Judges and politics

A story in the Houston Chronicle examines the fallout from U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay's successful bid to remove the judge in his campaign contributions case. DeLay, the House Majority Leader until his indictment in September, argued that the judge in the case would be biased against him because he donated to Democratic candidates and political organizations.

As the Chron points out: "If political contributions are grounds for disqualifying judges in Texas, the judiciary may be in trouble. Texas civil and criminal court judges in the past five years have made more than $775,000 in partisan political donations."

Of course, given the history of Valley politics, I'd be more worried about the contributions to judges than the money they give to someone else. But then, I'm a cynic.