Edited again because coffee is life and I obviously haven’t had enough today…
Lando Antonatrail brought up a good point in a previous thread and since I completely missed the comments of Judge Steve White, Lando Antonatrail suggested that the AOC has wrongfully enjoyed the umbrella of the judicial immunity for their official acts and suggests the arm needs to be removed so that there is no mistaking the judiciary from the AOC.
The Challenge: The AOC is the administrative offices of the judicial council; a body comprised mostly of judges and justices. When sitting in their judicial council seats or conducting judicial council functions, they are acting as administrators. Lando Antonatrail suggests it is past time to sever the arm from the judicial body.
I don’t disagree.
The legislature runs all of its programs through executive branch offices and you don’t hear them crying about separation of powers and launching their own software and construction arms.
Similarly, I question the need for the AOC to even have a construction arm. The problem with severing the arm from the judicial body is that Justice Huffman, for example, damn near lives in the AOC’s offices several days a month and runs the show for the judicial council behind the scenes. These two organizations are tied at the hip. It’s really one organization that plays off as being two different organizations. The Governors administrative offices answer to the Governor. The administrators of the legislature answer to their respective legislator. Administrative offices for any organization in government are a part of the organization itself. Except the judicial branch, where someone thought feigning two different organizations was a swell idea.
So when one severs the arm to achieve transparency and accountability, where does the arm get cut?
Edited to add: Severing the arm and telling the severed arm that it must comply, for example, with all executive branch agency standards of things like the brown open meeting act, the california public records act, public contract code and other common sense exemptions the AOC has enjoyed seems from a legislative standpoint, the simplest of solutions.
Edited again to add a housekeeping matter: The polls and post/comment ratings on this site and your participation in them is untraceable, except from internet monitoring from work. Since thousands of people read this site daily and we genuinely believe that all should participate in these important discussions (even if you are terrified to post) we wish to encourage all readers to participate in post/comment ratings and polls. Yesterday, the “I think it’s fair to state that CCMS is a 3 billion dollar boondoggle” thread was read by 1013 sites/people (actual people reading the thread is likely way over that number in reality) yet only 19 people cast a vote in the polls. (it has increased overnight though…) While this site is run on a benevolent dictator model, we’re huge fans of democracy and participation. Pretend your a voter. 40% of you go to the polls. In this case, the poll is coming to you so we should see better than 40% representation or more than 400 participants.
Judicial Council Watcher 
antonatrail
February 17, 2011
When a body part becomes hopelessly infected, sometimes consideration is given to saving the whole body by chopping off the gangrenous part. If the judiciary suffers needlessly for the acts of the AOC, due consideration should be given to elimination of the disease. The administration of the legislative and executive branches could be role models for this surgery. As JCW says, their administration answers to them. In the case of the AOC it appears that the AOC believes that the judges answer to the AOC.
wendy darling
February 17, 2011
The AOC, and the Judicial Council, and the Office of the Chief Justice, believe, and act, that they are answerable to no one. Judges, like AOC employees and others, are expected to keep quiet and just do what they’re told by the Chief Justice, the Judicial Council and the AOC.
And FYI, there is no judicial immunity for administrative acts and conduct.
judicialcouncilwatcher
February 17, 2011
Though there exists no independent authority to investigate or prosecute it. If I were sitting in OCCM’s offices getting construction kickbacks, it is virtually unreportable, unprosecutable and impossible to investigate at a state level.
JusticeCalifornia
February 17, 2011
And as we look at the wreakage that was our once-honorable CA third branch, I would like to ask this question:
Whatever happened to Richard Fine?
He was jailed interminably, and ultimately for what? Isn’t he symbolic of the whistleblower cruelly tortured and humiliated by those he exposed? At the instigation/with the blessing of so may in the branch? In California– liberal Shangri-la? Doesn’t his case implicate EVERYONE involved, in any way, in the travesty that is his story? Isn’t his a case of ultimate shame for the branch? Shouldn’t we all be asking the question:
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO RICHARD FINE? AND HOW WAS THAT ALLOWED TO HAPPEN, IN THIS DAY AND AGE, IN THIS COUNTRY?
I do invite anyone to comment or disagree.
judicialcouncilwatcher
February 19, 2011
I agree. It appears he was a political prisoner of the judicial branch when one lays it all out on the table.
judicialcouncilwatcher
February 19, 2011
This does not appear to be a very attractive solution.
How about breaking the AOC into pieces, turning over OCCM to DGS with CCMS and the CCTC being moved over to the department of information technology? Then the judicial council can concentrate on its core mission of “judge stuff” and not be a tech or construction boondoggle to the rest of the state. Believe it or not, many, many jobs in divisions unrelated to OCCM’s core mission exist in other non-occm divisions and funded by construction funds. Those jobs are unnecessary if construction is moved over to DGS. If I get 5 thumbs up, I’ll turn it into a post and a poll similar to this one.
wendy darling
February 19, 2011
And turn over the AOC’s personnel administration and functions to the Department of Personnel Administration – just like the other two branches of California State Government.