Our recommendations
Incumbent district attorney’s holistic and restorative approach to justice is the right fit for Harris County.
To determine if Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg is doing a good job, consider the claims of the opposition she has drawn this election year.
In the Democratic primary, she faced a challenge from the left, with opponents who believed her support for bail and other reforms has been too tepid. In the general election, her Republican opponent complains she’s too soft on law and order.
Neither claim hits the mark. For Ogg, 60, has approached the job of district attorney as she should: making it her priority to ensure a fair process that engenders trust in the system, supporting both reform and law enforcement with eyes open to their potential flaws and pushing back accordingly.
“I believe reform and public safety can mutually exist,” Ogg told the editorial board. “I believe Harris County is safer today because they have an independent district attorney.”
We agree.
Ogg has shown independence by holding accountable those who break the law, including police. Her office charged former Houston narcotics officer Gerald Goines with felony murder over the botched Harding Street drug raid and prosecutors continue to sift through the fallout, evaluating thousands of convictions now suspect because they depended in all or part on Goines’ testimony.
She was an early and important supporter for bail reform, even if we found some of her late criticisms of the reforms puzzling. During her first term, she has also expanded jail diversion for low-level misdemeanor offenders with mental health issues, implemented a diversion program for people caught with small amounts of marijuana and launched a program to help clear some criminal records, giving access to better employment and housing opportunities.
Her Republican opponent, Mary Nan Huffman, is an attorney for the Houston Police Officers’ Union and a a former prosecutor in Montgomery County.
She is sharp and rightly faults Ogg’s office for its high turnover. We were troubled, however, by her claims that Ogg is not “keeping people safe,” that she “cares more about politics than protecting the people,” and that Houston streets are being “flooded with dangerous criminals.” Statistics do show that violent crime is up slightly overall, but far less steeply than her rhetoric blaming Ogg and her “sweetheart deals” would suggest. So far this year, homicides in the city are up by more than a third and the sheriff ’s department has tracked 81 murders so far, up from 66 last year.
Ogg’s holistic and restorative approach to justice is the right fit for Harris County. She has earned our recommendation.