UPDATED Republican judges get postcards from the edge
By Alan Bernstein on April 24, 2009 at 2:28 PM
Eight of the nine family court judges in Harris County are Republicans, and at least some of them recently got a puzzling postcard in the mail — a postcard that also went to hundreds of lawyers who handle divorce cases and other matters in those courts.
It listed correct details about a campaign training institute that the local Republican Party is running Saturday in west Houston. But the details were topped by this phrase:
The Republican Party Needs Challengers for Incumbent Family Court Judges
Well! That may be the opinion of the person who sent the postcard — Republican contributor/activist/businessman James A. Baker, who is NOT the Houston-based Republican former secretary of state with the same name.
The other eight judgeships will be on the ballot in the March 2010 GOP primary and the November 2010 general election. And the primary ballot may include challengers against incumbents seeking renomination. But the party is not recruiting any and is not running the day-long campaign training session to help such people.
So said local GOP Chairman Jared Woodfill, who said he suspects Democratic tomfoolery is afoot in a try to drum up primary opposition for GOP judges.
But Baker said he sent the cards because, after seeing the court system work in his divorce and other cases, the GOP judges need to go.
Alan Bernstein