Req Assistance On How to Effectively Lobby for Accountability for Elected Officials

[gamboolman]

ms gamboolgal and I request help from the Forum members please. Not sure if this is the right forum?

Now that I am retired and have the time, we want to effectively complain/lobbby to try and influence change in the Houston / Harris County government.

Regarding repeat/habitual criminals being released when they ought to be serving sentences and then committing crimes and sometimes murder, etc.

• What and how can we complain / lobby to hold Mayors, District Attorneys and Judges accountable for these types of behaviors?

We have written Mayor Turner and the responses are the same – “not my fault”, etc.

Please see email and response to/from Mayor Turner for review and reference below.

When we were living and working in New Orleans many years ago, we did the same thing and got the same type of non responses from the New Orleans Mayor, Chamber of Commerce and Police Department.

We are lifetime members of the NRA, Texas State Rife Association and Gun Owners of America and we do contribute monies. But we want to do more to bring about change.

Feels like we are pushing a wet rope....

Thank you for any advice and assistance.

gamboolman...

Text of email to/from Mayor Turner follows:

6-Jan-22
Hello, xxx and xxx.

As we indicated to you back in September, Mayor Turner does not control the judges or the courts, nor does he set bail amounts; these offices and actions are not under his operational authority but that of Harris County, which is a separate entity from the City and one over which we do not have purview.

Best,
Correspondence & Constituent Services Division
Office of Mayor Sylvester Turner | City of Houston
O: (832) 393-1000 | F: (832) 393-1084

From: xxxx
Sent: Tuesday, December 28, 2021 4:21 PM
To: COH - Mayor <mayor@houstontx.gov>
Subject: 302086-O/S 28-Dec-21 Harris County Releasing Criminals Out On Bond - Resulting in Crime and Murders

[Message Came from Outside the City of Houston Mail System]
Mayor Turner,

What is your response to these Criminals in Harris County being let out on Bond and then committing more crimes including Murder?

You are the Mayor. Why do you allow this to go on?

Please advise your position and planned Actions or Inactions to address this.


Excerpt from linked articles:

“A report by Houston’s FOX26 claims over 150 people have been killed by suspects whom Democrat judges have released on bond in Harris County, Texas.”


https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021 ... county-tx/

https://www.fox26houston.com/news/37-ye ... g-burglary


Regards, xxxx

[srothstein]

Well, Mayor Turner is right in that generally he has no authority over the D.A. or judges in Texas. There may be things he can do, but it takes some investigation on your part.

First, you have to investigate and find out who runs the magistrate's office. When a person is arrested in Texas, they must be taken before a magistrate within 48 hours (I think). In my county the Justices of the Peace take turns as magistrate on call for this duty. In San Antonio, city magistrates (judges of the city court) serve this function for the whole county. I would be comfortable betting that the city and county have some agreement on how to share this function because the county has no way to hire judges like the city does (county judges are all elected and the position must be authorized in the law). If the city is performing this function, then the mayor CAN control this part, at least in part. The reason I point this out is that this initial hearing is when the first bond is set for each case. The district court judge may override it later, but the magistrate will set it at first.

If it is just the county doing it, then lobby with the county judge (head of the commissioner's court - the a trial judge) and commissioners. They can issue orders to the judges that they hired even if they cannot control the elected judges.

The D.A. is an elected official, as are the Sheriff, the various county court-at-law judges, and the district court judges. If a judge is violating the law or committing ethical violations, the state bar and the state supreme court supervise them and can take action. That will require you filing a formal complaint against the judge though, and it must allege either a crime or an ethical violation. Unfortunately, setting low bail or no bail is legal and ethical, though it is clearly, IMO, showing poor judgement.

The sheriff may be another person to look into lobbying. If a judge orders a personal recognizance bond or sets an absurdly low bond amount, there is not much the sheriff can do, but if the actual bond amounts are reasonable, the sheriff's office is who processes the bond request for PR release. His policies on this may be critical.

And finally, remember that the people controlling the money can always control the actions of the people receiving the money. The budget for the sheriff's office and the D.A.'s office both come from the county commissioner's court. Lobby them to cut the budget if the behavior doesn't change.

You can also lobby the state legislature and governor for legal changes to the bail system. I am confident that Abbott would take action if presented with a reasonable plan. He would do so just because it is a Democrat run county and he is a Republican, but he would also do it because it is right. Along those lines, you should be able to get help from the local Republican party.

Also, make sure you come up with a plan you can suggest. I support bail reform because our current system has been abused and that should be corrected. But doing away with bail is not reform and is just as bad a form of abuse. I have not worked out all the details of what I want, but I generally think bond should be based on a combination of the severity of the offense, the suspect's income, the suspect's ties to the area (family, job, etc.), and the suspect's prior criminal record. Requiring a bond of $1,000,000 for most offenses would ensure I stayed in jail until the trial, which is abuse. But requiring the same amount for Bill Gates would do nothing to ensure he showed up for trial. And I would support denying bail for anyone who is arrested for or has a record of skipping out on his bond. I would also support denying bond for a person committing a second serious offense while out on bond, but I am a little more hesitant on that since the purpose of bail is not to stop crime, just to ensure the person shows up for trial.

[gamboolman]

srothstein

Thank you for the prompt reply and the excellent response and advice, and for me - education !

We'll be studying and digesting on all that for a good bit. Again - thank you very much !

gamboolman...