Surprise

Philip R. Klein's racism is again evident in his latest posting on the SET Political Review

Welcome to the new Jefferson County? Where the black democrats now have found a voice?

Oh yes - sources close to the Jefferson County Democratic Party tell the Review that Marsha Normand is now the front runner to replace John Stevens as the next judge on the bench. The surprise move came in the last meeting of the executive committee - who wants a "black judge" on the bench. There is only one other on the district court level.

As you can assume - this brought some question into who is running the executive committee - which in the past has been held tight by the gang of seven and Gilbert Adams himself.

So we called around about Marsha Normand - because frankly she was not even on our radar screen.

Philip professes ignorance about Normand, but I seriously doubt whether anything is on Philip's "radar screen" beyond the nearest all-you-can-eat buffet.  Klein apparently slept through the primary elections of 2006, when Judge Stevens won his seat in a run-off election against Marsha Normand.

After Charles Carver retired, several candidates ran for the position, with John Stevens and Marsha Normand leading the pack. In the primaries, Marsha Normand won the popular vote with 8,478 votes, while Judge Stevens ran a close second with 7,946 votes. Stevens came back to win the runoff election with 7,602 votes over Normand's 6,188 votes. 

Since Klein missed the 2006 primaries, he's obviously not aware that Normand began as a cop and eventually worked with the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. After getting her law degree, she worked with the Jefferson County District Attorney's office and now works as a criminal defense attorney.

Since Normand clearly ran a close second in the runoff election that gave Stevens his seat, one could argue that Normand has more legitimacy than any of the other candidates.

Philip's prediction:

It is starting to look good for Rick Williams. And the GOP. And John Stevens may have done a good thing for the GOP. Williams may have the Mo and the cross over from AWM's and the Tea Party movement to sit him on the bench. Normand might not have the basic support of her own party.

Readers may remember that Williams was appointed to the 279th District Court by Gov. Rick Perry in January 2006 to serve the remainder of the term left vacant by the death of Judge Tom Mulvaney. During his first election a few months later, Judge Randy Shelton beat Williams by almost 10,000 votes.

Klein predicted Williams would win that race, too.