Editorial Opinion:

For the past 17 years it has been clear to anyone with average intelligence that Willacy County has a corrupt and incompetent county and district attorney.

Perhaps the powers that be in Austin don't realize how bad things are here. We'll wager there isn't a worse example of an elected official in any of Texas 254 counties than our own Juan Angel Guerra.

And yet, he is still in office after all these years creating an overpowering disrespect for law and order. He has allowed felony cases of murder, sexual assault, drug dealing and drunk driving to go unpunished.

Why is he re-elected time-after-time?

Its easy to explain, the criminals are a very sizeable part of the electorate and they have an interest in seeing things remain as they are -- No criminal prosecution.

In addition to his incompetence Guerra is also vindictive, using lawsuits and the threat of lawsuits to intimidate his enemies. He has tried to use the courts to remove the county judge, the county clerk, the sheriff and the district clerk so far this year in addition to filling a $20 million lawsuit against the taxpayers.

When the state has a rogue judge there are procedures for removing him/her from office until charges against that person are judged in a court of law. Juan Guerra has felony crimes charged against him but there are no procedures for removing him.

In the interest of the rule of law we urge State Senator Eddie Lucio and State Representative Juan Escobar to introduce such legislation at the earliest opportunity.