Lambright has earned 4 more years as county attorney

From The Courier : Saturday, February 13, 2016

After two unsuccessful tries at landing a seat on the bench as a judge, J D Lambright won the County Attorney’s race in 2012.

The Courier believes Lambright’s leadership and staffing hires have improved the office’s legal team while creating a more open and transparent county government.

In The Courier’s experience, the County Attorney’s Office has become more responsive and cooperative regarding open records requests, with few exceptions. Under previous leadership, it seemed, any requests making it to that office were sent to the state attorney general for an opinion.

We appreciate Lambright putting a team of five in place who can work with the requestors to provide as much information as possible in a timely manner. He also has shown a willingness to work with individuals on their requests to ensure an expedited process for releasing the correct and allowable information in a timely manner.

In addition, Lambright has fulfilled his pledge to bring more cases in-house and take them to trial when possible. This includes defending the county in a $50 billion lawsuit in which Texcom (injection wells) claimed its constitutional rights were violated. The county paid nothing, and Lambright says he saved the county at least $150,000 in legal fees by having staff attorneys handle the case.

Even if he’s a one-term county attorney, Lambright will be best remembered for securing an indictment and conviction in the brutal burning of Robbie Middleton in 1998. A complex case more than 15 years old, Lambright finally brought justice for the now-deceased Middleton and his family.

While The Courier respects the legal experience and community service brought by challenger Gary Beauchamp, we believe Lambright’s three years in office prove he is a worthy county attorney.

Lambright’s philosophy regarding cases brought against county employees are: 1. vigorously defend county employees; 2. keep (legal counsel) in-house; 3. settle if there is liability; 4. also try to settle cases if there is a “nuisance value” in terms of legal costs vs. settlement dollars; and 5. county commissioners make the final decision on how to proceed with cases.

We value how serious Lambright takes his job and understand he believes he has the best interests of the county and taxpayers in mind in his handling of legal matters.

We urge voters to re-elect Lambright as county attorney in the March 1 Republican primary.