Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal has withdrawn his name from the Republican ballot for re-election today amid pressure from his own party following last week’s release of intimate emails he wrote to his personal assistant.
Rosenthal publicly had rejected the local GOP’s call for him to drop his re-election plans or face the prospect of the party endorsing another Republican for the March primary.
His decision to drop out of the election was confirmed about 5:35 p.m. by Michael Wolfe, the Harris County Republican Party’s primary director.
Minutes earlier, Republican Jim Leitner filed paperwork to put his name on the primary ballot for district attorney.
I admit, this surprises me. And, as posited by Cory, I think this does make it harder for C.O. Bradford to win – how could it not, at this point? But you know, just getting Rosenthal and his hardon for the death penalty out of there in favor of someone more sane and enlightened is a victory in and of itself. Whatever else happens, this has been a good day. More to come soon.
Another gotcha is Rosenthal’s formal letter of withdrawal on Harris County Stationary and not campaign or personal stationary!
http://images.chron.com/content/news/photos/08/01/02/Withdrawal.pdf
While some may view the withdrawal as a good thing, it may not be. He will remain in office for another year which at this point is like letting a rabid dog loose in the neighborhood.
The Harris County Republican Party seems to feel the withdrawal is sufficient and yet it does nothing to restore integrity to either the Harris County District Attorney’s Office or the Harris County Republican Party which may seem like a good thing for Democrats but some of those Democrats may now become targets to be used by the Republicans in November.
Of course if the matter of the ongoing corruption in his office were forced with the US Attorney’s Office he might end up being removed and possibly prosecuted but I’m afraid too many still are afraid of him and his ability to use his office to “settle scores.”
I don’t know of any of the civil rights organizations that are not aware of the corruption and yet I have to wonder how many complaints have been taken to the US Attorney and what if any action was taken. I suspect none were.
I hope the Harris County Democratic Party isn’t following the example of Nancy Pelosi and deluding themselves into believing that letting the rabid dog run loose in the neighborhood benefits the neighborhood.
It’s bad enough we have two rabid dogs running loose in Washington – now we have one loose in Houston.