What's in a name?

March 2nd proved to be an interesting day in local judicial politics.  Among other things, it marked the first election contest for the newly-created 432nd District Court.  It also marked the end for the recently-appointed judge, Ruben Gonzalez.

As you'll recall from here, the legislature created a new court for Tarrant County, and Ruben Gonzalez, a local defense attorney and former prosecutor with the D.A.'s office, was appointed to the bench by Governor Perry.  When the primary season arose, Judge Gonzalez quickly faced an opponent in the Republican Primary.  Longtime defense attorney and family law attorney Tom Zachry entered the race against Judge Gonzalez playing the experience card.  

Personally, I thought Judge Gonzalez would eek out a close win in the primary.  He was, after all, the incumbent appointed by a very popular governor.  Based on the campaigns of both men, it didn't seem to be close.  Gonzalez had not only been very active in local politics for years, but seemed to outspend Zachry on the campaign trail by at least 10-to-1.  At least that's my informal guess.  (I saw Gonzalez signs and material everywhere; I saw one Zachry sign go up and come down the same day.)

Yet despite the campaigning, Judge Gonzalez lost.  Big.  As in by 20 points.  

Now whether it was a result of voters choosing experience over incumbency, Gonzalez' repeated gaffes during his brief term (75 years for a case without a dead body?  Really?), or something else, the result was a brief term as judge for Gonzalez and a newly-elected Tom Zachry taking over the 432nd District  Court.

But it's really the "something else" that is potentially intriguing.  In a recent article in the Star-Telegram, the issue of race playing a big role in the recent Republican primary for Railroad Commissioner was discussed.  Essentially, the idea was that the incumbent that was supported by the governor lost because of his Hispanic last name.  His conclusion is based on the perception that he was not only highly-qualified, but also the incumbent, as well as endorsed by the governor himself.  Not only that, but all of the so-called political experts saw nothing but an easy win for him.  

In the article, he basically claims that voters would vote for a caucasian-named candidate at the expense of the potentially more-qualified Hispanic-named candidate.  I think it's an oversimplification, but an interesting point.  Especially in light of the race for the 432nd bench.

From an experience perspective, it's really hard to argue that either Judge Gonzalez or Judge-elect Zachry don't each possess enough experience to be a felony court judge.  Or, I suppose, don't possess enough.  Yet they each handled criminal cases for over a decade.  They seemed to be thought of as competent by their peers.  So what explains the twenty point loss by Judge Gonzalez?  Is it really his last name?

The morning after the election, I literally received at least a dozen phone calls and emails wondering how much race had to do with that election.  I have a hard time believing that was a major contributor to the results, but in the face of everything else (more, perhaps better campaigning by Gonzalez, incumbency, recency of appointment by the governor), you have to wonder.

Perhaps my hesitation has to do with the fact that there is already one Hispanic misdemeanor judge and two African-American felony court judges.  But the cynic in me says there is nothing about their names on the ballot (Nekhom, Salvant, or Sturns) that would cause a voter a moment of pause.

So the question comes down to did Tarrant County Republicans really unseat a sitting district court judge just because his last name is Gonzalez?  I have a hard time believing it.  While I would like to chalk it up to the issues Judge Gonzalez had during his brief term (should a sitting judge really have a campaign picture of him standing in front of law enforcement officials?  So much for fair and impartial I guess), I still can't get over the fact that Zachry seemed to do very little on the campaign trail.  

But in the end, the good Republican voters of Tarrant County had the opportunity to elect its first Hispanic felony court district judge.  They didn't.  Was it a conscious decision, or something else?  Good question.  We, as local Republicans, may have lost an opportunity.

But what the hell do I know?

Comments

[Joseph Marchelewski]

Have you talked to anyone that voted against Gonzalez and asked why?

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