John H. Crooker Jr., a retired senior partner in the Fulbright & Jaworski law firm, passed away. He was 92.

Johnnie as some folks called him was a great Democrat and a good guy. I knew him for almost 40 years. He also was very much concerned about the judiciary in Harris County and in the state. His concern was that politics and in some cases revenge was changing the courts by electing some unqualified individuals to the bench and he wanted to stop it. So, he formed a committee that along with John Hill (a former Attorney General of Texas) and some others Houston civic and legal leaders tried to reform the way Judges were elected. They first wanted to have Judges selected or elected on a non-partisan basis. (An effort that still to this day is going on in Austin) But that is hard to sell to the Texas Legislature.

If they couldn't get that done they wanted voters to at least know who the incumbent Judges were by having an "I" by their name. This they reasoned would give the voters some hint as to whom they were voting for. So, the group hired this Analyst to go to Austin and lobby for putting the letter "I" by the Judges names. They also want to make it harder for some attorney to lose a case in front of a Judge and run down and file for that bench in a fit of revenge. So, let's require candidates for Judge to collect a certain number of signatures in order to qualify for running for Judge. That would stop those last minute hot heads candidates from filing against good Judges.

A state wide bill was introduced which would have placed these requirements on those running for Judge. If you were an incumbent, in Texas, you would have an "I" after your name and in order to get on the ballot you would have to collect a certain number of signatures. John came to Austin several times to lobby for the bill and to testify. He enjoyed watching the elected officials at work. He had at once time served President Lyndon Johnson in an appointed position and knew the President before Johnson went to Washington. Crooker loved politics and public affairs.

(Fulbright & Jaworski had a close relationship with Johnson over the years, including representing Johnson in a contest over the 1948 Senate election that he won by 87 votes, The firm also represented Johnson in a 1960 lawsuit contesting his dual candidacy for the U.S. Senate and the Democratic vice presidential nomination)

The bill was moving along just fine until some rural legislators started to complain about their Judges having to collect signatures. .Crooker decided that we should drop that provision from the bill and make it apply only to urban areas. Next an important member of the House (from Houston) companied about giving incumbent Judges an advantage over non incumbents with the "I" after their name. So Johnnie agreed to drop that from the bill. Other legislators started to want their urban counties removed from the bill since "they did not have a Houston problem in their areas".

As often happens in Austin compromise and the need to at least get something that would work left the reformers with a bare bones bill that had just one requirement. If you want to run for Judge in Harris County you must first collect enough signature to show that you have support (and to do away with those lawyers seeking revenge at the last minute against a Judge on the bench). That is the law today and for that the Judiciary can thank Johnnie Crooker a real Texas lawyer and gentleman.

Perhaps someday Johnnie, Texas will move to a better way of electing Judges.