Houston’s Rosenthal Quits; Filing Extended
January 3rd, 2008 at 6:16 am
Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal, in light of an email-erasing scandal, professions of devotion to an executive secretary, a well-known Houston defense lawyer filing against him, and vocal antipathy from Harris County GOP leaders, will not seek re-election after all.
Rosenthal has seen a tumultuous couple of weeks, as we reported yesterday. His letter of withdrawal was stamped as received by the Harris GOP offices as of 5:57 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 2.
Harris County Republican Party Chair Jared Woodfill read the one-line statement from Rosenthal: “This is my written notice to you to withdraw my nomination from the office of Harris County District Attorney.”
Defense lawyer Jim Leitner filed for the GOP nomination Wednesday, announcing also, according to the Houston Chronicle, that he would step aside should the right candidate file. It appears that Rosenthal’s last-minute withdrawal triggers a 48-hour extension of the filing period.
With Rosenthal out, the way has been cleared for a new Harris County District Attorney to clean up Houston’s image and reputation — from the crime lab to the death penalty.
A blog note: in a comment on my initial blog about Rosenthal and Houston’s leadership in terms of the death penalty, Ward Larkin is right. Houston has actually only been responsible for roughly 10 percent of U.S. executions — not a quarter. Larkin rightly pointed out what I meant to say, which is that Houston is responsible for fully a quarter of all Texas executions since 1976. Thanks for the correction, Ward.
January 10th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
[…] at Houston’s embattled district attorney (who has already taken his name off the ballot). The saga of Charles A Rosenthal Jr. is one long […]