(from Brian Rogers of the Chron)
Attorneys for Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal today are expected to ask a federal judge to seal dozens of e-mails released as part of a federal civil rights lawsuit and which reveal a close personal relationship with his secretary.
The e-mails, sent from Rosenthal's county e-mail address, highlight some of the inner workings of the DA's office, exposing details about past criminal cases and civil lawsuits.
And they include personal, affectionate notes to Kerry Stevens, Rosenthal's executive secretary with whom he said he had an affair in the 1980s.
"The very next time I see you, I want to kiss you behind your right ear," Rosenthal writes to Stevens in a note dated Aug. 10, 2007.
The e-mails are exhibits in a civil rights lawsuit against the Harris County Sheriff's Office, alleging misconduct by sheriff's deputies in 2001. Rosenthal was deposed in the case, which alleges sheriff's deputies violated the civil rights of two brothers who filmed police executing a search warrant on a neighbor's house.
In court documents, Sheriff Tommy Thomas called the suit frivolous and said the deputies acted within the scope of their job.
Rosenthal, who is married, on Wednesday called the disclosure of the personal e-mails "bare knuckle politics" engineered by Lloyd Kelley, the lawyer for the brothers.
Kelley is a friend of former HPD Chief C.O. Bradford, who is Rosenthal's opponent in his bid next year for re-election.
Bradford and Kelley were law partners in the 1990s, Kelley said.
Bradford could not be reached for comment.
First: Is this politics? Well, yeah. Of course its politics. I warned you when former HPD Chief Bradford filed that this was going to be a dirty, ugly campaign. This is just the first of many punches that will be thrown (fairly or not) by two candidates who are relatively short on positives themselves. You're going to feel dirty casting your vote no matter who you vote for, that is, if you're anything more than a blind partisan. Then, you'll probably be ok.
Second: What kind of mental giant sends out touchy-feelies of a personal nature on the County e-mail system? Hey Chuck, ever heard of Gmail? I assume that the County has an internet connection right?
This is dirty. The entire situation is dirty, and the campaign tactics that are attempting to air this out are dirty.
Welcome to the Harris County District Attorney's race for 2008. Let the fun begin.
