Today and through the weekend, the newly-elected county officials and judges who haven’t already been sworn into office will take their oaths.
Harris County Judge Ed Emmett will administer the oath of office to Adrian Garcia, who becomes sheriff after having defeated incumbent Tommy Thomas in the Nov. 4 election.
Garcia, who gives up his seat on the Houston City Council, will swear his duty to the office in a private ceremony.
But Democrat Garcia will be sworn in again Sunday — in a public celebration at Union Station at Minute Maid Park, with Emmett and Mayor Bill White scheduled to speak.
For out-in-the-open pomp and speech-making, the seating of a new district attorney, Patricia Lykos, tops today’s oath-takings by dozens of public officials elected two months ago.
Her event will be stuffed with references to the justice system. D. Gibson Walton — a former Texas Bar Association and Houston Bar Association president whose late father, Dan, served as Harris County DA — will administer the oath to Lykos, who becomes the county’s first female chief prosecutor.
Lykos and Dan Walton served together as felony court judges in the 1980s.
Her 10 a.m. ceremony will take place in the county Jury Assembly Room, 1019 Congress.
Lykos’ swearing-in has caused some controversy. I suspect that while she will almost certainly be a large improvement in many ways over Chuck Rosenthal, there will be no lack of colorful stories that emerge.
As for Garcia, now that he is officially a former Council member, the process to fill his seat should begin soon. I believe the vacancy has to be formally declared, then City Council has to call for the election, which will be in May. If there are any more potential candidates out there, expect to start hearing their names soon.
Her insistence that all attend is rather indicative of how the Harris County District Attorney’s Office will be run. All hands on deck in full uniform saluting. Those who don’t comply get thrown overboard without a life jacket.
Being sworn in by a private attorney is not real indicative of an unbiased district attorney at a time when the public is actually asking for an investigation into the mayor’s office given that the private attorney is with the law firm that is part of what some are calling for an investigation of.
That aside she has publicly committed to focusing on “victims rights” which the previous district attorney didn’t seem too concerned with and so many, myself included, will put aside the “business as usual” if indeed she keeps to her commmitment.
According to an updated story by the Houston Chronicle, Bob Eckels adminstered the oath. Not D. Gibson Walton. Maybe someone had second thoughts?