Fort Worth Star-Telegram Editorial: We recommend Deborah Peoples for county judge

The candidates for Tarrant County judge, Republican Tim O’Hare and Democrat Deborah Peoples, have more in common than their sharp campaign exchanges would indicate. Both came to politics after success in business. Each chaired their county political party — their tenures even overlapped — so each represents where the party base stands. County government needs a moderate approach that focuses on solving problems rather than political showmanship, especially on cultural issues. The judge, despite the title, is an executive position. He or she, along with county commissioners, must govern a purple county, one with a Democratic core and Republican strength in the suburbs. Peoples, 70, of Fort Worth shows more potential for filling that role. She brings leadership skills that will help county government attack longstanding concerns, adapt to the area’s unrelenting growth and prepare for future challenges in public health and the economy.

There are two issues that the next county judge needs to tackle immediately. First is the Tarrant County Jail. Inmate deaths are unacceptably high. Staffing is alarmingly low. The Commissioners Court must dig in to help Sheriff Bill Waybourn and his leadership team with recruiting, budgeting and process issues to end horrors and mistakes such as those uncovered in recent Star-Telegram investigative reporting. Second — and related — is the county healthcare system and mental health services. The long-term way to improve the jail’s performance is to reverse the sad reality that, as in other major American cities, the jail is the chief provider of crisis mental-health care. The county, under retiring Judge Glen Whitley, has started to address that, but the work must continue. Meanwhile, the John Peter Smith Hospital system needs a kick in the pants over the long delays in using bond money approved in 2018 to expand healthcare access. And public-health mistakes during the pandemic must be addressed to prepare better for future crises. To lead on these issues, Peoples will need to lean on her corporate experience as an AT&T manager more than her time as a partisan warrior. In campaigns for mayor and now county judge, she has shown a willingness to build consensus and focus on economic development and health and education access.