Commentary roundup: What newspapers around the state are saying

Houston Chronicle

Oct. 30 editorial, "Poll workers aren’t scorning poll watchers. They’re schooling them."

Election Judge Lauren Summerville, a Kingwood resident who has worked elections in the Greenspoint area since 2018, told us she’s already encountered a poll watcher and poll monitor, both of whom walked away better informed about the voting process.

The monitor sent from the state, for example, was a Texas Department of Transportation employee who gave Summerville’s polling site “rave reviews” and told her how much he had learned from his visit. “He was lovely,” Summerville told us. The poll watcher who showed up was, she said, “very unobtrusive and just sort of curious about the process.”

That’s not to downplay what Summerville still saw as an intended scare tactic from the state, but, she said, to reassure voters that on the ground, when they show up to vote, poll workers are prepared to help them through that process with competence and professionalism. Her main goal, she says, is to demystify the process for voters who might be prone to see the slightest glitch as a sign that their vote isn’t being counted. She is a Democrat; her alternate is Republican. The workers are split, 50-50.

So far, Summerville said, this election has gone more smoothly than some in the past at her location.

We hope it stays that way. And we’re encouraged of similar reports in other states, including that of Republican clerk Carly Koppes, in Weld County, Colo., who told NPR her interactions with watchers have also been focused on education: “I literally had one watcher get on their knees and follow my wires just so that I could prove to them that it is a closed network, that it’s not connected to the internet,” she said.

— Houston Chronicle Editorial Board

Dallas Morning News

Oct. 31 editorial, "Texas law that protects churches that report sex abuse needs clarity."

Texas state lawmakers passed a law in 2019 intended to shield charities, including churches, from liability when sharing information about sexual abuse allegations against their employees and contractors. Officials with the Southern Baptist Convention, facing its own sex abuse scandal after a damning report in May, backed a resolution this year encouraging lawmakers across the country to pass legislation like what Texas approved.

We think the law could benefit from clearer language about how far the liability protection extends. Nevertheless, the legislation is a welcome measure to protect congregations from predators who for too long have moved from church to church with impunity.

The Texas law, known as House Bill 4345, was sponsored by state Rep. Scott Sanford, R-McKinney, and written with contributions from Bart Barber, a Farmersville pastor who was recently elected SBC president. It states that charitable organizations acting in good faith are protected from liability when they disclose to current or prospective employers “information reasonably believed to be true” about allegations of sexual offenses.

If the case involves child abuse, then the allegation must have been reported to authorities as required by state law for a church to be protected from liability in disclosing the information to an employer.

Based on our conversations with attorneys familiar with the Texas law, there are differing opinions about whether it shields churches in cases when a sexual abuse allegation hasn’t been reported to law enforcement. For example, think of an allegation involving an adult victim who hasn’t called police or a person who comes forward alleging abuse that happened years or decades before.

— Dallas Morning News Editorial Board

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Oct. 28 editorial, "Kids are in danger. But Tarrant County Juvenile Board is in no hurry to fix detention issues"

We already knew the Tarrant County Juvenile Detention Center was struggling due to overcrowding. Incredibly, the situation has worsened because officials who could make changes refuse to see the severity of the issue at hand and want to pass the buck to someone else.

A recent meeting between Tarrant County commissioners and the judges who serve on Tarrant County's Juvenile Board proved futile, yet revealing: The judges refused to do anything about the overcrowding.

Worse, when Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley, who presides at Commissioners Court, asked the Juvenile Board to come up with solutions to overcrowding and other issues, District Court Judge Robb Catalano, who heads the Juvenile Board, said that was the first time the board had heard about Whitley's request. How on earth did he miss the news, including several stories in the Star-Telegram?

In the end, the Juvenile Board played the adult version of musical chairs, pointing out that the coming election will bring several new members to the Commissioners Court. Board members washed their hands of the very problems they are there to resolve, content to use the excuse of a transition. Perhaps, "The Do-Nothing Juvenile Board Does Nothing," should be our headline.

While it's true that there will soon be a changing of the guard at the county, there's no reason the Juvenile Board couldn't have brainstormed ways to reduce overcrowding to provide the next batch of memes with ideas or a jump start. They've seen the results of a county-ordered review and known about this problem since August. Surely someone must have been surprised, disappointed and determined to resolve it. Or, sadly, maybe not.

— Fort Worth Star-Telegram Editorial Board

San Antonio Express-News

Nov. 2 editorial, "Attack on Paul Pelosi was a clear act of political violence."

Debunking this and all the other lies was DePape himself, who told police that because Nancy Pelosi was the “leader of the pack” of what he called lies told by the Democratic Party, he was going to hold her hostage, break her kneecaps and then wheel her into Congress. He compared himself to the nation’s Founding Fathers fighting against tyranny.

Federal authorities have filed attempted kidnapping and assault charges against him. The San Francisco district attorney also announced state charges of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, residential burglary, false imprisonment and threatening the life or serious bodily harm to a public official.

Monday night after charges had been filed, Sen. John Cornyn’s first and only tweet on the assault was one wondering if the Biden administration would deport DePape, a Canadian who has overstayed his visa.

This is what moves Cornyn to comment on the case? Not the trauma of a fellow human? Not a prayer for recovery? Just another chance to score a point on immigration?

— San Antonio Express-News Editorial Board

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Austin American-Statesman Commentary Roundup: Nov. 6, 2022