Hopefully the morale at the Harris County District Attorney's Office improves.
It seems like 2009 is not starting much better then 2008 did for the Harris County District Attorney's Office. Last year at this time a lot of assistant DA's were unsure what the future held for them during the Rosenthal scandal. Instead of making a fresh start and rallying the troops newly elected Pat Lykos seems to be creating more instability at the DA's office. Unbelievably, DA Lykos made it mandatory for her assistants to attend her inauguration on a county holiday, mindful that this is mainly a ceremonial function and photo op. Perhaps, she wanted to display the unity by having all her assistants there for the swearing in ceremony. Regardless, a lot of her assistants were not happy about attending.
While I was not in attendance I was disturbed to hear the she did not acknowledge all the work her assistants do on a daily basis. More specifically, she did not thank her first assistant, Jim Leitner, for what he has done before she took office. I want to see a stable and confident DA's office in Harris County, but it does not seem like DA Lykos is achieving it at this time. While I have a lot of friends at the District Attorney's Office I want it to be stable because it would be for the entire community's benefit. Of course, I do not want to deal with the arrogance that was pervasive in previous years, but a confident ADA allows them to more objectively look at a case. I want to be able to talk to any assistant and know that they are not going to be apprehensive about making a difficult decision because they are scared of what could happen. Here is hoping that 2009 improves quickly for the entire Harris County District Attorney's Office!
