Susan Criss
My second legislative candidate interview is with one of my favorite people in politics, Susan Criss, who is running to succeed Rep. Craig Eiland in HD23. Criss is a longtime District Court judge in Galveston County, who survived the 2010 election by being good enough to not have drawn an opponent. She’s spent a lifetime in politics – her father, Lloyd Criss, represented HD23 years ago, and is now the Chair of the Galveston County Democratic Party – and while serving as a judge she won accolades for her work to divert mentally ill defendants from prison. She’s also a longtime presence on social media who created the first court web site in Galveston County, and was the executive producer on an award-winning documentary called “The Color of Justice”. Here’s the interview:
I’ll start the interviews with statewide candidates next week. In the meantime, consider this: In last year’s Legislature, a grand total of 32 of the 150 members were women, or a bit more than 20 percent. I haven’t tried to figure out what the range of likely possibility will be for next year, but I think it’s safe to say that it can only be a good thing for the Legislature and the state of Texas if we take every opportunity to elect smart, capable, and highly qualified women like Susan Criss.