Unlawful past may hurt district attorney bid

Nicholas “Nico” LaHood, 37, Democratic candidate for Bexar County district attorney has made no secret about having been busted for selling drugs at a gentlemen's club when he was 21.

But court records indicate he has spent most of his adult life trying to keep the details of that arrest out of the public eye.

A hearing is set for Monday on a court order signed last summer — two weeks after he announced for district attorney — that sealed an attempt in 1999 to expunge the record of his arrest for the sale of 200 pills of the illegal drug Ecstasy.

LaHood's political opponent, District Attorney Susan Reed, wants the courts to clarify whether the expunging documents are part of the records the state attorney general ruled were open last month.

LaHood says he will not contest having the records made public, explaining that his request to seal the record was just to tie up loose legal ends.

Being open about the official records, even at this late date, is a smart move for the ambitious young lawyer from a respected and politically connected family, but it may not be enough.

Some voters are just not going to be able to get beyond LaHood's criminal history.

Seeking a nondisclosure order in 1995 that sealed public access to his arrest record was not a wise move, LaHood admits, but he was not contemplating running for public office when he did it.

Until his arrest records were made public by the attorney general a few weeks ago, LaHood spoke in generalities about his arrest.

The court records reveal some interesting facts about his arrest in June 1994 for selling $3,600 worth of a controlled substance to an undercover San Antonio officer from the Repeat Offenders Program.

LaHood said he was a third-year student at San Antonio College and working at a nightclub on St. Mary's Street for about year when he was arrested.

“I was not thinking. I was living for the moment. I thought I was a cool kid,” he said.

He said he knew the people who could supply the drugs and he knew the customers who wanted to buy them and he became the middleman. LaHood said he never used the drugs himself and does not even drink alcohol.

After his arrest, LaHood's case was fast-tracked through the courts. He entered a plea before District Judge Sid Harle in August 1994 and was given deferred adjudication, a probated $1,000 fine and ordered to perform 320 hours of community service.

Initially, he was to have done the community service through the city's parks department, but when it was changed to an AIDS facility, LaHood asked if could do the community service at his church, St. George Maronite Catholic Church.

In a letter to the judge, LaHood explained his community service would include performing as a Lebanese folk dancer during the church's annual fundraiser and during the Folklife Festival in addition to other activities during the church's Christmas festival and the Folklife Festival.

LaHood completed the community service quickly, and 17 months after his plea, he asked for early termination of his probation.

He has maintained a clean record since then and built a successful law practice since graduating from law school eight years ago.

Still the question remains, does Bexar County want a district attorney who acknowledges having spent a year selling drugs?

Illegal drugs are a serious problem in our society, selling drugs is no minor matter.

Technically, LaHood does not have a drug conviction on his record, but voters must decide whether they want the highest law enforcement officer in our community to have a drug arrest in his past.

His unlawful activities in the summer of 1994 are not something that can just be sealed and forgotten.

gpadilla@express-news.net