponent will be given two minutes to rebut.
Each candidate will give a four minute closing statement.
This event is being organized by the Galveston Municipal Police Association.
The current Galveston County District Attorney, Kurt Sistruck (D) flubbed the Durst murder trial because they couldn't find the victim's head. Numerous other errors have allowed criminals to walk or plead down to minor crimes.
Should be interesting to see local Law Enforcement grill Sistrunks for a change.
Galveston ping
Galveston County Conservative ping - from League City TX
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