Power and Ambition

A phone call last night has started me thinking. Court Koenning called me asking me to endorse him to replace Jerry Eversole. Now mind you to my knowledge, Eversole has not declined to run again or has resigned. If he has, it has not become public yet, but be that as it may, the potential candidates are crawling out of the woodwork to throw their hats into the ring. But there are things about that office, and those who are seeking it that are curious. The office is kind of a political black hole. The office has enormous amounts of power and controls huge budgets, but it does so essentially invisibly. Nobody pays much attention to Commissioner's Court, which is unfortunate because with so much money and power, and so little oversight, it is inevitable that liberties will be taken. The office seems to be the political "sweet spot". The turnover in commissioner's court is so low as to be virtually non-existent, and I cannot think of a single commissioner that has gone on to higher office. (maybe there was one or two that I am unaware of, but with turnover so low, it must have happened very long ago.). Commissioners are rarely challenged, and are essentially "safe" from election challenges. So one must ask oneself why an ambitious young man like Court would want the job. Court has been a lot of places and done a lot of things over his (relatively speaking) short career, which would imply he has not been in any one place for too terribly long. This office would seem then to be a bad fit for someone with that sort of political ambition. But there is a wild card in this equation: Dan Patrick.
Patrick (along with Court Koenning) has installed his hand picked replacement for Corbin Van Arsdale, and if Court can win Eversole's seat, Patrick will indirectly control a very large chunk of political real estate. I'm frankly a little worried that Patrick is gaining entirely too much power. What is the end game here? I don't know, but it worries me. Will I endorse Court? At this point I don't rightly know. Court and I have a bit of history and it is not really of the good sort. I'm not going to air dirty laundry but just say that there are some judgment issues I have to come to terms with.