Have You Seen This?

Former Carter aide up for judgeship. Travis Lucas, who resigned as Congressman Carter's District Director in April, has taken over as the municipal court judge in Leander for the recently resigned Cheryl Cordell. She resigned because she was the owner of the land where a child was suffocated before the body was found in Harker Heights, Judge says she did nothing wrong. From the Hill Country News article on the new judge we find out all the good qualifications he has for the job:

Lucas will oversee misdemeanor cases, trials and traffic incidents for the city for a half to a full day, depending on the number and scope of the cases. With Lucas, Leander gets a politically connected and experienced attorney. Rep. Carter, Lucas' former boss, is on the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriation Committee, which is responsible for awarding federal funding for programs such as transportation and roads.

Ah yes, we all know how important it is to have that road money on our side. Just ask the people of Coupland. Not to mention having the Williamson County Republican Party Parliamentarian as your judge, scroll down to 2004 - 2006 Party Officials. Here is some of his prior work experience from the article:

Lucas' political and legal pedigree speaks for itself. He resigned amicably as Carter's top aide three months ago to pursue his private practice, the Law Office of Travis Lucas, PC, in Georgetown. Lucas specializes in commercial law.

Prior to starting the practice, Lucas was a key figure in Carter's campaign for a House of Representatives seat and became his chief of staff in 2002. For nearly three years, Lucas, 35, helped his mentor start his office and was Carter's eyes and ears in Williamson County. He simply resigned to get back into the lucrative field of commercial law and to be closer to his family. For a long period of time, he traveled once a week to Washington D.C.

Before helping his mentor Carter, Lucas was an assistant attorney general for current Sen. John Cornyn, the former attorney general for Texas; Lucas was also a prosecuting attorney for Kerr County and defended law enforcement for the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in Louisiana.

For 36 days in 2000, Lucas was one of 15 attorneys for then-Gov. George Bush overseeing Broward County Fla., during the recounts and legal hubbub of the president's controversial election.

Lucas' new gig gives him the chance to follow in the foot steps of Carter, who was a tremendously popular state district judge in Williamson County for 20 years.

"I look at being a judge the way he was a judge," Lucas said. "The reason he was an immensely popular judge was his sense of fairness. He treated everybody with respect. A lot of judges of the American judicial system can't grasp that. As soon as they put on the robe, they think they're putting on the robe of the Lord Almighty. They're public servants. That's not to say you're supposed to play patty-cake with people, but you can't abuse authority or mistreat it."

Lucas also started the W club, a Republican organization and political action committee (PAC) of politically minded businessmen who endorse candidates through the PAC. The club has nearly 70 members who paid $500 each to join. Those fees go to help candidates approved by the club.

Wow! He worked for Cornyn when he was AG, has connections to the Florida election debacle in 2000, and has now settled in little old Williamson County. What could possibly be so important here that we need all this loyal, Republican expertise? I'm sure this isn't the last time we will be hearing from Mr. Lucas in Williamson County.