It’s the time of the season again.
Ed Gonzalez
In Ed Gonzalez, Democratic Party primary voters have a candidate with broad experience in law enforcement and governance. Gonzalez’s resume includes three terms as councilman of District H, and 18 years in the Houston Police Department, including time spent as a homicide investigator and a hostage negotiator.
Gonzalez, 46, has managerial experience, as well. He was a sergeant at HPD before retiring from the force and served as mayor pro tem on City Council as well as chairing council’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Division.
“We need a reformer. We need change,” Gonzalez told the editorial board. In his first week in office, Gonzalez said he would immediately assess the number of open cases, share crime analysis information and work with constable offices, regional authorities and crime prevention groups like Crime Stoppers of Houston to improve crime clearance statistics.
Gonzalez, a native Houstonian, has an academic background in criminology: a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from University of Houston-Downtown and a master of liberal arts degree from University of St. Thomas. As a council member he played a role in the creation of the Houston Center for Sobriety, a place for Houston police officers to drop off people whose only offense is public intoxication. He also pledged to be aggressive about creating more diversion programs for additional segments of the population.
Both of Gonzalez’s opponents in the Democratic primary respectively are waging their first race for public office. Jerome Moore, 42, has more than 17 years experience in law enforcement, and Jeff Stauber, 52, has more than 30 years. But Gonzalez brings to bear the experience in law enforcement and governance needed to keep the office headed in the right direction. He has our nod for the Democratic primary.
Various Democratic groups are starting to do their screenings, and I’ve added the endorsements that I’ve seen to the 2016 Election page. I’m still working on adding January finance reports, so be patient. The Chron also endorsed incumbent Sheriff Ron Hickman for the GOP primary. They’ve got a lot of races to get through between now and the start of early voting on February 16. I expect the editorial page will be busy.