Justice of the peace
Democrats should throw their support to incumbent Coffey and Lawton.
Justice of the Peace, Precinct 3, Place 2: Don Coffey
Texas law does not require a law degree to be a justice of the peace, but voters in Harris County should demand it nonetheless. Sparsely populated rural counties may have difficulty finding attorneys to run for a bench that handles Class C misdemeanor criminal cases and minor civil matters like traffic tickets. On the other hand, Harris County has an abundance of lawyers who are qualified for this post, which covers the northeast county. A justice of the peace who is also a lawyer can be particularly helpful in assisting clients who are representing themselves.
Our endorsement goes to the only lawyer in this race, incumbent Judge Don Coffey.
Coffey, 65, who was first elected in 2010, has had a positive impact on this precinct — which runs from Baytown through communities like Highlands, Channelview and Sheldon — by working to change our state’s onerous truancy laws.
“When I became judge, I inherited over 5,000 arrest warrants for children with fines of over $1 million dollars,” the University of Houston Law Center graduate told the editorial board. Coffey worked with lawmakers to change the state’s approach, and in 2015 the state Legislature repealed the criminal offense of failure to attend school.
“Now, truancy is a civil matter, so children don’t have to go through life with a criminal record,” Coffey said.
Primary challenger Lucia Bates, a small business owner, admits that the existing judge has moved the court in the right direction as to truancy, but she is running in part because of a perceived lack of judicial respect. During the one hour screening, Bates’ stridency raised questions about whether she could keep her cool behind the bench. Coffey displayed appropriate judicial temperament. Bates’ desire to help her community shines through but based on judicial experience, legal knowledge and community impact, Coffey deserves another term. No Republican has signed up to run in the general election, so whoever wins this primary wins in November.
Justice of the Peace, Precinct 7, Place 2: Audrie Lawton
Four people are running for this seat. Out of the pool, three candidates are lawyers, all of whom graduated from Thurgood Marshall School of Law. All of the candidates in this race possess experience dealing with individuals in crisis and would be compassionate jurists.
The non-lawyer in this race, Ray Shackelford, has considerable political charisma, and we would encourage him to consider a run for another position, such as city council. But for this bench we’re endorsing the candidate with the most relevant legal experience, Audrie Lawton. Lawton has handled thousands of cases in justice of the peace courts. She also has quasi-judicial experience having served for seven years as an examiner for the Texas Education Agency, hearing cases in which teachers lost their jobs. The 40-year-old who is licensed in all the federal courts and the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also articulated the clearest vision for updating this court through expanded use of technology.
This board has endorsed candidate Cheryl Elliott Thorton in the past when she tried unsuccessfully to unseat embattled Harris County Justice of the Peace Hilary Green in 2016. An assistant county attorney, Thorton has the makings of a good justice of the peace. Her record of community involvement is unparalleled, and she’s practiced law for over 30 years. But Lawton has so much expertise in this specific court that she was once tapped to teach a continuing legal education class about it, and the community should avail itself of her expertise. Sharon M. Burney, an educator and lawyer, has plenty of life experience and a record of community involvement that would be of value, but she didn’t mount a compelling case for her candidacy.
The winner will face Republican candidate “DC” Caldwell in the fall.