Audia Jones for District Attorney, and Judge R.K. Sandill, 127th Civil District Court

GROUND GAME ...HARRIS COUNTY

ELECTION NEWS: On Tuesday, March 3, 2020, Audia Jones, a lifelong Democrat will try to unseat Kim Ogg, the current Harris County District Attorney. Ogg is the incumbent running for re-election. Early voting will begin on Tuesday, February 18, 2020. - PAGE 03C

TUESDAY, MARCH 3, 2020

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HARRIS COUNTY

Audia Jones is Running for Harris County District Attorney in 2020

A FEW PEOPLE YOU SHOULD GET TO KNOW!

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Fort Bend ISD receives more than $39,000 from Kroger’s Backpack Boosters Initiative

FORT BEND ISD – We appreciate Kroger shoppers for their support of Fort Bend ISD during the store’s Backpack Boosters initiative this year. Because of community-wide support, FBISD is the recipient of $39,285 worth of school supplies.

Backpack Boosters helps fill the gap and alleviate the burden placed on teachers to provide adequate supplies at their own expense. FBISD was among Houston-area school districts to receive a share of $275,000 worth of school supply kits that customers purchased during a two-week period this summer, July 19 through August 6.

“We are extremely grateful for Kroger’s continued support of Fort Bend ISD students in need through its Backpack Boosters initiative,” said Payal Pandit Talati. “This year, the initiative equipped over 4,000 students with school supplies; impacting their path for academic achievement and success in the classroom.”

FBISD will distribute the kits to schools as needed throughout the school year.

Shown during the check presentation (from l-r) are FBISD Collaborative Communities team members Dr. Anthony Indelicato, FBISD Chief of Staff and Collaborative Communities; Tyenise Blackmon, Coordinator; Sparkle Anderson, The Kroger Co, Corporate Affairs Manager; Payal Pandit Talati, Executive Director; and Reba Cook, Executive Assistant.

Judge R.K. Sandill, a Legacy of Progress: • First judge of South Asian descent elected in Texas • First judge in nation to sign an order granting parental leave to counsel • First judge in Harris County to minimize costs and expedite discovery matters • First judge in Harris County to organize a pro bono program for those who can’t find counsel

EARLY VOTING WILL BEGIN ON TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2020, AND END ON FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2020

PLEASE VOTE DEMOCRAT IN 2020!!!

A message from Asher Kelly and Judge R.K. Sandill.

Pol. Adv paid for by The R.K. Sandill for Judge Campaign, Mary Shannon Santee, Treasurer, in compliance with the voluntary limits of the Judicial Campaign Fairness Act.

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Judge Julia Maldonado is running for Re-Election in 2020 Democratic Primary Judge Julia Maldonado and many of her Democratic colleagues are currently preparing to seek their party’s nomination to continue their service to the people of Harris County, Texas. Judge Maldonado will be seeking reelection as your Judge for the 507th Family District Court. Yes, Judge Julia Maldonado is asking for “OUR” vote in the Democratic Party Primary scheduled to be held on Tuesday, March 3, 2020, in Harris County.

Once Judge Maldonado has earned the Democratic Party nomination in the race for the 507th Family District Court she will need our support again, in the “2020 GENERAL ELECTION” scheduled for Tuesday, November 3, 2020.

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REMINDER: “I’m asking for the vote of every Democrat.”

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Judge Julia Maldonado is the Presiding Judge of the 507th Family District Court in Harris County. Julia was elected to the 507th District Court in the November 2018 election. She is currently the Administrative Judge Family Law Division of Harris County. Out of the ten family court judges, Julia is the senior judge.

JUDGE

JULIA MALDONADO

Fairness and Families First!

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...AUDIA JONES FOR DISTRICT ATTORNEY 2020

“We need change, not broken promises of reform. I’m running for district attorney because we need a DA for the many, not the few.” — Audia Jones for Harris County District Attorney 2020

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2020 Candidate for Harris County D.A. Rolls Out Policies To Keep People Out of Jail

Audia Jones, 2020 Candidate for Harris County District Attorney recently unveiled her plans for bold progressive reforms in Harris County. She vows to increase public safety while ending mass incarceration. Read more about her plans to bring balance back to sentencing.

THE PLATFORM

Public safety is compromised every day in Harris County because our elected leaders choose to focus the

attention of the criminal justice system on low-level crime while failing to solve and successfully prosecute some of the most serious crimes. This approach is costly, counterproductive, and cruel. It creates a cycle of incarceration that destroys people and families without doing anything to make us safer.

The current District Attorney promised that she would reform this broken system, but sadly little has changed.

We are still locking up people for possessing marijuana and detaining people who are presumed innocent because they cannot afford the high bail amounts requested at the direction of the current District Attorney.

We need to rewrite the rules of our criminal justice system in Harris County. We must focus our resources on holding people accountable for the most serious crimes, and investing in evidence-based services like mental health and drug treatment that we know work to interrupt cycles of crime and help people become stable, contributing members to their families and communities.

That’s the justice system Audia Jones will fight for everyday as your District Attorney.

Audia is running for District Attorney because true

criminal justice reform in Harris County requires policies that will:

Increase Safety While Ending Mass Incarceration; End Excessive Punishment; Ensuring That No One Is Above The Law; Support Crime Survivors; and, Build Community Trust.

INCREASE SAFETY WHILE ENDING MASS INCARCERATION

Incarceration should always be the last resort, but right now we treat incarceration as the default way to hold people accountable. People who pose no threat to public

AUDIA JONES FOR D.A.

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EARLY VOTING WILL BEGIN ON TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2020, AND END ON FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2020

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...AUDIA JONES FOR DISTRICT ATTORNEY 2020

“Real change begins the moment we have honest conversations with the people who genuinely want to see change made and make change happen.” — Audia Jones for Harris County District Attorney 2020

2020 Candidate for Harris County D.A. Rolls Out Policies To Keep People Out of Jail

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safety should not be jailed, particularly when they’re only there because they can’t afford to pay to get out. As District Attorney, Audia will stop seeking cash bail and will seek to eliminate pretrial incarceration unless necessary to ensure community safety or to prevent willful failure to return to court.

Furthermore, we must recognize that the incarceration for certain criminal offenses does little to increase public safety, and, instead, only makes our communities more dangerous by making people and their families even less stable. This is particularly true for brown and black

families, because prosecution of low-level crimes contribute to a persistent racial imbalance in our criminal justice system- for example, even though Latinos, African-Americans and white people use marijuana at the same rate, Latinos and African-Americans are more likely to be arrested, charged, and convicted than their white counterparts.

In order to focus on those crimes that affect public safety, Audia will de-prioritize low level offenses like marijuana possession and criminal trespass when the trespass occurred due to a person’s homelessness. The prosecution of these cases in particular draws vital resources and attention away from the cases that need it the most, and contribute to racial disparities in our criminal justice system.

Harris County must also focus on programs that build

both the individual and their community. Audia will expand no-fee diversion programs, which have been shown to reduce rates of re-arrest, for crimes such as theft, and crimes of poverty and homelessness. She will ensure that prosecutor-led diversion programs are administered in ways that are fair to citizens and non-citizens alike, and that ability to pay fees is not a barrier to treatment. Possession of small amounts of narcotics will be handled effectively, by treating the problem as one of a public health issue and not something that the criminal justice system can solve on it’s own.

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EARLY VOTING WILL BEGIN ON TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2020, AND END ON FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2020

“It’s imperative that we make it our business to elect the “BEST-QUALIFIED” candidates who value “US” whenever we go to the polls to cast our ballot.”

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“We need change, not broken promises of reform. I’m running for district attorney because we need a DA for the many, not the few.” — Audia Jones for Harris County District Attorney 2020

ENDING EXCESSIVE PUNISHMENT

Harris County has sent more people to death row than any other county in Texas. The retrograde practice risks the execution of a wrongly convicted person, serves no purpose beyond retribution, and is disproportionately applied to people of color. As District Attorney, Audia Jones will use her voice at the legislature to oppose capital punishment in Texas and she will end Harris County’s ignoble position as one of the country’s largest producers of death sentences and executions.

Our prisons have become one of the largest health care providers in the country for older Americans who have spent decades behind bars for crimes they committed in their youth. Moreover, there are thousands of people serving long or life sentences in Texas that have served enough time, transformed their lives while incarcerated, and no longer present any serious safety risk to the community. Audia Jones will actively advocate for parole and compassionate release for those who are elderly or sick, and for everyone who has earned a second chance to re-enter society as a productive neighbor and community member.

NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW

While our criminal justice system targets the poor, people of color, the homeless, and those who are mentally ill, more serious crimes and abuses of power are far too often left unpunished. This is why Audia Jones will follow best practices and expand oversight to hold all individuals equally accountable under the law including, Powerful Actors, to increase public trust in law enforcement while decreasing socially-damaging crimes.

We must also make sure that the people and corporations who commit serious harms to our environment through their criminal actions are held accountable, and

that people and corporations that steal wages from our most vulnerable communities are not able to do so without consequence.

Finally, it is a black-eye to our justice system that nearly 40% of homicides go unsolved. Nothing undermines confidence in the law and respect for law enforcement than failing to solve murders while focusing resources on marijuana prosecutions.

We have too much punishment and too little accountability. As District Attorney, Audia will ensure that resources saved by ending unnecessary prosecution and imprisonment of poor people will be redirected to investigate high-level and violent cases in an adequate and timely manner, ensuring that we can justly prosecute those offenses that affect our communities the most, in a way that does not punish race or poverty.

SUPPORT CRIME SURVIVORS

For too long, the primary way that prosecutors show crime survivors that we care about the harm done to them is to treat the person who committed the harm as harshly as possible — locking them up and throwing away the key. However, a recent survey of Texas crime survivors shows that harsh treatment of the offender is not the support that survivors want or need.

What crime survivors want most is to make sure that the harm never happens to them or anyone else again.

This is especially important because crime survivors often live in the same homes and often even in the same bodies as people who perpetrate harm. Since most people who go to jail or prison will re-enter society again, the smartest course of action is to focus resources on stopping the cycle of harm.

That’s why the vast majority of crime survivors want their elected leaders to focus just as much on investing far more resources on treatment and prevention as they do on punishment. Instability and vulnerability breed cycles of

harm and violence. So, when we focus on drug treatment, mental health services, or job training we make people more stable and connected to their communities, and therefore less likely to be a perpetrator or victim of crime in the future.

BUILDING COMMUNITY TRUST

Audia Jones recognizes that repeated systemic failures and broken promises of reform have severely eroded public trust in Harris County’s criminal justice system.

Under her leadership, the Harris County D.A.’s Office will establish a community advisory board to provide community leaders with a public forum to voice concerns or provide feedback regarding office policies and actions.

The District Attorney’s office will also assign public points of contact for communities, hold frequent town halls for public comment, and clearly communicate reasons for prosecutorial action or inaction regarding cases in the public interest.

Audia will use her platform as Harris County District Attorney to advocate for important policy reforms and investment in our communities, such as in education, housing, and healthcare, and pledges to work with other county officials and departments to meet these shared goals.

It’s long past time to acknowledge that Harris County’s social and economic problems will not be solved by prosecution and incarceration. We will build a safer, stronger Harris County by holding more people accountable, ending excessive punishment, and decreasing our bloated jail and prison populations and preparing people to thrive back home in their families and communities.

After enduring decades of abuse and mistreatment, our communities have had enough. We need big, bold reform not more broken promises. Audia Jones is running for District Attorney because we need a District Attorney who will fight for all of us.

Join the Campaign: info@audiajones.com

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MEET THESE PUBLIC SERVANTS ONLINE AT: WWW.FORTBENDTX.GOV

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THE MOST ETHNICALLY DIVERSE COUNTY IN AMERICA

Fort Bend County strives to be the most family friendly community in Texas by providing a high quality, enriching and safe environment. Each department and elective office provides fast, friendly service to its customers and continually strives to be number one in efficiency and effectiveness. The Commissioners Court fulfills its leadership role by providing necessary resources to the offices and departments to accomplish their duties and goals by establishing budgets, policies and procedures to make the most efficient use of the resources and by actively pursuing quality businesses to locate in Fort Bend County.

The Gulf of Mexico is located only 50 miles from Fort Bend County and its close proximity helps to hold the summer and winter temperatures to moderate levels. Extremes in climatic changes are usually short in duration.

View current weather conditions.

Natural Resources

Fort Bend County has approximately 11 square miles of surface water in rivers, creeks and small lakes. The County is drained by the Brazos and San Bernard Rivers as well as Oyster Creek. The Brazos River formed a broad alluvial valley, up to ten miles wide in places. The

resulting fertile soils have been a major contributing factor to the agricultural industry in the County.

The three permanently floatable waterways in Fort Bend County are the Brazos River, the San Bernard River south of Farm to Market Road 442, and Oyster Creek south of State Highway 6. The San Bernard River south of Interstate Highway 10 is a seasonally floatable waterway, shared on the west with adjacent counties. Soils vary from the rich alluvial soils in the Brazos River Valley to sandy loam and clay on the prairies. Native trees include pecan, oak, ash and cottonwood, with some old bottomland forests remaining along waterways.

Mineral resources include oil, gas, and sulfur. Sand, clay, and gravel are commercially produced.

Location

Fort Bend County is located in the Houston metropolitan area of southeast Texas. It encompasses a total of 875.0 square miles (562,560 acres). The terrain varies from level to gently rolling with elevations from 46 to 127 feet above sea level, with an average elevation of 85 feet.

US 59 traverses the center of the County from northeast to southwest, while US 90A crosses from east to west.

State Highways (SH) 6, 36 and 99 provide important north-south routes. Neighboring counties are Austin, Brazoria, Harris, Waller and Wharton.

Climate

WWW.FORTBENDCOUNTYTX.GOV The growing season is 296 days, with an average annual rainfall of 45.3 inches. The average first freeze date in the fall is December 7, and the average last freeze date is February 14. Temperatures range from a mean minimum in January of 41º to a mean maximum in July of 93º.

MANISH SETH REPUBLICAN PARTY PRIMARY — TUESDAY, MARCH 3, 2020

FOR STATE REPRESENTATIVE HOUSE DISTRICT 27 MANISH SETH: “First and foremost, I am a family man. I have been married to my wife, Rumana, for over 20 years. We are blessed to have two wonderful daughters. My priority in life is to be the best husband and father to these three remarkable women God has so graciously put in my life.

My roots are in this Fort Bend community. I am a proud member and contributor to the community that has given me so much. I have served this community tirelessly by dedicating time to causes near and dear to my heart. As a Board Member & Treasurer on the Fort Bend Chamber of Commerce, I worked closely with small businesses to ensure they had the most prudent growth strategies. I have also served on AccessHealth (Board Member), Cullinan Park Conservancy Board (Board Member), Ridge Point Orchestra Booster Association (Treasurer), and Fort Bend Republican Party (Treasurer). Most recently, I was appointed by Governor Greg Abbott to the One Call Commission Board, which has allowed me to serve at the State level.

I was raised in this area and was able to take the opportunities presented to me and capitalize on them. I plan to take my experiences and work to bring opportunities to District 27. I want to bring a perspective of knowing the area since childhood to our House seat, and to use my experiences in growing a business, hiring people, and working with others to build our District 27 House seat.”

TRUSTWORTHY COMMITTED DEDICATED QUALIFIED HONEST

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Political Ad Paid for by Manish Seth, Candidate for Texas House of Representatives District 27, Andrew Barbe. Treasurer

There are several areas I want to focus on:

Education: We have to work with the local schools to continue providing a long-term educational plan for our children. This includes providing activities to enhance learning after normal school hours. It also means finding ways to provide skills to help the next generation transition from high school and skills to help when they enter the workforce. But it’s not just the children; it’s also the teachers. Making sure our teachers are paid fairly and are given the necessary resources from the State.

Business: District 27 is rapidly changing, and as data shows, many new people are moving to our District. With the influx of people, the District needs to continue to promote business and provide a pro-business growth environment. Local businesses that provide jobs must become a priority. To attract businesses to our community, infrastructure planning must happen at the State level. From my experience working with start-ups to large companies, I believe I have the skills of a “Business Acumen” to take this to the State Legislature to advocate on behalf of our District.

Healthcare: As someone who deals with several different healthcare clients, and through my work with AccessHealth, I have seen first-hand the need for healthcare services in our District. I also have experience in working to make sure it comes in a cost-efficient manner. We must look at ways to make sure our State is taking care of Texans, all Texans. Whether it’s our children, the elderly, or our veterans, we must ensure healthcare is accessible to all.

Property Taxes: We live in a very desirable District. As the demand for property in our area increases, so does our property taxes. Property tax laws have changed, and I will monitor to make certain the changes are positive for District 27.

2019 JUDGE OF THE YEAR

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VOTE EARLY: Feb. 18-28, 2020 ELECTION DAY: March 3, 2020

MEET JUDGE R.K. SANDILL

About Judge Sandill

Judge Ravi K. Sandill is a Texan, husband, dad and cancer survivor, who is running to continue serving the people of Harris County on the 127th District Court. Ravi grew up on military bases throughout Texas, attended college in Austin, and graduated from law school in Houston. He has served as Judge of the 127th since 2009 and is the first ever district court judge in Texas of South Asian descent.

Grounded in Service

Judge Sandill is from a military family and learned the value of service at a young age. His father, Retired Lt. Col. Brij Sandill, served in the U.S. Army and the U.S. Air Force for a combined 28 years. Ravi spent most of his childhood at Fort Hood Army Base in Killeen, Texas and Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, later moving with his family to Royal Air Force Station Lakenheath, England. Following high school in England, Ravi attended the University of Texas at Austin, where he obtained a degree in government and served as a summer intern for President Bill Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisors.

Judge Sandill went on to earn his law degree from the University of Houston Law Center, where he was an active participant in the law school’s moot court team and an editor on the Houston Journal of International Law.

Private and Public Sector Experience

After graduating law school, Judge Sandill worked as a briefing attorney for Murry Cohen, Senior Justice on Texas’s First District Court of Appeals. He then went into private practice in Houston, where he focused on commercial, appellate, and trade secret litigation for a number of years.

Ravi first ran for judge in 2008, defeating a 28-year incumbent to become judge of the 127th. Since 2009, Judge Sandill has presided over more than 225 civil trials and has

adjudicated over 15,000 matters. He consistently receives high ratings among lawyers in Harris County and was easily reelected to a third term as judge in November 2016. Judge Sandill is committed to streamlining access to the courthouse and has implemented a number of cost and time saving measures to better serve the people of Harris County.

Overcoming Adversity

As a young attorney and just two months before he was to marry his law school classmate, Ravi was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a cancer of the blood cells. He got married while undergoing chemotherapy and radiation, but the cancer returned just six months later, requiring Ravi to undergo a stem-cell transplant at age 27. Ravi has been cancer free for over fourteen years and is forever grateful to the doctors and nurses who treated him and to his wife, Kelly, who supported him along the way. Although his illness left him unable to have biological children, Ravi did not let that stop him from becoming a father. In 2006, he and Kelly adopted their son, Asher, who is the greatest blessing of their lives.

serves on the Board of Directors of the American Leadership Forum (Houston), is an Alexis de Toqueville member of the United Way, and has served as a Board Trustee for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society’s Gulf Coast Chapter. A strong supporter of public education, Ravi is also on the advisory board of iSTEM, an educational program that aims to better prepare students in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and math, and serves as a volunteer with HISD’s Real Men Read program.

Judge Sandill has been recognized as an Extraordinary Minority by Texas Lawyer magazine and in 2015 was honored to receive the Achievement in Public Service Award from the University of Houston’s Alumni Association. In 2019, Judge Sandill was named Trial Judge of the Year by the Hispanic Bar Association of Houston.

Ravi, his wife Kelly, a partner at the law firm of Hunton AK LLP, and their son Asher live in central Houston, where Asher attends public school.

Giving Back

Judge Sandill is aware of the privilege and honor of serving the public, and he works tirelessly to give back to the legal community and to the people of Harris County. For over 10 years, Ravi served on the Executive Board of the Garland R. Walker American Inn of Court, an organization dedicated to improving the skills, professionalism and ethics of lawyers, and he is a frequent speaker on legal topics throughout Texas and the nation. He is a fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation, the Houston Bar Foundation, and the Houston Young Lawyers’ Foundation, and serves on the Board of Directors of the University of Houston Law Center’s Alumni Association. He has also co-chaired numerous Houston Bar Association Committees, including the Minority Opportunities in the Law Profession Committee, which received a President’s Award from the State Bar in 2013.

Judge Sandill is also active in his local community. He

www.judgesandill.com

Pol. Adv paid for by Judge R.K. Sandill for Texas Supreme Court, Mary Shannon Santee, Treasurer, in compliance with the voluntary limits of the Judicial Campaign Fairness Act.