As the Dallas Observer points out, first in
this blog entry and then
this one, it turns out that Craig Watkins, the new district attorney, not only holds the justice system in unadulterated contempt, but also shows only the shakiest grasp of written English in expressing that contempt.
The Observer offers up
this cached page from his Web site (which disappeared after it began to attract media attention), in which he declares: "I enjoy manipulating the government," and "...it is my responsibility to put up every roadblock and to search every loophole and legal technicality to get you off."
Here's a sample of Watkins' manifesto from his law firm Web site:
My job as a Criminal Defense Attorney is not only to ensure that justice is
served, but also to vigorously defend you by any means necessary. I am not
concerned with whether or not you are guilty or innocent. My concern is to
hold the Government accountable for the offense for which they have
charged you with. Prosecutors are claiming that you committed a crime; it is
my responsibility to put up every roadblock and to search every loophole
and legal technicality to get you off.
I have devoted my legal career to defending citizens accused with criminal
activity. When a potential client calls me I get excited. I enjoy manipulating
the Government; most times the cases they bring against my clients are
weak and unsubstantiated.
Watkin's submission for a League of Women Voters election guide, available
here, is even more scintillating.
Watkins says:
. Craig Watkins founded his law firm in 1997 manage if you don't product results, you don't survive. As the owner of his own private law practice, Mr. Watkins understands that in order to maintain a successful practice, you have to produce results by consistently engaging business activities which exemplify excellence. In addition to a well runs law practice, Watkins' business has grown to include a thriving real estate title company.
In the same supplement, Watkins goes on to make some excellent points about the questionable efficacy of a simplistic, "tough on crime" mentality in law enforcement, and his prose isn't always as indecipherable as the above example. Still, Dallas voters have got to ask themselves, "What have we done?"
UPDATE:
Seems to be a consensus: this guy is great.
I thought there was enough here to be troubled.
Maybe I should provide more information to emphasize my point. Here's a little more about Mr. Watkins, from a pre-election story in the Dallas Morning News:
In the last six years, he's faced three different liens related to more than $100,000 in income tax disputes. The city also sued him for defaulting on a $20,000 mortgage loan from a nonprofit trust fund designed to improve South Dallas. County officials also had to threaten to sue him over a $7,000 debt, and several other businesses have sued him over an assortment of financial disputes.
...
Mr. Watkins' former bail bond business, Fair Park Bail Bonds, has also been the subject of a complaint to the county. According to documents released in response to a Texas Open Records Act request, a Red Oak woman accused Mr. Watkins of signing her up as a client for his law firm in 2004 when she only asked for a bail bond to get out of jail.
Investigators found six possible violations to the state code that governs how bail bond companies can operate. The formal complaint was never resolved because Mr. Watkins closed his bond company before it could be heard.
...
Mr. Watkins also employed Steven King, a 54-year-old convicted sex offender, at his bail bond company and in his defense practice. Mr. King served three years in prison in the 1980s for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl. He was initially given probation for that offense but was sent to prison five months later when he was accused of a new sex offense.
...
More recently, Mr. King was accused of impregnating a teenager he'd met as a youth minister in 2004 and of sexually assaulting a 26-year-old door-to-door saleswoman in May 2005. A criminal investigation into both cases began in late spring of 2005, and he is awaiting trial on those charges.
By most accounts Watkins didn't address these issues so much as deflect them during the campaign.
You know, I really, really hope that Watkins turns out to be a fabulous DA who reforms the county system and locks in Democratic control of the post for the forseeable future--but I can't shake the feeling that this guy is super shady.