Brazos County DA 2024 Election [Staff Warning]

53,554 Views | 317 Replies | Last: 7 mo ago by befitter
Charpie
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Bryanisbest said:

Charpie said:

Also, how can she run on a track record of success while at the same time run on the talking points of saying that the current DA is soft on crime when she herself is an assistant DA. Doesn't that make her complicit in the alleged softness?




She left the DA's office and went to work for the Public Defenders Office about 6 months ago. Also heard that she went to work for Parsons' DA office as intern right out of law school with view to becoming full fledged trial prosecutor. She may be counting that time in the number of years experience in DA's office.
That still doesn't make it right. That's like me saying, "I have 22 years of Product Management experience," when I spent 10 of those as a user and tester of those products.
Independence H-D
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The appearance is that one of these candidates is doing some shady stuff and the other one isn't. I think that ought to be endorsement enough.
A Net Full of Jello
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Charpie said:

Bryanisbest said:

Charpie said:

Also, how can she run on a track record of success while at the same time run on the talking points of saying that the current DA is soft on crime when she herself is an assistant DA. Doesn't that make her complicit in the alleged softness?




She left the DA's office and went to work for the Public Defenders Office about 6 months ago. Also heard that she went to work for Parsons' DA office as intern right out of law school with view to becoming full fledged trial prosecutor. She may be counting that time in the number of years experience in DA's office.
That still doesn't make it right. That's like me saying, "I have 22 years of Product Management experience," when I spent 10 of those as a user and tester of those products.
I agree it's wrong. I wonder if she is counting summer internships when she was still in school as a full year as time in the DA's office. No matter how she is doing it, she has to be aware that the majority would disagree with her math if they knew the facts. I've said it before on here but I will say it again. Experience matter. Maritza is clearly aware experience matters and that is why she is getting very liberal in her timelines, takes credit for cases where she knows she was not as active as she is implying, and trying to claim experience she does not have (again, like the fact that she has NEVER tried a capital murder case).
Bryanisbest
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Yes, that argument could be made. If she went to work as an intern she could have been doing most of the duties of an assistant DA except for actually speaking to the judge or jury in court. She could have done those things BEFORE passing the bar exam. I think you could easily also argue she gets to count that time as DA office experience. Can't go so far as to say she is lying though. I wonder if Parsons may have done the same thing when he ran for DA after about the same length of time as an ADA in Bill Turner's DA office.
Charpie
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Bryanisbest said:

Yes, that argument could be made. If she went to work as an intern she could have been doing most of the duties of an assistant DA except for actually speaking to the judge or jury in court. She could have done those things BEFORE passing the bar exam. I think you could easily also argue she gets to count that time as DA office experience. Can't go so far as to say she is lying though. I wonder if Parsons may have done the same thing when he ran for DA after about the same length of time as an ADA in Bill Turner's DA office.
Actually, I can.


You yourself stated she left the role 6 months ago.

So which is it? Has she been an assistant DA for 8 years, which would have technically been completed THIS MONTH when she passed the bar? You can't call yourself an ADA if you haven't actually done the job. She's a liar.
trouble
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That's the one that makes it sound like she was the only ADA
maroon barchetta
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If she did not hold the title, she doesn't get credit for the job.

We have all done work to cover duties for someone above us. It doesn't mean we get to claim we held their title.
A Net Full of Jello
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Bryanisbest said:

Charpie said:

Also, how can she run on a track record of success while at the same time run on the talking points of saying that the current DA is soft on crime when she herself is an assistant DA. Doesn't that make her complicit in the alleged softness?




She left the DA's office and went to work for the Public Defenders Office about 6 months ago. Also heard that she went to work for Parsons' DA office as intern right out of law school with view to becoming full fledged trial prosecutor. She may be counting that time in the number of years experience in DA's office.
Your timeline is off. She has been at the public defenders office for a year now. She was with the DA before that but was in the county attorney's office for 6 months before that. It went DA -> county attorney -> DA -> public defender. She's intentionally misleading people which is shady at best. She does not have 8 years of experience as an Assistant District Attorney.


Parsons, by contrast hasn't lied about his experience. He has over 20 years in the DA's office where he has prosecuted a number of violent crimes including sexual assault, child abuse, and capital murder. Under him, we have seen prison time for these offenders significantly increased. Some by as much as 500%. We are blazing trails here in Brazos county when it comes to prosecution and punishment for sexual assault and that was all under Jarvis' leadership. He is transparent on his website about who is endorsing him and has contributed to his campaign. He has shown himself repeatedly to be a man of integrity who cannot be bought.
Gunner0740
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Don't forget her time out of the DA's office when she went to the CA's office and then left again to go to the Public Defender's Office
RunSilentRunDeep
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Travis Bryan was also the DA before he was a defense attorney then District Judge.

Retired Sheriff Chris Kirk also supports Maritza.

These are two of the most respected men who have held elected offices in Brazos County.

Apparently, they know a change is needed in the DA Office.
histag10
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"Respected" is quite a subjective term. They are certainly respected by some, but yo say they are the most respected in all of Brazos county to have held office is a bold statement that is simply an opinion.

I think it's also important here to differentiate between professional duties in a job and personal political views. While they both may have been great at their jobs, they were bound by oath to uphold those offices to a certain standard that was unbiased. Their political views and endorsements are not bound by oath, but rather are self serving opinions (just like everyone else's political views and endorsements). All it shows is that they believe she will better serve their personal interests, much like I question her ability to serve my interests. Find out what their personal interests are in relation to this office, and then decide if their opinion/endorsement holds any weight (like with any endorsement in any race).
Charpie
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RunSilentRunDeep said:

Travis Bryan was also the DA before he was a defense attorney then District Judge.

Retired Sheriff Chris Kirk also supports Maritza.

These are two of the most respected men who have held elected offices in Brazos County.

Apparently, they know a change is needed in the DA Office.

Since I'm new to the area, can someone tell me more about the Bryan family? Again, coming from the RGV, Travis and Williamson counties, it's never a good thing when the good ole boys are wanting to place a candidate in office.
Gunner0740
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I would maybe go look at the people supporting Parsons in his campaign page as well. You have numerous retired Police, including several former Chiefs, former DA prosecutors who moved to other cities, current defense attorneys in BCS, one of whom is also a former CSPD Lieutenant, local clergy, former elected officials in Bryan and College Station. All of who I would say are highly regarded individuals by a large sum of folks here in BCS.
taxpreparer
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This is not about any particular endorsement for this race, or any other. I know first-hand, that some endorsements are simply because they were asked.
trouble
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Honestly, that's how a lot of them happen.
Rexter
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It says a lot that BPD (or officers) gave him a vote of no confidence, and all of the endorsements are "former" people. No current LEOs on that list, unless I missed them.
Gunner0740
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Most PD policies prohibit individual officers from using their position to endorse one candidate or another. The POAs are usually a different story.
JP76
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Which former chiefs ?
Gunner0740
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Retired Bryan Police Department Assistant Police Chief Pete Willis, Retired Brazos County Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy Jim Stewart, Retired College Station Police Department Chief Ed Feldman, Retired College Station Police Department Chief Scott McCollum, Former College Station Police Department Assistant Chief Chuck Fleeger, Retired College Station Police Department Assistant Chief Larry Johnson, Retired Texas A&M University Police Chief Mike Ragan, and Former Texas A&M University Police Chief Elmer Schneider.

The list of Chiefs doesn't include Sergeants and lieutenants who have also lended their support. Some are very well known names in law enforcement such as Craig Boyett, John Pollock, Demond Oliver, Mike Welch, Tom Jagielski, and Sharean Gideon. All of these people have developed a solid reputation within the law enforcement community and are highly regarded individuals, just as Judge Bryan and Sheriff Kirk are.
histag10
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The most I could tell you is that William Joel Bryan donated the land that the town was originally founded on- so their roots in the community run deep.

I'm just going to add that I'm not really sure how Travis Bryan being a former DA and endorsing Maritza are related. He was the DA before she was even born. In fact, he wasn't even a practicing defense attorney at the same time as her, as he was the district judge starting in 2008. Even as Judge and her as ADA, the overlap wasn't a ton.
jimbo457
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Candidate A - We could do better than candidate A, those that are familiar with candidate A will tell you.
Candidate B - Not a great candidate, clear issues, stumbled out of the gate, hard to endorse by those that are in the know.

This is where we are. I surmise that if you speak to folks that are "in the know", those that are willing to speak in more than just generalities, that you'll find you get real quantifiable examples of the two statements I've made above. Just my two cents.
trouble
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I think you need to reread what you wrote. You have candidate A talking about themselves having issues
Bryanisbest
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Wasn't she an assigned prosecutor in and to the 272nd District Court for well over a year? If so, wouldn't the judge have had ample opportunity to observe her job performance?

Isn't it also true that interaction between lawyers, judges and employees who frequent the courthouse criminal justice system for any substantial length of time can make them well aware of the abilities of each felony prosecutor and most defense trial lawyers, too. Don't these insiders really know what's going on? Wouldn't the current detectives also know? Especially, detectives on the job since the nationally publicized Floyd case went down?
Tibbers
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Or maybe the mayor and his cronies want to consolidate power? No idea, but the old guard sometimes isn't your friend. Remember planegate?
maroon barchetta
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Tibbers said:

Or maybe the mayor and his cronies want to consolidate power? No idea, but the old guard sometimes isn't your friend. Remember planegate?


Some people on this board don't believe there was anything wrong with any part of planegate.

You will need to be more specific.
Tibbers
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So the mayor does support Maritza?
maroon barchetta
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I have no idea.
trouble
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I believe he was on her website previously but her endorsements page is no longer active.
AgLaw09
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RunSilentRunDeep said:

Travis Bryan was also the DA before he was a defense attorney then District Judge.

Retired Sheriff Chris Kirk also supports Maritza.

These are two of the most respected men who have held elected offices in Brazos County.

Apparently, they know a change is needed in the DA Office.

Campaign finance reports for the local races have been filed. cf.vistasg.com/BrazosCo/

As far as Judge Bryan knowing there needs to be a change, why did he donate to Parsons back in July then? The Sifuentez campaign has yet to say why the change they claim is needed is actually needed. Maybe they're waiting until closer to the election to release more specifics, but I've yet to hear why change is needed.

More than the Judge Bryan contribution to Parsons is the $25k donation to the Sifuentez campaign from a single donor who lives in Houston. The total contributions listed on her report is $27k, so almost all of her contributions have come from someone who doesn't even live in Brazos County.

According to second mailer, she is also supported by a PAC. If they've received donations or have spent money on her campaign, I'm pretty sure that money isn't going to show up on her campaign's report.
trouble
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Well, that's very interesting. Off for more research.
histag10
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He was able to observe her for over a year as an ADA. Yes. I wouldn't say that is ample time to determine her capabilities to be the DA. I have worked in a prosecutor's office (not in Texas). I have spent a ton of time in a courthouse and around the people who work there (and around a ton of LEOs). My experience tells me that I wouldn't consider people who work closely with the courts the best judges of character when it comes to these matters. I have seen a DA candidate (again, not here) get endorsed by police and the SO because the candidate threw a kegger for them in their back yard, and tended to try to sweep issues (like DV among those officers) under the rug. My point is- people who directly work with these elected officials often endorse and vote based on who they think will personally benefit them, not necessarily the community as a whole. All you have contributed here(over and over) is to give cryptic posts about needing to ask current law enforcement, and now you bring up George Floyd. Is there something specific you are getting at with that comment?

Plenty of people "in the know" who are active in this realm have given their reservations about her and her ability to do the job better than Parsons.
trouble
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A single donor with ties to the football program and a son with 2 PI arrests in Brazos county.

Why run on a platform that includes your deep ties to Bryan when you are being bankrolled by someone not from Bryan?

It's all public record, staff. I can provide links and screenshots. Anyone can find them by opening the link posted and then searching the donor's name.
Bryanisbest
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AgLaw09 said:

RunSilentRunDeep said:

Travis Bryan was also the DA before he was a defense attorney then District Judge.

Retired Sheriff Chris Kirk also supports Maritza.

These are two of the most respected men who have held elected offices in Brazos County.

Apparently, they know a change is needed in the DA Office.

Campaign finance reports for the local races have been filed. cf.vistasg.com/BrazosCo/

As far as Judge Bryan knowing there needs to be a change, why did he donate to Parsons back in July then? The Sifuentez campaign has yet to say why the change they claim is needed is actually needed. Maybe they're waiting until closer to the election to release more specifics, but I've yet to hear why change is needed.

More than the Judge Bryan contribution to Parsons is the $25k donation to the Sifuentez campaign from a single donor who lives in Houston. The total contributions listed on her report is $27k, so almost all of her contributions have come from someone who doesn't even live in Brazos County.

According to second mailer, she is also supported by a PAC. If they've received donations or have spent money on her campaign, I'm pretty sure that money isn't going to show up on her campaign's report.



Maybe he changed his mind after hearing from a bunch of police officers. "Good ole boys" don't usually change that abruptly unless they are paid off.
trouble
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You said it not me
Bryanisbest
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I sure did say it. So you still think the judge is a "good ole boy" and was paid off or not?
 
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