Earlier today, Matt Stiles introduced the Chronicle‘s new Harris County government reporter, Liz Peterson.
Tonight, she’s posting away on the Houston Politics blog — and is already asking more interesting questions than the Chron‘s metro/teen diarist:
Earlier this week, the Commissioners Court agreed to study whether Harris County should open a public defenders office.
I chatted with a local bail bondsman this morning about his experiences in and out of Harris County courtrooms. He didn’t give the court-appointed attorneys a rave review: a 5 at the very best on a scale of 1 to 10. But he’s done business in Dallas as well and doesn’t think their public defenders office has done much better. And he questioned whether the county could really save money in the long run, after it pays the lawyers’ salaries and benefits, not to mention the cost of office space and utilities.
He raises some interesting points. Will employees of a public defenders office be better trained and equipped to handle these cases? Will they care more? Or will the results largely be the same no matter what system the county employs?
Welcome to the local blogosphere, Ms. Peterson. It’s good to have some new blood around here! We’re looking forward to more reporters bringing questions to Harris County government.
