For any form of economic stimulus to take effect a year from now, that stimulus needs to be introduced, voted on and passed within the next few months. This is about jobs and jobs is not a partisan issue. Both parties agree that additional stimulus is warranted but exactly what form that stimulus takes will be the subject of much debate in the coming months.
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One part of the stimulus is clear: there must be more money made available for public infrastructure projects to stem the current decline of construction jobs. President Obama is currently proposing spending 300 billion to prop up the economy with additional infrastructure spending. It really doesn’t matter where anyone stands politically on these issues because you can’t reduce taxes on the 21% of structurally unemployed or underemployed persons if they’re paying no taxes because there is no work. One economic proposal that can be renewed is the land bank, where state and local public infrastructure projects are partly financed by the federal government with the feds picking up 35% of the financing costs for such projects.
There’s only one catch with stimulus funds. You must be both transparent and accountable with laws, and not merely policies and procedures in place governing your expenditure of public funds and guess what? The Judicial Council and the AOC as currently comprised do not qualify for any stimulus funds on any of their construction projects. They don’t qualify to participate in a land bank where more than a third of construction financing could be diverted to the trial courts while the feds pick up the tab on that third.
No matter how one views it, a shot at economic stimulus funding must be made by the State of California for court construction. It is clear that a shot at this funding last time out was squandered. The only way to do that is to transfer all public buildings to DGS immediately, without further delay and to utilize this vehicle to also save trial courts by diverting 100% of the construction funds to fund trial court operations during the transition.
Will the Judicial Council and the AOC conduct a turf war to ensure they continue to duplicate the services provided by DGS to the detriment of all trial court workers and the taxpaying public?
Consider yourself on notice.
If you get a chance to write a letter to our friends over at judicialcouncil@jud.ca.gov or to speak a few choice words this Friday, you might bring this issue up “for the benefit of all Californians.”
Judicial Council Watcher 
Mrs Kramer
September 7, 2011
The plot thickens. It would appear that the only way the JC could claim transparency and wise use of tax dollars would be if about half of them stepped down off the bench and out of clerk of the court positions; and the other half spill their guts about the House that George Built.
katy
September 7, 2011
Timely post, JCW. Check out the Super Committee on Transparency. Lobbyists are calling it a “Holy War”.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/29/usa-debt-lobbyists-idUSN1E77S0S320110829
JusticeCalifornia
September 8, 2011
Interesting trackback. . .
Can’t miss the parallels between the issues raised in the article, and what the CJ/JC/AOC are doing.
“By the way, for you conspiracy theorists out there … this is straight out of Saul Alinski’s rules for radicals! Continue to publicly say you are doing one thing. . . . while doing the exact opposite. . . ..”
“According to Black, some observers credit the decline in the Japanese economy directly to their “squandering billions of yen on wasteful projects.” The Japanese government also seem to forget that billions of yen would later have to be spent on maintaining these newly completed ”projects.””
Kevin Grimm
September 8, 2011
“Both parties agree that additional stimulus is warranted but exactly what form that stimulus takes will be the subject of much debate in the coming months.”
… are you high JCW?
This post and the associated comments are really delusional from beginning to end. Stimulus funds (that Republicans in congress will never appropriate) for a program that was funded in CA by a bond (money that was never part of courts’ operational budgets) all tied up in a comparison to the Japanese economy … Huh?!
Long live PB&J!
JusticeCalifornia
September 8, 2011
Say hey Kevin, I can tell you are just so darn smart. I would so appreciate it if you would give me your two cents worth on the CA courts situation, and explain your personal interest in the process? giggle, giggle (sorry, Kevin, just an automated response to the decades of documented CA Courts bullshit.)
Michael Paul
September 9, 2011
The American Jobs Act, which Obama formally sends to Congress next week, calls for tax breaks for companies that hire new workers, an extension of unemployment benefits for another year and keeping the payroll tax cuts for another year.
All court workers getting laid off want this to pass because it means the difference between 26 weeks of unemployment and 99 weeks of unemployment. There’s infrastructure spending in there as well – over a hundred billion dollars worth. It will pass. As to if it remains a 450 billion dollar package – government asks for more and settles for less.
Judicial Council Watcher
September 9, 2011
Mr. Grimm BF’d his public records request to the webmaster of Sac Courts. He probably shouldn’t be expecting an answer from them and he’s a little disappointed. His next bold move is to call the facts on the ground a delusion. The proposed stimulus was actually 450 billion and includes a host of popular republican tax cuts for the middle class due to expire.
You indicate it won’t pass?
It will be signed before Christmas.
What are your interests Mr. Grimm?
Mrs Kramer
September 9, 2011
Is Mr. Grimm a real person? Does he have an affiliation in this issue somewhere or is he just an Internet Troll?
Is this Judicial Council meeting availble on the net today?
Click to access age20110909.pdf
What does “BF” mean?
Kevin Grimm
September 9, 2011
Apparently the Watcher didn’t bother to watch the debt ceiling negotiations in the summer. If that is any guide to the way that we can expect the current leaders of the Republican party to behave, then I stand by my assertion: you’re delusional if you think that the Republicans will pass anything Obama puts forward.
Meanwhile, you’re correct, I have not heard a word from the Superior Court of Sacramento: where’s the outrage at the lack of accountability & transparency?
And, though I don’t know how trackback links are established, the one that I see here leads me to believe that my previous assertion that the Tea Party mentality is that of the JCW was right on the money.
One last note: Do I have an affiliation with this issue? I’m a citizen of the state of CA. I believe that a strong, independent, accountable state judiciary is critical to American democracy (which I’m also strongly in favor of). I do not, however, believe in a world of “Good guys” at the local level and “Bad guys” at the state level. I think it’s a lot more complicated than that and believe that JCW does us all a disservice by pretending it’s not.
Mrs Kramer
September 9, 2011
Hmmmmm? That’s what I thought. I think I recognize this writing style. I believe this to be an Internet troll who has been identified as living in and managing a trailer park in Northern California. Could be wrong, but the writing style looks awfully familiar.
Judicial Council Watcher
September 10, 2011
We’ve covered and condemned the destruction of records in Marin County. We’ve covered and condemned the apparent alteration of court records in San Diego county. We’ve covered and condemned the actions of the Nevada County courts with respect to mediation and the Emily Gallup case. We’ve covered and condemned the assigned judges program that has had Jack Halpin serving for 18 years as an appointee in Shasta County. We’ve covered these issues as they pertain to the AOC’s role in these affairs.
JCW routinely provides links to opinions that are opposed to our own. They may appear as trackback links or related story links that we read, choose and establish by choice.
Kevin Grimm
September 9, 2011
According to Wikipedia: “In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off- topic messages in an online community.”
The JCW is itself an inflamtory, extraneous and off-topic. Seriously, look at the postings: the video links, the ad-hominem attacks, the simplistic, black-&-white world view. Y’all do the Tea Party proud!
Mrs Kramer
September 9, 2011
Yep. Familiar modus operandi and writing style. Last response to you, Mr. Grimm, or Bob B, or whatever your “pseudoname” is today. Go back to the trailer park and harass your neighbors to try to get a rise out of them. This board is for people who are working to stop compromised individuals from controlling the California judicial system.
JusticeCalifornia
September 9, 2011
Believe me Kevin, I don’t believe in good guys at the trial level and bad guys at the state level. I have watched really horrific behavior at the trial level be protected at the state level, and realized the reason nothing was changing at the trial level was because this was the culture being PROMOTED at the state level.
I would love to hear you defend Ron George’s appointment of Kim Turner to the “elite” Judicial Council, and her destruction of child custody evidence in the middle of the state audit of the Marin Family Court — with the assistance of the AOC and then presiding judge Verna Adams–whose child custody mediation case files were conveniently destroyed. And how about the silly “investigations” and improper legal opinions of non-lawyer John Judnick, which are swallowed whole by the Judicial Council?
Ron George did NOT promote the best and brightest, he invited some of the most ethically challenged to his table. He used people and he abused his power. He and his Kim Turner minions have done great harm to the public, and destroyed the dignity of the branch. I started writing about the empire he was building years back, and felt like a voice in the wilderness. Others have done the same. And then along came AOC Watcher, who made it possible to say what one really thought, without the niceties of respect on command. And the ACJ. And the press. And legislative action. Like it or not, AOC Watcher and JCW have made it acceptable to tell the truth– from the writer’s perspective. And guess what? Ron George had to turn tail and run.
It’s bullshit that Kim Turner is on the Judicial Council, and that Verna Adams is on the Sakauye’s “SEC”. It’s bullshit that Turner is on CCMS committees when Marin has an apparently wildly expensive and troubled computer system– and her employees tamper with official court records. It’s bullshit that the Judicial Council gets important reports the day of meetings–knowing it cannot possibly digest the information therein– but nonetheless swallows whole the garbage that is spoon fed to it by the AOC.
It’s bullshit that top leadership doesn’t follow accepted business practices, and destroys records — or doesn’t keep them– or doesn’t release them– whatever suits top leadership. It’s bullshit that top leadership has lied about the cost and performance of CCMS. It’s bullshit that they demand that everyone “speak with one voice”. It’s bullshit that they have wasted so much money on fancy courthouses and out of control maintenance costs. It’s bullshit that three CJs have appointed Jack Halpin every 30 or so days for 18 years to serve as a “temporary” assigned judge, thereby thwarting the Shasta County community’s right to vote for the judges on their bench.
I invite you to defend all of the above bullshit (hahahahah– good luck with that), instead of saying you support democracy, and throwing out silly political red herrings, while clearly wishing we would all shut up. If this blog bothers you, don’t read it.