Houston
The city of Houston, Texas, took a clean sweep of local elections in November with Democrats winning almost everydamnthing. Since elections have consequences, something we’re all learning the hard way, there will be changes in Houston.
Kim Ogg
The new District Attorney, Kim Ogg, is having a press conference today — mind you, she hasn’t even had it yet — but boy howdy the super-red county to our north is already screaming and hollering.
Ogg is going to have a press conference about how her office will handle misdemeanor marijuana cases.
Ogg, who took office Jan. 1, is expected to announce her plan Thursday at a press conference with Mayor Sylvester Turner, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo and Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez.
Ogg’s plan will save taxpayers about $10 million a year, free up police to go after real criminals, divert 12,000 people from jail, and alleviate the backlog in our courts.
Her action – not even announced yet – will be about misdemeanor marijuana possession, not major dealers. It is a plan endorsed by the mayor, the police chief, and the sheriff.
But, the DA in Montgomery County, which is officially East Texas, is pitching a snot nosed hissy fit.
Brett Ligon
Even before her plan was officially rolled out, however, news of the change prompted Montgomery County District Attorney Brett Ligon to attack Ogg, saying was trying to legalize marijuana.
“Unlike Harris County, Montgomery County will not become a sanctuary for dope smokers,” Ligon said in a press release. “I swore an oath to follow the law – all the laws, as written by the Texas Legislature. I don’t get to pick and choose which laws I enforce.”
A sanctuary city for dope smokers. Hell, Honey, we need to put that in the Chamber of Commerce Guide! That should be the city motto.
Montgomery County has a population of half a million. Harris County has a population of four and half million. We could all just exhale toward Montgomery County and drive Ligon nuts.
But, to give you an idea of how butt ignorant this Ligon guy is, he says, “Despite a rise in violent crime rates in Harris County, Ms. Ogg chooses to focus her attention on the issue of legalization of marijuana.” Putting aside that Ogg has only been in office for 6 weeks and probably isn’t responsible for the rise in crime, you gotta admit that she’s not legalizing marijuana, she’s simply putting resources where they belong – which will. help. lower. violent. crime. rates.
I’ll let you know what happens at the press conference but unless she her plan involves growing weed at city parks, I suspect I’ll probably like it.
Fair caveat: at one of my paying jobs, I endorsed Kim Ogg for DA. And I am damn proud of it.
Logic – how does it work?
And yes, as a prosecutor, you *do* get to pick and choose the laws you enforce. It’s called “prosecutorial discretion.” Ligon doesn’t even understand his own job.
1The biggest dope problem in Montgomery County is Ligon and his TEA Party supporters. I’m sure that his redneck constituents are running way more meth labs than are being run in Harris county.
2Wait until Abutt, Patrick, and Paxton, et al., glom onto this.
Look for lots of state LEO resources to be redirected, like DPS teams, to Harris Co.
Hell, I can see a few of the DPS’ $1,000,000/ea 36′, 900horsepower, riverine gunboats (from the Rio Grande) getting trailered up and plopped into Buffalo Bayou ;] . Looking for what? Who knows, it’ll be good for multiple photo-ops and media avail.
But of course if the DA declines to continue…well, logic doesn’t count. They’ll all get an immense amount of ink and tv time to whip up their braindead minions across the state anyway.
3“I don’t get to pick and choose which laws I enforce.” Brett Ligon, Montgomery County DA
I don’t watch a lot of courtroom shows on the TV, but isn’t a county DA in charge of enforcing the laws only in his county? The county in which he was elected? Isn’t telling another DA across the county line how she should conduct her business kind of picking and choosing for her, which he readily admits he’s not entitled to do?
4Rick, ” “I don’t get to pick and choose which laws I enforce.” Brett Ligon, Montgomery County DA “.
Like ALL Repukes he’s a born whiner, self-made ‘victim’, and busybody, butt sniffing around for an ‘outrage of the week’. The better to keep his snowflake minions in a lather, and donating their (often meager) disposable dinero to ‘the cause’, any RWNJ cause.
51. Montgomery County has had a history with corruption.
62. Pot will interfere with their booming meth business.
There is a shopping center up around the Woodlands that has copies of Roman statues on the roof, kinda like gargoyles. A restaurant also had some of the same. The more conservative part of the seriously divided Montgomery County Republican party made the restaurant owner of put covers over the private parts of the statues.
No surprise here that their DA knows not the difference between decriminalizing and making something legal. Anybody with a brain thinks it should be decriminalized.
7As the west coast eyerolls and gets on with it…
Seriously, I don’t know how people still manage to say with a straight face that it’s gonna be Thunderdome x Walking Dead if someone smokes weed in their community without someone there to thump ’em for it.
Decrim is a good start but there’s still a thriving market for Mexican brick weed and all the attendant ick that comes with until you kill it off with 100% legal stores. But I have a feeling none of that logic will make a bit of difference… until they start drooling for the tax money.
8I used the name “Ogg” for a while (got it legally from my father). Never met Kim, but I like to think that somewhere up the tree, we may be related. Great relative to have!
9Uhh
10I had nephews and a niece in Shenandoah and the Woodlands. Monkey County IS a “sanctuary for dope smokers” already. Brett you’re too late.
Ligon must have OD’d on snacilbupeR stoopid.
11Of course he doesn’t have any business outside his jurisdiction, but boy howdy he has to make noises that will convince his own constituency that he is the be all and end all of hard working DA’s. Or something like that. ore like making a damn fool of himself beyond the level he has already attained.
12Well, the thing is that there is *always* some prioritization in enforcing laws. If there wasn’t, we’d have every damn cop on the street filling their entire working hours writing tickets for every poor slob going 1MPH or more over the speed limit.
So the question really isn’t really an abstract one of whether or not all laws should be enforced but which laws we’re willing to *pay* to have enforced. Frankly, I’d rather my LEOs chase armed guys, work robbery cases, hunt down rapists/molesters, etc. than have them frisk Juan on his way home from school in the hopes they can find a joint.
P.S. If any of our LEOs have some spare time, maybe we can get a detective on the case of our missing Senators and Representatives. Seems they’ve gone AWOL on their constituents.
13And Brett Ligon gets picked up for DUI in 5 … 4 … 3 …
14Harris County government must be doing well financially. In many places law enforcement is a “profit center” generating revenue from fines, fees and probation related to weed. Good on some sane government in Texas.
15It is possible that Ligon doesn’t pick and choose which laws he enforces.
So why do I have the feeling that he may pick and choose who he enforces them against?
16you know how violent/wild/crazy people get, after smoking a joint. oh, wait, they don’t. they usually just kill off a 5 lb can of peanuts, while kicking back and watching tv. alcohol, on the other hand, seems to generate a lot more violent crime, especially domestic abuse. I note Mr. Ligon indicated no concerns about that problem.
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