Fort Worth Star-Telegram And Dallas Morning News Both Endorse Sam Houston For Attorney General

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram is a conservative newspaper that loves to endorse Republicans for statewide office in Texas. But even they can't stomach the criminal nominated for Attorney General by the Republican Party this year. So (albeit grudgingly) they have officially endorsed Democrat Sam Houston (pictured) for that office. Here is what their editorial board wrote in making the endorsement:

There is no great candidate in the race for Texas attorney general.

The Republican nominee, lawyer and state Sen. Ken Paxton of McKinney, is undeserving of consideration.

Paxton was fined $1,000 and still may face a felony investigation.

In May, state securities regulators found  Paxton sent clients to an investment firm without registering or disclosing his own paid role.

It happened three times. A 2012 violation is within the five-year statute of limitations.

Paxton should know better.

No candidate to lead “the people’s law firm” should ever have misled a client, a state board or the people of Texas.

The Democratic Party candidate, Houston civil litigation lawyer Sam Houston, is running his second campaign.

Using “Sam” instead of his professional name, Samuel A. Houston, he drew more votes than any other Texas Democrat in a losing 2008 Supreme Court race.

Houston has practiced law for 26 years. He describes his practice as litigation representing doctors, lawyers and mortgage companies. He is board-certified in personal injury trial law.

Houston says many of the right things about the Texas attorney general’s office, which is basically a big civil law firm. He says the position became too political and should return to operating an efficient, even-handed law office.

In particular, he expressed concern about the office withholding public records.

Houston said he will fulfill the attorney general’s obligation to defend state law in court whether he agrees or disagrees with it, reassuring voters concerned about whether a Democrat would defend Texas abortion laws or marriage restrictions.

Libertarian candidate Jamie Balagia of San Antonio, a criminal defense attorney and former police officer, takes the conservative position on many issues and might pose an alternative for liberty-minded Republicans. However, he focuses mostly on decriminalizing marijuana.

No matter how this election turns out, the district attorneys in Travis and other counties should decide as soon as possible whether to investigate Paxton or bring a case to a grand jury.

Houston presents an adequate résumé in a thin field.

The  Star-Telegram Editorial Board recommends  Sam Houston for attorney general.

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The Dallas Morning News, another conservative newspaper has now followed suit, writing:

Serious legal issues dogging Republican state Sen. Ken Paxton should rule him out for consideration to be the next attorney general of Texas. It’s fortunate for voters that there’s a solid alternative in a Houston attorney whose name isn’t easy to forget.

Career litigator Sam Houston, a Democrat, is making his second run for office, having been on the ballot in 2008 in an unsuccessful run for the Supreme Court of Texas.

This newspaper recommended Houston for office then and recommends him now, on the strength of his legal experience and ideas for the office.

Paxton’s impaired candidacy stems from his written admission that he broke state law by failing to register with the State Securities Board even though he solicited paying clients for a financial services firm that paid him a 30 percent cut. It wasn’t a one-time slipup on Paxton’s part. The Securities Board’s civil complaint against him cites solicitations from 2004, 2005 and 2012.

As if to make the situation vanish, Paxton, 51, a veteran lawmaker from McKinney, declined to contest the disciplinary order and paid a $1,000 fine in May. But the matter lives on. A complaint has been filed with the Travis County district attorney’s office, which has postponed any decision on taking the matter to a grand jury until after the election. That raises the possibility of felony charges against a sitting attorney general, the state’s chief law enforcement officer. Voters should not invite that kind of embarrassment for Texas.

Houston, 51, is a partner in a law firm with experience on both ends of a lawsuit. He has a clear-eyed view of the attorney general’s office and its core function as the state’s chief legal counsel.

As such, Houston said he would bring the art of mediation to bear more often, saving the state considerable legal costs that could be spent better elsewhere.

Houston makes one commitment, in the wake of the chemical disaster in West: He would override the attorney general’s recent ruling that allowed the State Department of Health Services to withhold records on dangerous chemicals stored by Texas businesses. That ruling relied on a portion of the Texas Homeland Security Act, which intended to keep potential explosives out of the hands of terrorists.

Houston criticized the ruling as unnecessarily restrictive on release of information, based on vague notions of how how certain substances could be used. He said other sections of law are clear on the public’s right of access to government documents. In the same vein, Houston said the attorney general erred in barring release of records on grant requests from the Texas Enterprise Fund, administered by the governor’s office.

Defending the Texas Open Records Act is another core duty of the attorney general’s office. Houston’s zeal for government transparency shows he has the right stuff for that important part of the job.

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/10/07/6182493/sam-houston-for-attorney-general.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy