Election 2014: David Glickler for Hays County Judge

BY: KEFF CIARDELLO, EXECUTIVE EDITOR

@Keff_C

Since 1990, Hays County Court at Law No. 2 has been overseen by Judge Linda Rodriguez. But for the first time in her tenure as Judge she is without the luxury of running unopposed, as David Glickler is challenging her for her judgeship.

“I ran for District Judge of the 22nd Judicial District in 2012 in the republican primary,” said Glickler. “It is a three county race which involves Comal County, Hays County and Caldwell County, but Caldwell County is less than one percent of that vote. There were four people in the primary, the odds were overwhelmingly against me and my opponent came out of the primary with 49½% of the vote. I had 24%. Our final totals on election night were 55% to 45% and I had 45%. So I got over 20% of the available votes, but in Hays County I won with 64% but Comal County outvoted us and the folks in Hays County, largely across the board were very anxious for me to try and run for office again for Hays County office only and I heard rumors that the judge in Hays County Court at Law No. 2 was going to retire. Contacts were able to confirm that, and she (Linda Rodriguez) confirmed that was thinking about it, so I said I would run. A few months later, she decided she was going to run for reelection and now we have a race.”

Born in the northeast, Glickler received his Bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University in 1990. He then received a full scholarship to attend Southern Methodist University School of Law. After graduating from SMU, Glickler went on to be a law clerk at the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals for a couple of years before becoming the Assistant County Attorney for the Williamson County Attorney’s Office. He primarily handled juvenile and misdemeanor prosecutions, two areas that Glickler is very passionate about due to the immediate impact his rulings have on individuals in the community, especially minors.

“I think judges, especially in the County Court of Law, you’re not dealing with life and death in a capital murder case or someone going to prison for 99 years or even 20 years in prison, you’re dealing with misdemeanors,” said Glickler. “I think you have an opportunity to impact the community and I always enjoyed that, that’s what I enjoyed about doing juvenile law so much was that you had a kid come into court and, whether they were charged with possession of marijuana or aggravated robbery, you still looked at them and said ‘what can we do to keep this person from becoming a criminal?’

“I was block walking a few months ago when my wife ran into somebody that she said you need to come see this guy, he knows who you are and said that you saved his life. I didn’t know what she was talking about. He said ‘you don’t remember me but in 1996 or 1997 I was in trouble in the juvenile system in Williamson County when a friend of mine got into a fight with someone at school so I keyed that guy’s car. I picked up a weed charge and a theft and robbery charge. Everyone was done with me, my parents were done with me and were ready to send me to The Youth Commission and you were my prosecutor, and I don’t know why you did this but you went to court and said let’s give Trey a chance at the juvenile academy program.’ He said I sent him over there and it was a six month program and he was there for 18 months. Kids would go home every weekend and his parents wouldn’t take him so he would have to spend the weekends on the couches of the drill instructors or the director of the academies couch. He said after 18 months he graduated from the program and went back home, graduated from school and have never has been in trouble since. ‘None of that would have happened if you didn’t take a chance and push me and you saved my life and I would do anything for you’ he told me. We didn’t swat him on the butt and send him on his way or lock him up, we worked with him. You just have to invest a little bit more time a little more heart with these cases and read people.”

In 2001, Glickler was hired as a special prosecutor for the Special Crimes Division, handling over 100 cases in the state of Texas. He was promoted in 2007 to his current position of Deputy Division Chief of the White Collar Crime and Public Integrity Section, specializing in prosecuting public officials for crimes committed in violation of their office. Glickler has seen some high profile cases in his role as Deputy Division Chief, including the Winkler County nurse whistleblowing case that received national attention.

It is obvious that David Glickler has the appropriate experience necessary to become County Judge, but the question remains; does a change need to be made after 24 years under Judge Linda Rodriguez? Glickler believes so and says a more efficient court system is needed in Hays County as the population continues to grow.

“One thing that I’ve heard on the campaign trail and that I believe in is that we are creeping up on 200,000 citizens here,” said Glickler. “I think that we need to have more court times, from what I’m hearing. We need let people get to court and have access to court. A criminal charge against someone can stand in their way for a long time and sometimes unnecessarily. Civil Lawsuits, you hate hearing stories about someone in a car accident 2009 and five years later they’re still going to court on preliminary motions and what not. Every time they build a new middle school or high school, anywhere in the county, that’s because of growth and if there having that type of growth, than whatever numbers they have in the juvenile court there was before, you can do a proportional estimate and increase in people going to court. What you hear and what I believe in is you have to have court more often. Properly get people in and out of the system. Punishing someone for something they did a really long time ago has a much more dull effect. If an infant makes a mess in the room and you don’t find out till the end of the day, the infant practically forgets what they did. You walk in on an infant shaking a baby powder can around and take it out of their hands; the look on that infants face is priceless. They know they’re in trouble and why they’re in trouble. And the same thing applies to the system. You can have someone that has a drug charge and you go to court 18 months later, maybe they put themselves through rehab or kicked the habit and now you’re punishing them for something that happened 18 months ago that hasn’t impacted their life as much. So things like that we need to be open, have more courts, more court time those are things that I believe in and hope to bring.”

Early voting begins this Monday, October 20 at various locations, which can be located right here. It’s not too late to register to vote, as you can access a voter registration application for Hays County right here. For more information on David Glickler, visit his campaign website, Glicklerforjudge.com.