Monday, April 13, 1998

Balance on the court

Texans dodged a bullet in two crowded Republican Court of Criminal Appeals March primary races. In the five-person race for Place 1 and the eight-person contest for Place 2, none of the candidates who made it to the runoff is a clunker like Steve Mansfield, who managed to get elected to the state's highest criminal bench two years ago.

Lines can be drawn, however, to separate the contestants. In Place 1, Dallas District Judge Mike Keasler faces Dallas County prosecutor Vicki Isaacks. Both have had solid law careers. But Keasler, who has conducted judicial conferences in a dozen states and is past chairman of the State Bar Judicial Section, has a stronger record of experience and insight.

The Place 2 vote is between Austin attorney Cheryl Johnson, a retired policeman's wife, and Harvey Hudson, a Houston appeals court judge. Johnson would bring regional balance to a bench dominated by Dallas and Houston judges and in her straightforward application of the law would be more even-handed than Hudson, whose admitted favoritism toward prosecutors might not always be constructive.