A judicial ed board screening brings tears of hope
We provided coffee during screenings of the candidates seeking the Houston Chronicle editorial board’s endorsement. And bottled water. And soda. One day last month, we needed tissues — not for the candidates, but for the screeners.
After sitting dry-eyed through an estimated 350 endorsement meetings over the years, I teared up. And my colleague, Jack Balagia, former general counsel of ExxonMobil, nearly did as well. The reason isn’t what you’d think in these soulsearching times of political strife and ideological division. It was the opposite. Here we had two candidates for a misdemeanor criminal court bench — a Republican and a Democrat, and both were above politics and idealistic, articulate and qualified for the job. Each of the candidates shared moving stories.
Republican John Wakefield related his encounter with a young student whom the county had charged with truancy. The student successfully defended himself against an unjust charge in front of Wakefield, who was then a prosecutor. As the student and his mother prepared to leave, Wakefield asked the student’s mother about the strange item of apparel hidden underneath her son’s coat. The mother, who had been largely silent through the proceedings, told him that it was a cardboard tie the young man had cut out and attached to his shirt because he thought it was important to dress up for court. Wakefield credited his desire to sit behind a misdemeanor bench to that moment.
The Democrat, Toria J. Finch, relayed her own poignant stories of innocent clients who pleaded guilty because they couldn’t afford bond and needed to get out of jail to take care of kids or to keep a low-paying job. Yet, it wasn’t the stories that choked me up.
Wakefield and Finch were friends but also fierce competitors. The two argued firmly but politely for their own suitability for Harris County Criminal Court at Law No. 9 with the crispness and originality of the best advocates. Their reasoning was clear and their responses sharp and to the point. It was as if I had a front row seat in a trial staged by expert lawyers, and during the exchange I began to feel a glimmer of hope.
Sometimes, as a baby boomer, I worry that the next generation of leaders is taking its time about stepping up. This isn’t necessarily their own fault. Today’s world, too fractured to sustain real leaders, often seemscapable of advancing only opportunists. Yet in the editorial board room last month, we found ourselves in the presence of two dynamic young leaders, Wakefield, who is white, and Finch, who is black.
Their exchange also gave us a hint of the day when race and gender would no longer matter, and people would truly be judged on their ability. That’s a day we’ve all been waiting on for too long.
With turnout among millennials and youth voters breaking records for the midterm election, I have reason to hope that this vision for our future — a better future — won’t be isolated to a single endorsement meeting.
At first, I discretely wiped the corners of my eyes. When my tears became too obvious, I asked Jack to assure the candidates that I didn’t cry at every ed board screening. He agreed in his dry way that it wasn’t standard procedure. I got my emotions under control as our two candidates wrapped up and walked out the door together.
No need to bring Kleenex if you’re a judicial candidate to your screening in 2020. That is, unless you’re the rare candidate who seems not only qualified, but also poised to improve the world.