Dallas County Republican Party

April 7, 2010

Editorial: Watkins rejects another offer to save him from himself

07:28 PM CDT on Tuesday, April 6, 2010

When everything should be going Craig Watkins' way, it's almost funny that it isn't. Not funny in the rolling-on-the-floor way but more in the what-possesses-a-man-to-do-these-things-to-himself way.

His well-publicized and praiseworthy work on innocence efforts – making sure those sent to prison actually belong there – has built him a national reputation. From Stephen Colbert to The View to 60 Minutes to The New York Times, Watkins' stature had grown to the point that local Republicans had pretty much given up the idea of challenging his re-election bid this year.

Except Watkins invited them back in by mishandling corruption allegations against two Dallas County constables, fellow Democrats Derick Evans and Jaime Cortes. If Watkins didn't out-and-out ignore accusations that his office knew of since June 2009, he certainly moved slowly enough that reasonable people had to wonder who had what to hide.

Instead of treating criminal allegations as a criminal matter, Watkins turned the affair into a political mudfight. Instead of recognizing an obvious potential conflict of interest – his mentor and inner-circle contributor, state Sen. Royce West, also represented Evans – Watkins tried to shoo away any offers to save him from himself.

Back in September, this newspaper encouraged him to reconsider an offer from the Texas attorney general's office to investigate and, if necessary, prosecute the Evans and Cortes cases, as it had in 2007 with Constable Mike Dupree, Cortes' predecessor. Watkins' office rightly noted the potential conflict then, even though it was more technical than blatant.

Now we learn that Watkins recently rejected a second offer from the AG's office. Through a spokeswoman, he indicated that he didn't trust Republican Greg Abbott's motives in involving himself in Dallas County affairs.

No, in Dallas County, one man is the law. That man is a Democrat, yet he apparently would rather turn what should have been a straightforward criminal investigation into a campaign issue for Republicans, perhaps their only hope of unseating him.

See? It's almost funny.

At this point, Watkins has little recourse. After twice rejecting the AG, he would look foolish backtracking. And he has shown no inclination to hire an independent special prosecutor, as predecessor Bill Hill did on the fake-drug scandal, even if it would make more sense.

So if Watkins brings charges against Evans and Cortes now, any reasonable Dallas County voter is going to wonder where he was when they were running for re-election. (Evans won the Democratic primary and has no GOP opposition in November; Cortes is in a runoff this month against Beth Villarreal.)

But if Watkins doesn't bring charges before November, with his own election in play, that same voter, who has read the newspaper and the Danny Defenbaugh reports, would have reasonable doubts about everyone's credibility.

As a lawyer, Craig Watkins has to know that the problem with conflicts of interest isn't that they might exist, but that even perception can cast an ugly shadow. The best way to avoid that is to stand tall in the sunlight.