For JP, Precinct 5

GOP voters should keep Williams and avoid the scandal-prone Wolfe.

November comes early this year. No Democrats have signed up to run for Justice of the Peace, Precinct 5, Place 2, which means that this Republican primary essentially functions as the general election.

Voters should feel comfortable reelecting current Justice of the Peace Jeff Williams to a third term in this sprawling west Harris County precinct.

Williams, a graduate of the South Texas College of Law Houston, exudes enthusiastic competence when discussing his job overseeing this low-level court, which handles more than 100,000 cases each year.

On the bench, Williams, 62, said he works to strike deals between landlords and renters so that people aren’t left without a home.

“It pulls at your heartstrings, but at the end of the day it is a contract.”

Williams’ challenger, J.R. Harris, said he would encourage landlord groups to go above and beyond the legal minimum to prevent evictions in the first place. Harris, a graduate of the South Texas College of Law Houston, currently works at the Harris County Attorney’s Office and has experience with the tax assessor’s office. He has the makings of a fine justice of the peace, but there’s no reason to boot Williams from office.

Both candidates had kind words about the other, and saved their criticism for Mike Wolfe, who declined to meet for an interview.

Both Williams and Harris said that they believe Wolfe had been put forward as a candidate by a reactionary anti-LGBT wing of the Republican Party hoping to fight same-sex marriage.

Williams was slow to perform samesex weddings in his courtroom, but does so now. Harris said he wouldn’t have shown Williams’ hesitation.

Wolfe has served intermittently on the board of the Harris County Department of Education, where he has been subject to a formal condemnation by fellow board members for missing meetings. He also promoted a policy to spend $53,886 to name a building after his mother.

Wolfe is generally treated as an embarrassment within local governance and should be kept as far as possible from the levers of power in Harris County.

Luckily, Republican voters have two other impressive and well qualified candidates for this seat, and we encourage them to reward time-tested experience by reelecting Justice of the Peace Jeff Williams.

The stakes may seem small, but few cases carry the emotional and moral weight of the landlord-tenant disputes handled by justice of the peace courts.