She has a lot of positions to fill, and a lot of work to do.
Kim Ogg
Several well-known defense lawyers will take top posts in the Harris County District Attorney’s Office under incoming DA Kim Ogg, her transition team announced Friday.
Vivian King, a prominent attorney who was an accountant for 10 years before becoming a lawyer, will be chief of staff in a reorganized office. She will oversee budgets, operations and other day-to-day running of the office.
David Mitcham will be Interim First Assistant and trial bureau chief, overseeing the majority of the 300 prosecutors in the office, supervising the trial bureaus and special prosecution divisions.
Dividing those responsibilities between two positions is a new way to organize the office. Historically, the elected district attorney’s second-in-command – the first assistant – has handled all of those duties.
Other notable hires include Jim Leitner, who was First Assistant under former DA Pat Lykos and will supervise the intake and grand jury divisions.
Other well-known attorneys who will take top posts include JoAnne Musick, who will supervise the sex crimes unit, and Carvana Cloud, who will be over the family criminal law unit, the division that prosecutes domestic violence.
Former Houston City Councilmember Sue Lovell will work as a special contractor as a government affair liaison.
See here for some background. This earlier version of the story includes a few other names. I can’t say I’m crazy about the Leitner appointment, since he just tried to oust Vince Ryan as County Attorney, but the rest look pretty solid. Tapping the defense bar for talent may look unusual, but it’s not. Former prosecutors become defense attorneys all the time – it’s just two sides of the same coin – and both Ogg and Vivian King had spent time as assistant DAs in the past. And if your mandate is to clean up and reform a DA’s office that really needs it, then you are by necessity going to look outside that office for the people who will help you carry it out. Maybe having a few people in the DA’s office who understand there’s more to justice than getting convictions is what that place needs.
Not advocating for Identity Politics, but I noticed the lack of color in her selection.
But it was a little heavy concerning one identity.
LOL, you progressives are never satisfied.
By Progressive it means me, but in the I don’t like commie loving Republicans that support the Russian puppet.
How is that search for a Latino/Latina going for Trump?
Uh . . . http://www.vivianrking.com
BK – I received a couple of calls about her appointments, they were complaining about the sexual preference of too many of her choices. So I decided to look. By color I mean more than dark brown.
I have know Kim for about 30 years and know her to be a very good person, who she appoints is no concern of mine. But if she goes the route of the last Houston mayor, she will find that it may become what she stands for. One does not have to be super intelligent to figure out that many religious persons did not vote for Trump because of his convictions.
If one thinks that her choices will not be used in politics one is mistaken.
BK Latinos will be the group that gives Democrats control of Harris County and Texas and it is not too far in the future (Assuming that they vote Democrat). We are a diverse group but a large majority of us are social conservatives. Every Latino that is not Cuban that I know voted for Trump because of abortion and homosexual marriages.
Paul, I wish there was an edit on the comments, so correction;
If by progressive you mean a person that is not a commie loving Russian Republican like Trump, then you are correct.
Paul only one country in this world has more nuclear weapons than we do, they spent over 700 million dollars arming and training the Vietcong and North Vietnamese. They are only country that can destroy us. They are our enemy and have not ceases to be our enemy.
I am proud to say that I voted for John McCain when he ran for president and McCain is correct when he states that what Russia did was an act of war. That illegitimate to be president is nothing but a puppet of the Russians. Many who voted for him will come to regret their choice.
700 million a year- correction
Curious how barely a few days in to her new term and Ogg has already managed to break one of her rules….
“*Transition team members will not be considered for employment in the Harris County District Attorney’s Office in 2017. Please decide how you would like to be part of the transition applying for employment in the Harris County District Attorney’s Office. “