The candidates for county judge share similar goals for job growth and economic stability but have opposing views on what to do with the county’s newest jail.

The race pits incumbent Republican Jim Lewis against Waco lawyer Ralph Cooper, a Democrat.

Lewis’ career with the county has spanned nearly four decades, starting with his role as sheriff’s office administrator before being appointed Precinct 2 county commissioner. He was then elected to two full terms as commissioner before running for county judge in 1990, a seat he has held ever since.

Ralph Cooper (left) told the McLennan County Commissioners Court and Judge Jim Lewis (right) that the Jack Harwell Detention Center might best be used as either a secure mental health facility or a secured drug rehabilitation center.
Waco Tribune-Herald file photos

He said he is seeking a sixth term to ensure the county’s stability and financial security in the future.

“Even though McLennan County is in good shape financially, I think we have to look at the long-term, what the economy will look like for the next year, the next five years. The only way that we are going to grow and continue to be in good shape is recruitment of good jobs in the county but Central Texas,” he said.

Cooper, a first-time office seeker, initially planned to run for county Democratic Party chair at the encouragement of party members before filing to run against Lewis.

Cooper said he has reached out to both Democrats and Republicans and is gaining support from both parties.

He said he thinks he can tap into the anti-incumbency steam that has plagued many long-term officeholders across the country.

That same energy is partially responsible for ending Precinct 4 County Commissioner Ray Meadows’ re-election campaign earlier this year, Cooper said.

Meadows, serving his 24th year in office, lost a run-off election in April to insurance agent Ben Perry. Perry faces Democrat Will Stevens and Libertarian David Meine in the November election.

“A statement made at the Ben Perry victory party was ‘Two down, one to go,’ ” Cooper said, a statement he said referred to election defeats for Meadows and former Precinct 1 Commissioner Wendall Crunk, who lost the GOP primary in 2008 to current commissioner Kelly Snell. “And the one is Jim Lewis.”

Lewis said he thinks the turn against incumbent candidates will have little impact, if any, on local elections. He added he isn’t sure if Meadows’ campaign failed because of a deliberate local mindset to vote long-term politicians out of office.

“I think the voters on the local level know the candidates, and they go with who they feel comfortable with,” Lewis said, adding he stands proudly on his record as judge.

Jail issue

The most divisive issue between the two is the new Jack Harwell Detention Center, the 816-bed jail completed this year. The jail, operated by private detention company Community Education Centers, has struggled to build its inmate population.

Cooper said he opposed the construction of the jail from the beginning and thought the commissioners court should have had more in-depth deliberations on the need for the jail before making a decision.

“There was a lot of public comment about not privatizing (the county jail on State Highway 6), but there was very little input on building a new jail,” Cooper said. “What little public input there was, was against it.”

Lewis, Meadows and Crunk approved the construction of the jail, while commissioners Lester Gibson and Joe Mashek voted against it.

Lewis maintains building the jail was a good decision at the time it was approved, given projections from experts predicting the county’s current facilities would be inadequate.

Feasibility studies conducted in 2008 showed the county would need 1,296 beds by the end of 2010, slightly more than the combined 1,260 capacity between the McLennan County Jail and the downtown jail.

“Nationwide there are more than 17,000 fewer inmates in jails than there were whenever the experts did the study on jail projections,” Lewis said, acknowledging the decline in inmates. “McLennan County is not the only one affected by it. So all we can rely on, and did rely on, is what the experts told us that the jail population would be.”

Delayed or not?

Cooper points to delays in opening the jail as CEC officials scrambled to negotiate contracts to house inmates from other facilities as proof that the facility was not needed.

Lewis contends the jail was supposed to open in June to begin with and the lack of inmate housing contracts did not cause a delay in opening the facility.

Documents for the $49 million in project revenue bonds that financed the jail state it was to be ready for occupancy in February.

Revenue from housing inmates is to be used to repay the bonds on the facility.

The county transferred all the inmates from the downtown jail to the Jack Harwell center in May, so housing revenue that normally comes through the downtown facility could be applied to the bond debt.

Lewis said he stands by the decision to build the jail and thinks the county will be able to fill it, though that may be some time in the future.

“In the long run, it definitely is (a good decision),” Lewis said. “It’s like building a closet in your home, no matter how big you build it, you’re eventually going to fill it up. Unfortunately, jails are the same way.”

Cooper said the county needs to hold serious deliberations about other possible ways to generate revenue from the new jail to cover the bond payments.

One idea he has would be to turn the jail into a secured mental health hospital, making some renovations to make the facility more suitable for patients.

“We’ve got to fix this situation somehow,” Cooper said. “We’ve got to come up with something, someway of rescuing the situation, and it isn’t going to be contract prisoners as the sole solution.”

rdennis@wacotrib.com

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