Craig Watkins: The Man Who Would Be King

By Patrick Williams Wed., Nov. 27 2013 at 12:00 PM

Categories: Buzz

Every week, managing editor Patrick Williams disappears into his office and reemerges a cranky, anti-depressant-gobbling, third-person-referring superhero we like to call Buzz.

OK, people, listen up. Buzz can't believe we have to repeat this lesson, but apparently someone hasn't been paying attention. We're looking at you, Mr. Watkins, so please put away your comic book.

Now, class, can anyone complete this saying for Mr. Watkins' benefit? Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts ... How? Anyone?

Apparently Buzz wasn't the only one absolutely dismayed last week when Dallas District Attorney Craig Watkins' first assistant, Heath Harris, said he intends to challenge Darlene Ewing for chairmanship of the Dallas County Democratic Party. "Get ready for Boss Watkins," Dallas Morning News political writer Gromer Jeffers wrote in a column about the news. "Wary Democrats" are grumbling quietly -- that means anonymously -- that Watkins wants to take over county politics, Jeffers wrote.

Harris denied it, presumably straight-faced. Why, it's just a coincidence that a half dozen of Watkins' assistants are eyeing primary challenges to incumbent Dem judges, that Harris is gunning for Ewing and that Watkins' wife is a consultant who gets paid by judicial candidates. Machine? What machine?

When it comes to denying blindingly clear reality, the anti-evolution crowd could take a lesson from Watkins and friends.

Since local Democrats are too wary, Buzz phoned Wade Emmert, county GOP chair, to get him to state the obvious. "I think Craig Watkins is trying to take control of the entire party," Emmert said.

Well, no duh. But more important, Emmert suggested, is the fact that Watkins is making his power play in the judiciary, creating a judge-electing "machine where there are consequences when you don't kiss the ring."

But didn't Republican district attorneys used to do the same thing? No, Emmert countered. Guys like former District Attorney Bill Hill may have been politically influential, but they didn't try to control the Republican Party itself. Putting that much power in the hands of a prosecutor and electing a slate of judges beholden to him has scary implications for the judicial system, he said, and that's far more important than political infighting among Democrats.

Which is why maybe some of those wary Democrats need to start grumbling loudly. This is important stuff. Those guys in the courthouse can screw with real life. Yours.

Let's just hope our two-party system can put a check to overweening ambition. No, we don't mean Democrats and Republicans. We mean Democrats and Other Democrats.

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mcdallas

The real question: who does Watkins work for?

WhiteWhale

It is good to be king

kayo

So this is what happens when a splotch of royal blue drips onto the blood red fabric of Texas politics. (Sigh!) -- I guess soon the Dallas DA's office will belong to the GOP again, as well as these judicial appointments, then Dallas can resume the time honored Texas tradition of railroading innocent poor and / or minority folks into prison.

MargaretHuntHill

Nearly every lawyer and judge in the state and a majority of voters would like to remove state judges from partisan politics. The only people who don't want it are folks who recognize that such a move would severely reduce the county parties' budgets and who think that's a bad thing.

ThePosterFormerlyKnownasPaul topcommenter

But what does JWP have to say about this?

UnCoverUp_2

@mcdallas Absolutely. Watkins is just the most recent tool bought by crooked North Texas lawyers, like the BAM (Blue-Baron, Aldous and Malouf) Gang. Texas' congressional representatives need to demand that the DoJ/FBI investigate long-ignored complaints that some lawyers launder bribes to government-employed prosecutors and judges disguised as deferred investment and/or employment opportunities as quid pro quo for selective prosecution of enemies, selective non-prosecution of friends, and fraudulent judicial rulings.

scottindallas topcommenter

@kayo The difference, I take is that the GOP represents a machine where interests have venerable ties and influence, and represent a broader swath of the city's interests. Perhaps, the threat here is that CW would be in a unique position. But, you've hit on another truth. Even if what he describes is true, it will evolve with time, in-fighting and the like.

MaxNoDifference

@ThePosterFormerlyKnownasPaul He doesn't, as long as he gets his cut.

kayo

@scottindallas @kayo It just drives me crazy that when Democrats clasp just a small toe-hold on elective power here, they collapse into a pathetic frenzy of power-grabbing, infighting, etc. Where the DA's office is concerned, the real enemy are the politically ambitious, legal-rights challenged, exculpatory evidence hiding, Henry Wade inspired, right wingers eager to collect the scalps of anyone too poor to buy their way out of legal trouble in Dallas.