Thus endeth her short but incredibly tumultuous time in office.
Susan Hawk
After struggling with mental illness, including three admissions at psychiatric treatment centers, Republican Susan Hawk stepped down from her position as Dallas County District Attorney on Tuesday.
“It is with a heavy heart that I must tender my resignation as Dallas County District Attorney,” Hawk said in her resignation letter to Gov. Greg Abbott. “It’s been an honor and a privilege to serve this office and the citizens of Dallas County, but my health needs my undivided attention.”
The resignation comes after the Aug. 26 deadline to put another candidate on the ballot for the office in November, according to the Secretary of State’s office. That means Abbott gets the chance to appoint Hawk’s replacement in a Democratic county that voted against him for governor in 2014. Her replacement will serve through 2018, the remainder of her term.
“Upon receipt of Susan Hawk’s resignation letter, the Governor’s Appointments Office will begin accepting applications and will take the appropriate time to ensure the replacement is the best suited to serve the citizens of Dallas County,” a spokesman for the governor’s office said.
A copy of Hawk’s letter of resignation is here, and the DMN story is here if you can get past their paywall. The timing of the resignation is political, of course, but it’s hardly unexpected or unprecedented. The Lone Star Project calls on Governor Abbott, who gets to pick the replacement to fill out the rest of Hawk’s term, to “do the right thing” and “consult with Dallas County elected officials and choose a person who has their support, and reflects the views and concerns of Dallas County voters”. I think we all know that’s not going to happen – he’s going to pick someone he thinks can hold the office in 2018. Which, if it’s any consolation, is almost certainly an exercise in futility. Hawk’s win over the unfortunately scandal-tainted Craig Watkins in 2014 was the first by a countywide Republican in Dallas County since 2004. Democrats will be heavily favored to win this office back regardless of who Abbott appoints.
I’m a little surprised to realize that I hadn’t written anything about Hawk and her troubles before now. Her mental health issues, which had caused her to miss a lot of time at work while in treatment, are serious and debilitating, and I wish her all the best in her recovery. There has been a long debate over Hawk’s fitness for the office given how much time she missed, and how she hasn’t always been transparent about her whereabouts. This D Magazine story from last year is a great overview of her time in office till that point, and I recommend you read it if you aren’t familiar with the background. I want to call your attention in particular to the section headed “Paranoia and Firings”, as I think this aspect of the story has not received enough attention. To sum it up, Hawk fired a lot of people during her time in office, often for reasons that had nothing to do with their job performance. Some of them, including a longtime investigator who was ten months from retirement and an IT person who had a stay-at-home wife and two kids who lost his health insurance when he was let go, were clearly hurt by her actions. I don’t know if any of this was addressed after the story came out, but it seems to me that we shouldn’t close the book on Susan Hawk’s term in office without doing something to make these people whole again.