A former judge in Harris County, Devine feels he is the most qualified of the candidates for the position.

“This is a race where there’s one judge and three lawyers,” he said. “They’ve never had experience as a judge. Experience is what really drives this race.”

Cases that come before the 221^st Court include civil, criminal and family.

The other three candidates in the race are David O’Neil, a commercial law attorney, Scott Goleman, a civil attorney and Lisa Benge Michalk, a criminal defense attorney.

All of the candidates in the race, including Devine, are Republicans.

Devine, 51, a native of Indiana, earned a law degree from South Texas College of Law in Houston and spent 15 years in the oil, gas engineering and construction industries.

Four years ago, he moved to Magnolia with his wife and six children.

He served as District Judge in the 190th District Court of Harris County from 1995 to 2002.

Since 2002, he has served as a special judge in Harris County Juvenile of the Peace Courts, filling in for absent or vacationing judges.

Devine gained national attention several years ago when he fought to keep a painting of the 10 Commandments in his court room after being sued – a fight that he won.

While a judge in Harris County, he shut down sexually-oriented businesses along FM 1960.

The tenets of his campaign are experience and conservatism, he said.

“I’ll bring in some 15 years of experience as a no-nonsense judge who runs the court in a business-like manner where interests of taxpayers are important,” he said, adding that he “will be tougher,” than the previous judge, Suzanne Stovall, who is retiring.

If elected, Devine said one of his top priorities would be to keep the court docket system regulated.

“One of the biggest problems in Harris County is out-of-control dockets,” he said. “We reduced the backlog by 70 percent in three-and-a-half years I was there. That’s important because much of what a judge does is manage dockets.”

Devine said he previously served on the Montgomery County Juvenile board during which juvenile crime was “one of the worst.”

“I helped put faith-based programs in place for juveniles to finish high school degrees. That hadn’t been done in the past. We decided to keep them longer and made sure high school diplomas were earned.”

As a result, he said, 80 percent of the youths in the program did not return to the system.

“It was a positive effect on the entire family,” he said. “That was a program I am proud of.”

Despite being “a new guy” in Montgomery County, Devine said he feels he will have the support of voters, one of which is Constable David Hill, who Devine says has endorsed his campaign.

“I’m not a square court house lawyer, I feel that’s a plus,” he said. “I don’t have any favors to return. I bring in new ideas.”

Devine said if elected, his goals would be “keeping the interest in the taxpayers and doing justice with the litigants that are before you.”

He also pledged to “maintain the dignity of the court and criminal justice system.”

Early voting for the Montgomery County candidates begins Feb. 16 and lasts through the end of the month.

Election day is March 2.

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed