There’s been a lot of talk lately about Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg’s fitness for her job, given that she was convicted of drunk driving — the kind of crime she prosecutes others for committing.

Is the Democrat fit to hold her job? I don’t think so, but she’s on the job until the end of the year. Then she’s out.

Now comes word much closer to home that a Republican candidate for Precinct 2 justice of the peace in Potter County has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of assault of a family member.

Rich Herman is running against Democratic incumbent JP Nancy Bosquez. Should he be elected? For the same reason Lehmberg shouldn’t still be DA down in Travis County, the answer is no.

http://www.connectamarillo.com/news/story.aspx?id=1087238#.U_lS6FJ0yt8

Herman says he pleaded guilty to save his family further trauma. He’d been charged initially with a felony, but agreed to the plea deal after it was reduced to a misdemeanor charge.

A misdemeanor conviction doesn’t disqualify someone from seeking public office in Texas. It surely ought to matter, though, whether to elect someone with a criminal record to a judicial position.

I live in Randall County, so I won’t have a say in who will serve as Potter County Precinct 2 justice of the peace. So, accept this view from the proverbial Peanut Gallery: Better to have someone adjudicating cases who doesn’t have such a blemish on his record.