State of the Judiciary, July 4th 2011
For more information on a viable plan to clean up this mess, click here.
Posted on July 4, 2011
For more information on a viable plan to clean up this mess, click here.
[…] the scuttle goes that she’s really bent about our state of the judiciary speech so she wants to make it a reality. You probably remember our good friend that is promoting the […]
Michael Paul
July 4, 2011
Ouch.
JusticeCalifornia
July 4, 2011
Wow.
Now I know why ROSE B IRD TWO seems so familiar! She’s rg’s bought and paid for stepford wife.
Judicial Council Watcher
July 5, 2011
Bought and paid for stepford wife. It would be difficult to produce a better analogy than this. We didn’t comment for 24 hours to this comment because we were laughing so hard.
courtflea
July 4, 2011
Loved the video!! Rather startling how the delivery matches what is really being said…that is a cartoon character really is appropriate for the delivery of the same old BS.
Judicial Council Watcher
July 4, 2011
Truth is not propaganda.
Though tossing in a tiny bit of propaganda assists in overall effect..
courtflea
July 4, 2011
truth it is JCW my friend, but the telling everyone to move on, etc. etc. to explain what is going on, classic AOC/CJ speak! I can’t wait to see the sequel..the BV version!
JusticeCalifornia
July 5, 2011
I look at the state of the judiciary, and the word that comes to mind, front and center ,is something less obvious and in many ways more insidious than corruption.
That word is degradation. Ron George was extraordinarily machiavellian. In order to control the branch, and condition it to tolerate corruption, he engaged in the systematic degradation of the branch. “I will feed you, I will clothe you, I will promote you, but you better do everything I say, and put the blindfold on when I ask.”
Perfect example: Ron George publicly asserted his control (and took Tani down) when he assigned Tani the task 0f asking the Judicial Council to accept the Judnick report on the Marin child custody evidence destruction. There she was, heir apparent to his throne, a mother of color, of immigrant heritage, with a law enforcement background, and a touted history of protecting DV victims. He wiped out her credibility in one fell swoop, and let everyone know just how low she would go. He had her on her knees before she ever took office. Now his minions are playing with her while she suffers under the delusion that she is “in charge” Hah!
It took Kim Basinger “9 1/2 weeks” of debasement before she walked out on Mickey Rourke.
I wonder how long Tani will keep her blindfold on, and continue playing the RG branch degradation game. It ain’t pretty.
sharonkramer
July 5, 2011
THE HUSSLE & FLOW OF DISINFORMATION IN CALIFORNIA COURTS
http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/12275433/the-hussle-flow-of-disinformation-in-ca-courts
JusticeCalifornia
July 5, 2011
Nice one Mrs. Kramer. woohoo this thread is creative.
sharonkramer
July 5, 2011
Glad you enjoyed it. So, if I physically went into the Adminstrative Offices of the Courts one day, is this what I would see?
JusticeCalifornia
July 5, 2011
As we all take aim and fire our verbal and video missives, I can only imagine RB2 stamping her feet, and running to tell anyone who will listen that we are being mean to her. 🙂
Judicial Council Watcher
July 5, 2011
….or worse. Let it be known that we’re not advocates of violence in this revolution. As we have alluded to many times before, this revolution will be won by the pen without a single shot being fired. We’ve used ground attack images, sometimes with a related audio soundtrack such as the A-10 Warthog and AC/DC’s shoot to thrill to imply that we’ve pounded the message home, hopefully with the desired result.
JusticeCalifornia
July 5, 2011
The pen is mightier than the sword. Good visuals and sound help.
visual/verbal shock and awe. . . .
You are supplying an amazing service, JCW.
Judicial Council Watcher
July 5, 2011
What is HAL 2000?
Hey, hey! Ho ho pretty tani’s got to go…
Wendy Darling
July 5, 2011
Published late today, Tuesday, July 5, on Courthouse News Service, by Maria Dinzeo:
Chief Justice Says No Sacred Cows in Applying Pain of $350 Million Cut
By MARIA DINZEO
http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/07/05/37891.htm
Long live the ACJ.
Judicial Council Watcher
July 5, 2011
So they just hired 20+ CCMS consultants and offer them 1+ year contracts and wish us to believe that there are no sacred cows?
JusticeCalifornia
July 5, 2011
Are these new hires confirmed?
Judicial Council Watcher
July 6, 2011
JCW received this information from what has been a reliable source and has no reason to doubt it. We’ve not confirmed this information with the AOC.
We can see by the e-mail to Michael Paul that this one year plus contract was what they were enticing consultants with. He confirmed multiple positions being filled by the same recruiter.:
We have no reason to doubt Mr. Paul.
Nobody has confirmed this with pubinfo as it takes 10+ days just for them to tell you they need a few more weeks to look into anything.
JusticeCalifornia
July 6, 2011
pubinfo has been very quiet on my assigned judges queries, too. Brad, Ann, where are you when we need you???
Wendy Darling
July 5, 2011
More Double Speak from the Ministry Of Truth . . .
Long live the ACJ.
antonatrail
July 5, 2011
Re: Mini-mimi’s claim there are no sacred cows: the AOC is her sacred cow. She insists the AOC gets its proportionate share within the budget. Any sane person would see these stringent economic times as an excellent opportunity to start whittling away at this bloated and unnecessary bureaucracy; but, no, the AOC still reigns supreme and will continue its pig-like gulping and snarfing of public funds. The AOC may be cutesy Mini-mini’s sacred cow, whether she admits it or not, but it is all of California’s Mad Cow. Mad Cow, a gangrenous, horrendous disease that cries out for amputation. Get the pencil heads to cut it out. No violence needed here.
sharonkramer
July 5, 2011
CJ states she knows her number one priority “should be” to keep the courts open. If one was going to allocate budget cuts where CCMS was truly on the table, wouldn’t they wait to hire 20 more people for the project AFTER they were certain it wasn’t going to be cut? Thus, they must be certain now if they really have hired these people. That would make comments to the media by the No.1 CA overseer of truth, to be disingenuous.
Best quote from the article: “..they say that a closed-door meeting, set for July 13th, represents business as usual for the administrators who often control the process of deliberation in the committees, partly through their control of information and the timing of its presentation. ‘It’s always been the same,’ the chief justice responded.”
sharonkramer
July 6, 2011
See link below. This is another reason I find it concerning that the JC/AOC seems so Hell bent on cramming thru the CCMS centralized computer system of the CA courts. Its obvious that the system is not capable now and never will be capable of serving the stated purpose of abling all courts with smooth flow of their daily functions. At various times, names such as SAIC, Northrup, the Chamber, etc. have come up on this board. Below is a detailed article of how these and other entities are connected in data mining and survalance. I have been following this subject loosely. The below article seems accurate on fact check in support its harsh conclusions made.
Given who spoke out against AB1208 and the continuation of pouring money into CCMS – when keeping the courts open “should be” the first priority; I thought you all might find this article of interest.
http://www.pacificfreepress.com/news/1-/9119-obama-and-the-sinister-cyber-surveillance-grifters.html
JusticeCalifornia
July 6, 2011
Fascinating article, Mrs. Kramer.
I daresay a number of those posting on this board have odd and interesting stories they could tell about interesting security “incidents” at various levels.
sharonkramer
July 6, 2011
Yes, its a fascinating issue to watch develop. I don’t think I agree with the author’s concept that our government is trying to turn into Big Brother. But, I do think the lines have become somewhat blurred of what constitutes control of the flow of info for public good and the control of information being placed in the wrong hands and then used in a manner that harms the public. Thomas Drake is a prime example. Valerie Plame is another. Let’s hope CCMS is not a third. Its just so unphathonably weird that they keep wanting to pour money into that project.
Judicial Council Watcher
July 6, 2011
The State of the Judiciary has just over 500 onsite views and 139 youtube direct views as of this morning. Onsite views are not counted in the Youtube window so that people don’t slant the youtube counts by cheating.
sharonkramer
July 6, 2011
What does that mean? Why the up-tic in views this morning? Can you tell who is viewing your excellent video?
Judicial Council Watcher
July 6, 2011
No. We don’t conduct any data mining unless we’re looking for something specific. In this case, we just wanted to know how many views/all time total of sources we control. Seven other sources are embedding the same video and we cannot measure their view counts either.
Elton
July 6, 2011
Ccms consultants are confirmed. They were hired by both SF and SRO offices using the last bit of 2010-2011 trial court trust fund. Since the new cuts apply only to 2011-2012, these new consultants won’t be going anywhere.
Judicial Council Watcher
July 6, 2011
There’s your 5 million dollar year-end spending spree and this was just for CCMS. I imagine it was far greater this year factoring in other toys, gadgets and projects. I wonder how many new i-pads and i-phones were purchased with year end funds or if NCRO offices are going to be remodeled for a fifth time in ten years. Or of SRO rented another secret suite, given that these consultants could never be housed in previous SRO digs.
sharonkramer
July 6, 2011
Let’s see. The BSA has called them out for conflicts, waste and ineptitude of the CCMS system. The Board of Contractors is looking into their using unlicensed contractors. Brown just virtually shut down Redevelopment Agencies (which the AOC just used to take a historic property in Redding by eminant domaine to build a new court house.) Now, let’s see if the CA Dept of Insurance is interested in assisting DA’s and the Attorney Gen to go after them for using unlicensed contractor whose lack of license would cause no workers comp insurance should contract employees be injured on the job.
“06 July, 2011 12:29:00 compnewsnetwork
California Insurance Commissioner Announces $32M In Grants To Fight Workers’ Comp Insurance Fraud
Oakland, CA (CompNewsNetwork) – Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones today announced nearly $32 million in grants to District Attorneys across the state to assist them with the investigation and prosecution of workers’ compensation insurance fraud.
“Workers’ compensation insurance fraud is a costly problem in California,” said Commissioner Dave Jones. “As the economy struggles to recover, fraud of this type creates an additional strain on the system. We must protect those injured workers who need care and compensation so they can return to work in a timely manner and bring to justice those who seek to cheat the system.”
http://www.workerscompensation.com/compnewsnetwork/news/ca-ic-announces-grants-to-fight-workers-comp-fraud.html
I am very thankful to the CA Fraud Assessment Commissioners for listening and taking action on this problem of systemic workers comp insurer fraud written into CA policy by the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine AND the Chamber of Commerce. I could say more, but JCW would probably rather I bite my tongue. So I will!
Wendy Darling
July 6, 2011
Published today, Wednesday, July 6, by the Metropolitan News Enterprise:
Justices Miller, Hull Tapped to Head Judicial Council Committees
By a MetNews Staff Writer
http://www.metnews.com/articles/2011/jc070611.htm
Long live the ACJ.
Judicial Council Watcher
July 6, 2011
Regarding the last line of the article: Amazing. They actually permitted enough time to feign a deliberative process instead of a rubber stamp. Let’s see how this plays out.
Edited to add this diagram and explanation of this process. Pay attention to the process itself. The Trial Court Budget Working Group submits its suggestions to the executive director of the AOC who then develops a budget and sends it on to E&P. Just a few days ago, this was on autopilot to clear this whole process in a mere 72 hours. A fully vetted budget no less.
Maybe we – and others that decried this process had an influence.
sharonkramer
July 6, 2011
“In his new role, Hull said he said he plans to seek input from justices, judges, attorneys, and members of the public. ‘Our rules of court and judicial administration standards provide access to our courts, as do the Judicial Council forms,’ he said, ‘so it’s very important that all voices are heard.” Anyone have a phone number for Justice Hull?
Wendy Darling
July 6, 2011
Published today, Wednesday, July 6, on Courthouse News Service by Maria Dinzeo:
Change at Top Echelon of California Judiciary
By MARIA DINZEO
http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/07/06/37927.htm
Long live the ACJ.
Judicial Council Watcher
July 6, 2011
Any of you researchers out there: We looked and could not find it.
Who are the current members of the Trial Court Budget working group?
sharonkramer
July 6, 2011
I don’t know who is on it. But as of June 15, 2011, it was chaired by Stephen Nash.
“Trial Court Budget Working Group Administrative Office of the Courts Stephen Nash, Director, Finance Division, and Chair, Trial Court Budget Working Group”
This is the law that governs the required make up of the working group:
2011 California Rules of Court
Rule 10.107. Trial Court Budget Working Group
The Administrative Director of the Courts must appoint annually a Trial Court Budget Working Group to advise the director on trial court budget issues. The working group must include trial court judicial officers and trial court executive officers reflecting the diversity of state trial courts, including location, size, and adequacy of funding. The working group may also include others selected by the Administrative Director of the Courts.
Rule 10.107 renumbered effective August 14, 2009; repealed and adopted as rule 6.45 effective January 1, 2005; previously renumbered as rule 10.45 effective January 1, 2007.
Judicial Council Watcher
July 6, 2011
Feigning a deliberative process indeed. This never leaves the AOC while a few hand-picked lackeys from outside the AOC (the usual suspects) rubber stamp it and send it on to E&P, then the council. This they can easily accomplish in 72 hours with little to no input from the trial courts.
*correction: While we don’t know the full membership, we see two names in other news articles of people who can be objective regarding the AOC/Trial Courts. Judge Edmon & Judge Freeman. We’d like to know other names of people on this committee. Maybe it won’t be the bloodbath for the trial courts we assume.
Note: We’re going to be compiling a piece on AOC Salaries. Hopefully that piece will be ready tomorrow.
antonatrail
July 6, 2011
At first blush, “change at the top echelon” indicates business as usual. Merely replace terse and taciturn with smiling and collegial, and all will be well. New faces, but hold the line. Just as Mini-mimi was carefully chosen to carry on the current regime. Extremely disappointing, but not surprising. Very savvy move. Yes, it is possible to be blatantly stupid (e.g. ludicrous CCMS management, inappropriate responses to legitimate queries, blatant, rascally lobbying efforts exposed, etc.) whilst being politically savvy in regards to fiercely fighting to maintain a royal lifestyle for pointy-headed bureaucrats. California judges and the citizenry deserve better.
Judicial Council Watcher
July 6, 2011
Call me a “birther”. I bet that birth certificate says
Tani Marie Antoinette Imelda Marcos Cantil
Note: The number of downloads of the Los Angeles comments / plan forward has been downloaded 232 times as of the tally time of this comment. The Sacramento comments have been downloaded 54 times.
Again, this excludes syndication to other sources where we cannot track the numbers.
JusticeCalifornia
July 6, 2011
I agree JCW. I wanna see that birth certificate. 🙂
antonatrail
July 6, 2011
The fact that these downloads are occurring is good news in the wasteland of — waste and abuse of public funds! It is heartening to know that people are becoming aware of the game-playing of the AOC. It is harder to hide the ball with the JCW site info ongoing. Thank you, JCW and contributors.
Long live the ACJ.
And regarding the hiring of 20+ “consultants” by SF for CCMS, shame, shame on you, AOC! SF better not lay off ONE single courthouse worker! All our eyes are upon you.
sharonkramer
July 6, 2011
http://digitalcommons.law.ggu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2034&context=ggulrev
I wonder what these women justices would have to say about Tani playing the gender bias card to the media, the evening before a bill was to be heard that impacts the courts and was not favorable to her, personal, interest? Then a “journalist” is still playing on it and spinning it even further for the Bee just the other day?
Its all about selling a concept that enables them to sell doubt that legislators and state agencies should take action to stop the deceptions. This appears to be the underlying theme of their persuade the masses and silence critics campaign: Males who speak against Tani are just old politician sexists – making it harder to speak against her errors without experiencing a backlash of being somehow discriminatory. The longer this goes unchecked, the harder it is going to be to undo the effectiveness of it.
Up next for George’s Distinguished Lecture Series – Judges of Color.
2011 Distinguished Lecturer: California Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye
http://www.ggu.edu/school_of_law/ronald_m_george_lecture_page
Michael Paul
July 6, 2011
Read Dan’s other pieces. You’ll find that today he is catching up with life as it existed six weeks ago.
Chuck Horan
July 7, 2011
The host for the lecture you link, law school dean Drucilla Stender Ramey, was among the first to call for Calderon’s head when he referred to the Chief as “attractive”. All quite predictable and calculated, but it was effective.
JusticeCalifornia
July 7, 2011
JCW, if RB2’s stupid blackjack-dealer/barmaid/faux feminist trick (and I do mean that in the most demeaning way possible, because this type of disingenuous”trick” demeans professional women far more effectively than a man calling a woman “attractive”) is such a popular topic, maybe we have to revive Plan A.
sharonkramer
July 7, 2011
Judge Horan,
Yes. It was effective. It spooked the legislators that if they supported AB1208 they would be perceived by their constituents and peers as having a gender bias against women being successful. It instilled the false concept in female legislators that it was their duty to give the new female CJ a chance. I have been a woman all my life. Maybe it takes one to know one. Ask any female. We all know women who use their wiles to get what they want, sometimes feigning indignation if that’s what it takes. When I watched the CJ’s video that was filmed the eve before AB1208 was to be decided, my first reaction was embarassment for women everywhere.
This is going to continue to rear its ugly head through whisper campaigns and grow if it is not nipped in the bud. Some female(s) of stature needs to call these women on the carpet for abusing their sisters to timely feign indignation – when their true intent was to stop a bill whose purpose is to keep our courts open for expeditious justice for women and all citizens of California. Someone needs to publicly stand up for Calderon, like Calderon has stood up for the judges, in my humble opinion.
JusticeCalifornia
July 7, 2011
I bet with a little effort we can whip RB2’s gambling barmaid background and faux feminist trick into a primetime topic.
Thus far she has proven herself to be an opportunistic fake who has sold out women everywhere. Can she redeem herself?
Query: If you
a) were a former blackjack dealer/barmaid who couldn’t get a real law job out of law school, and
b) have a Queen Georgette/Marie Antoinette/Imelda Marcos/little Napoleona complex, and
c) suddenly got boosted to power by
i) a disgraced Governor who thinks with his little head and
ii) a disgraced looking-down-a-gun-barrel-cj who enjoys degrading branch members (and recognizes a willing, malleable loyal subject when he sees one), and
d) suddenly find your self-important little girl-self with control over 2,000 judges and billions of dollars would you
i) recognize your duty to the public, grow up, step up to the plate, and fire your very ethically compromised AOC mercenaries and third branch servants, who promise to do your bidding (but are desperately trying to cover their asses), and
ii) admit your inexperience and even ignorance, and carefully and purposefully surround yourself with the best, brightest, and most ethical advisors; OR
iii) maintain the status quo at all costs, because you like it and also have absolutely no idea WTF you are doing?
Tani started her cj gig on her knees, thanks to RG and her assigned role in the Marin child custody evidence destruction debacle. She will decide whether she stays there, servicing the AOC and top leadership, or whether she picks herself up, dusts herself off, and stands on her own two feet, leading the branch. We will know soon enough.
I REALLY hope she isn’t dutifully entertaining Overholt’s fondest desires for power, as rumored.
Wendy Darling
July 6, 2011
Published late today, Wednesday, July 6, by Kate Moser and The Recorder, the on-line publication of CalLaw:
State Bar’s Dunn Fires Four Managers in Discipline Unit
Kate Moser
The Recorder
July 6, 2011
State Bar Executive Director Joseph Dunn cleaned house in the Office of Chief Trial Counsel in Los Angeles today.
http://www.law.com/jsp/ca/PubArticleCA.jsp?id=1202499540705&State_Bars_Dunn_Fires_Four_Managers_in_Discipline_Unit
Long live the ACJ.
JusticeCalifornia
July 7, 2011
Don’t know the details but am looking forward to them. I have to admit I was impressed with Joe Dunn when he spoke in Marin.
JusticeCalifornia
July 7, 2011
And for those of you doubters out there
Here is proof positive from our CA Court News that Tani thinks debate by the JC is “exciting”.
Perhaps she should infuse new blood into the JC, and bounce the Turners, Torres, Roddys and Overholts of the branch, and find out just how much more exciting and productive top leadership can be.
Judicial Council Watcher
July 7, 2011
The first sincere open debate of the issues in fourteen years or window dressing with a CCN propaganda piece while all eyes are upon them with intense scrutiny to demonstrate they’ve moved away from kangaroo governance?
My money is on the latter. DEEP disproportional cuts in AOC funding, targeting the management heavy bureaucracy with actual housecleaning will be the only thing that convinces me otherwise. All we’re hearing is that these cuts will be proportional.
As we began to analyze the state controllers office’s salaries, we had intended on reporting on these salaries today with an article but the report from SCO produces more questions than answers.
For example: It appears according to the SCO that NO AOC EMPLOYEES make pension contributions. Given that hundreds of AOC employees have a deduction made out of their salaries for pension contributions, where did the money go?
Another example: There are 946 reported FTE positions. Buried in the fine print however are 368 court security coordinators making between $346.00 and 10,301.00 per year. Since none of their wages seem to qualify for withholding nor pensions we don’t know what to make of it. Who are these people and where is this money going?
Also buried in the fine print is 1,571 Senior Design & Construction Project Managers (Range A) making between 104K and 126K as a part-time job, no withholding/no pension contributions.
In both of these above cases they are tagged as holding “multiple positions” within the judicial council and it is in this last entry that we can smell Bell California Redux.
As we try to clarify what is being reported to the State Controllers office from the JC/AOC our salary report will be delayed. Probably for a really long time as those 1,571 people making that kind of money part time – we imagine that the AOC will be stalling forever on this.
SCO report on the JC/AOC http://lgcr.sco.ca.gov/CompensationDetail.aspx?entity=State&id=4,434&load=ByDepartment&year=2010&EntityName=Judicial%20Council%20of%20California%20( )%20&Positions=&GetCsu=False&ItemCount=0
Michael Paul
July 7, 2011
HOLY SHIT!
sharonkramer
July 7, 2011
And we wonder why the AOC got turned down for a $24M increase to fund the salaries, health benefits and pension contributions for employees of the trial courts, or why there is no money in the coffers that can be used to fund these trail court employees.
Read letter on pdf pages 7 & 8. http://www.courts.ca.gov/documents/20110624item6.pdf
As I read it, basically it says, “Suck it up, make due, furlough if you have to. JC, you did not give a good explanation of why this problem exists.”
And what? The AOC just hired 20 new employees to add to this massive list you cite above?
antonatrail
July 7, 2011
I believe I saw the infamous Turner on the video expressing twice the view that money allocated for the ADR program should be spent, otherwise it will be “lost” from the funding. That’s one of my peeves of these bureaucrats; spend, spend, spend, or we won’t get anymore. I saw this attitude at the last courthouse I worked; I observed managers running about in the hallways urging that all remaining monies be spent before the end of the fiscal year or they wouldn’t be able to justify asking for more the next fiscal year. Saving public funds just doesn’t enter into the equation in their tiny brains. Perhaps it was a bad dream.
Wendy Darling
July 7, 2011
State Bar Firing of Bad Apples
http://lesliebrodie.posterous.com/state-bar-swift-firing-of-bad-apples-russell
In swift firing of bad apples, Russell Weiner ,Victoria Regina Molloy, Djinna Gochis, and Nancy Watson were dismissed today from their employment with the State Bar of California, said people who requested anonymity.
As the State Bar looks to radically shake up its business in face of internal corruption, State Bar of California Executive Director Joseph Dunn is firing senior executives, according to people familiar with the matter.
TLR’s State Bar Insider described the news as a “shock announcement.”
“While such an announcement would be seen as a bolt out of the blue, it explains the reason Robert Hawley was named Interim Chief Trial Counsel, and not Rusell Weiner,” SBI stated.
“The timing and location of the dismissals means that executives in the San Francisco Office are next. Weiner, Molloy, Gochis and Watson were all part of the Office of Chief Trial Counsel in Los Angeles,” SBI continued.
Sorces close to the situation speculate that early next week termination notices will be handed out to Jeff Dal Cerro, Donald Steedman, Ester Rodgers and Maria Oropeza.
Long live the ACJ.