Today's Dallas Morning News carries the editorial, "Bradley’s nomination not worth fighting for in Senate."
State Senate confirmation of John Bradley as chairman of the Texas Forensic Science Commission is not going smoothly, which isn’t surprising, given his prickly, pugnacious, headstrong side that he doesn’t hide very well.
Those traits have crimped his effectiveness as chairman, and senators now have a chance to force a change. We think they should open the door to new leadership that can restore lost confidence in the commission’s evenhandedness.
Bradley’s willfulness hasn’t served him well as chair of a commission that’s dealing with the explosive case of the executed Cameron Todd Willingham. And it didn’t serve him well in dealing with tough questions this week on whether he ought to keep his job.
"Senate should reject Perry pick," is the title of the San Antonio Express-News editorial.
Serious questions about the forensic science led the commission — created to review cases of alleged negligence or misconduct that leads to forensic errors — to take up the Willingham case in 2007. Perry, who allowed Willingham's execution to proceed in spite of those questions, has a vested interest in seeing the commission's work stalled or skewed.
Rather than fulfill the mandate of the commission to the citizens of Texas, Bradley, as chairman, has done his best to serve Rick Perry. After a series of foot-dragging exercises over 15 months, Bradley finally allowed initial testimony to be heard in the Willingham case in January — coincidentally, just as the legislative session began.
Senators shouldn't be fooled, and this shouldn't be a partisan issue. Bradley has put the interests of the man who appointed him over those of the commission he is supposed to lead. That should disqualify him, plain and simple.
Earlier coverage begins with a link to the Austin American-Statesman editorial against Bradley's confirmation. The Houston Chronicle has also called on senators to reject the nomination
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