_______________________________________________
May 28, 2012
Dear Members and Others:
In a rather obvious attempt to minimize the impact of negative press coverage, the AOC released the long-awaited report of the Strategic Evaluation Committee (SEC) this past Friday, May 26 at 7:30 p.m., on the eve of a three-day weekend. The report can be found on the Judicial Council website at
http://www.courts.ca.gov/16794.htm or can be downloaded instantly at http://www.courts.ca.gov/documents/SEC_Report_May_2012.pdf
The nearly 300-page report is an A to Z indictment of an out of control organization. It is an absolute “must read” for everyone concerned about the functionality and credibility of our judicial branch. In summary, the report validates positions taken by the Alliance of California Judges and others who for years have warned that the AOC is broken at its very core and has been allowed to run itself, without meaningful Judicial Council oversight, for well over a decade.
Further, the report confirms the truth of statements made by the Alliance, members of the legislature and courageous reporters — which were repeatedly denied by the AOC and by many members of the Judicial Council in public statements and misleading “fact sheets” — that the AOC employed over 1100 people and repeatedly and intentionally misrepresented that number, actively seeking to mislead the public about the AOC and its expenditures.
In the days and weeks to come we will have much to say, in a variety of forums, about the report’s findings — and some areas the report did not reach — but for now we briefly touch upon some of the committee’s findings and observations:
- The Council has failed in its duty to oversee and manage the AOC since the Lockyer-Isenberg Trial Court Funding Act became law over a decade ago.
- While the Council and AOC have limited statutory and constitutional duties, they have inappropriately and without authority taken upon themselves the “mantle of control and authority” of the local courts, contrary to the decentralization intended in Lockyer-Isenberg.
- The AOC is top heavy and overstaffed with managers and supervisors paid over $100,000.00 per year.
- The AOC has engaged in fiscal mismanagement and makes it “difficult to obtain clear, comprehensible budget information” (page 14). The budget process lacks transparency and the same number is never reported twice. (We note here that the State Auditor made the same observations in her review of the failed CCMS project.)
- The AOC regional offices throughout the state should be eliminated.
- The AOC should be relocated to Sacramento. (The Alliance has long advocated for this.)
- AOC staff must be downsized. (Here, we believe the report does not go near far enough — likely because of inaccurate and incomplete information provided by the AOC — calling for a reduction of some 200 positions. We believe the agency should be cut by up to 75%.)
- The AOC engaged in an illusory “hiring freeze” and was actively misleading in describing its furlough program that actually resulted in paid vacation days.
- CCMS was completely mismanaged. (The AOC and Council are apparently the only entities in the state who have yet to come to this obvious conclusion.)
- The AOC provided incomplete and largely non-responsive information to the SEC committee.
- The AOC has strayed from its charter as a service organization and now evidences a “culture of control.” It has embarked upon large scale programs without input from the state’s judges and without oversight.
- The AOC has ignored its own internal policies, allowing lawyers to “telecommute” from foreign countries.
- The expensive “Judge in Residence” and “Scholar in Residence” programs should be eliminated. (The “Scholar in residence earns over $6000 per month for working part time, and resides in Virginia. Notwithstanding this meager output, he is given “paid time off” each month.)
- The AOC’s internal management processes are deficient and the agency is top-heavy and unwieldy.
- The agency lacks credibility and its representations regarding financial matters are no longer trusted.
We wish the report had addressed another point — the AOC’s yearly contract with the National Center for State Courts. When the SEC committee was formed the Alliance objected to the inclusion among its members of the Director of the National Center. Our objections were ignored, but that member publicly stated that she would not take part in discussions relating to the National Center. Unless we have missed it, the SEC report failed to note that the AOC pays close to $1 million per year to that organization, an expense that we believe cannot be justified.
Like the report of the State Auditor, the SEC report does not purport to be an analysis of our governance structure or a review of the actions and internal policies of the Judicial Council. Given the scathing findings of both reports, the obvious question is: What is it about the Judicial Council, its members, and its operating policies that have allowed the AOC to operate in the fashion outlined in those reports, year after year, while fiercely denying that there were any problems at all? Why has the Council ignored criticisms of the agency, preferring to deride critics for pointing out many of the things that the Chief Justice’s own committee has now conclusively demonstrated to be fact?
We believe that one obvious answer is that the Council must be rebuilt from the ground up, based upon a realization and understanding that its primary duty vis a vis the AOC is to give orders, not receive them, and that its duty vis a vis judges is primarily advisory. We further believe that the Council must be democratically elected.
We hope you will all read the report in full. Further, we hope you will redouble your efforts to see to it that AB 1208 receives support in the Senate. The SEC report’s recommendations are a step in the right direction, but they are just that — recommendations. AB 1208 is a necessary next step in the process of reform.
Thank you for your continued support.
Directors, Alliance of California Judges
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
A more representative video of the news of the SEC report might sound something like this:
.
Related articles
- You’re suggesting that the budgeting authority should go to the self-dealers? (judicialcouncilwatcher.wordpress.com)
- Now what? Mass resignations of managers? Don’t hold your breath. (judicialcouncilwatcher.wordpress.com)
- Legislative action now needed – Contact your legislators (judicialcouncilwatcher.wordpress.com)
Judicial Council Watcher 
Wendy Darling
May 29, 2012
AOC = Liars, Liars, pants on fire.
Long live the ACJ.
Wendy Darling
May 29, 2012
Published today, Tuesday, May 29, from The Recorder, the on-line publication of CalLaw, by Cheryl Miller:
Judges Criticize Court Bureaucracy in Blistering Report
By Cheryl Miller
SACRAMENTO – In a blistering indictment of the state’s judicial administration, a long-awaited report released Friday night concluded that the Administrative Office of the Courts is over-staffed, dysfunctional and less than forthcoming about sensitive issues.
The Strategic Evaluation Committee, comprised almost entirely of judges, said the AOC has “lost its focus” on serving the trial courts and assumed a more dominant, controlling role in its relationship with California’s 58 superior courts. Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye created the committee in March 2011 in response to concerns the AOC had grown too large despite an era of lean budgets.
“Every organization needs to periodically re-examine its mission and its functions and in this case, it doesn’t appear that that was done in a meaningful way for a long time,” the committee’s chairman, Placer County Superior Court Judge Charles Wachob, said Tuesday. “The organization drifted from its essential function of supporting or assisting the courts if the courts request assistance.”
What’s more, AOC officials skewed budget and staffing-level numbers to give the false impression that the administration has suffered as much as trial courts in the economic downturn, the report said. For instance, the AOC reported in February that it had a staff of “more than 750.” In fact, when all of the agency’s contract and temporary workers – some of which had been with the AOC for more than two years — were added in, the actual number climbed to above 1,000, a near-historic level.
“The AOC’s reporting of staffing levels has been misleading, leading to mistrust of the AOC,” the report said. “Disingenuously suggesting that AOC staffing levels have been reduced in response to branch-wide budget and staffing cuts has led to further mistrust and cynicism.”
The committee’s report recommends a major overhaul of the AOC’s “top heavy” structure, which would eventually leave the agency with somewhere between 680 and 780 authorized positions.
The 297-page report will undoubtedly shape the current budget negotiations – Gov. Jerry Brown’s revised spending plan issued earlier this month spared the AOC, but not the trial courts, from direct cuts – as well as impact the search for a new administrative director. Committee members called former Administrative Director of the Courts William Vickrey “a visionary” but criticized the Judicial Council for not providing more oversight of his work.
Critics of the AOC seized on the report as proof of their long-held contention that the administration is bloated and unresponsive to local courts.
“The nearly 300-page report is an A-to-Z indictment of an out of control organization,” directors of the Alliance of California Judges wrote in an email Monday. “It is an absolute ‘must read’ for everyone concerned about the functionality and credibility of our judicial branch.
Jody Patel, who was a regional director for the AOC for five years until her appointment as AOC’s interim administrative director, said she couldn’t “speak for the past administrators” but insisted that “a lot has changed and will continue to change” at the AOC in the coming months.
In a brief conference call with reporters on Tuesday, Cantil-Sakauye called the committee’s work “fabulous” but said the report is “backwards-looking” and does not consider the restructuring and staff reductions now planned.
“I think that this is the branch doing what it is supposed to do: taking a hard look at ourselves and how we can best perform under limited resources,” Cantil-Sakauye said. “That’s what we do. I didn’t need anyone to tell me to do that. I didn’t need the Legislature to order it. It’s something I want to do. It’s something the Judicial Council wants to have done.”
Cantil-Sakauye also bristled at criticism that the report was released after 7 p.m. Friday, just at the start of a three-day weekend, when a holiday-minded public traditionally pays little attention to the news. Cantil-Sakauye said she released the report as soon as she received it.
“I didn’t think for a minute that there was anything untoward or surreptitious or suspicious about releasing it on a Friday,” the chief justice said. “In fact, had I waited and released it on Tuesday I’m sure people would have said ‘She sat on it for a weekend, for three days.’ So you know, I’m damned if I do and damned if I don’t.”
The report describes an administration that is top heavy with highly paid managers and that often disregards employment policies. For instance, three staff attorneys telecommute from outside of California – one from Switzerland – in an apparent conflict with rules limiting such long-range working arrangements. Also, some division directors openly admitted to the committee that they employed temporary workers to get around a hiring freeze.
The committee made dozens of recommendations to overhaul the AOC, including:
•Considering the transfer of all AOC offices from San Francisco to Sacramento to cut down on costs;
•Reorganizing top management to include an administrative director, a chief of staff and a chief operating officer;
•Reassessing all attorney jobs “with a goal of reducing their numbers;”
•Requiring the Judicial Council to conduct regular assessments of the administrative director’s job performance.
The report now goes to the Judicial Council for consideration at its June meeting. Chairman Wachob and the committee’s vice chair, Judge Brian McCabe of the Merced County Superior Court, have been appointed to the council as advisory members.
“My hope is that the Judicial Council will take into consideration the many different voices that are out there,” said San Diego County Superior Court Judge David Rubin, president of the California Judges Association. “There may be places that we as judges want to go further or in a different direction” than this report, he said.
http://www.law.com/jsp/ca/PubArticleCA.jsp?id=1202556419264&Judges_Criticize_Court_Bureaucracy_in_Blistering_Report&slreturn=1
Long live the ACJ.
Dan Dydzak
May 29, 2012
Very articulate and detailed article. Thanks for input.
Dan Dydzak
May 29, 2012
As stated in other prior post, noticing the videotaped depositions of Eric M. George and retired Associate Justice Moreno shortly and hope to take same shortly. Any input information and suggestions for questioning appreciated.
unionman575
May 29, 2012
Once again my hat is off to the ACJ.
Judge Steve White, Judge David Lampe & Crew, you are speaking out and we ALL appreciate it.
Swing for the fences!
Hopeful
May 29, 2012
<<—— formerly known as Disgusted. You (AOC Watcher) are me heroes!
unionman575
May 30, 2012
Thanks!
Wendy Darling
May 29, 2012
Some news from Death Star headquarters . . .
Mike Roddy has recently been spending a conspicuous amount of time in the dark hallways of 455 Golden Gate Avenue. (And, yes, Vickrey and Overholt are still there, too.)
Also, although he wasn’t given the HR Director position, Sofa Man has moved into the corner office of the recently “departed” HR Director Ernesto “Bluto” Fuentes, the one with all the windows and the big screen television. Appparently, Sofa Man wants to keep what he is doing in there a secret, because he has installed a curtain over the window of the office door, so no one can see in. Can’t have the line staff seeing him watch TV on State paid time.
They just don’t get it.
Long live the ACJ.
unionman575
May 29, 2012
Hmm..porn on a big screen… porn isn’t a best seller with the line staff (only the BOSSES do that on State Time)…he is in there going to town…LOL
Delilah
May 29, 2012
It’s gonna be Roddy instead of Jody! What a surprise. Somebody here already called it, as usual. And under what pretenses are BV and RO still there?
unionman575
May 29, 2012
They are just 2 pigs at the public trough!
unionman575
May 29, 2012
Sitting here on my “Couch” and drinking a Vodka tonic…hmm.. just drinking and thinking…
Roddy looks like a good #2 what do you think? Loyalists reign supreme up at the Death Star.
Wendy Darling
May 29, 2012
Some of us still have reason to think it’s going to be the Roddy and Patel show, just like it was previously at the Sacramento Regional Office, before Roddy went to San Diego. And just like it was at the Sacramento Superior Court, where the current CJ made it a threesome.
Curtains over office windows — so much for “transparency.” You just can’t make this stuff up. Really.
Long live the ACJ.
unionman575
May 29, 2012
Yes I know about their past “history” together.
I agree Wendy – Patel & Roddy. Nasty but a definite possibility.
OMG I just filled a 5 gallon bucket!
unionman575
May 29, 2012
unionman575
May 29, 2012
I would like to suggest a little unpaid vacation for the top 30 at the Death Star here:
Dan Dydzak
May 29, 2012
Ongoing information provided much appreciated.
versal-versal
May 29, 2012
Did anyone see the CJ’s comments she made to the AOC staff today about the SEC report ? In her address she claimed that the AOC has substantially changed since the SEC began their work. I don’t know about you but I still see a mismanaged out of control bureaucracy run by the same people that got us in this mess. The “Scholar in Residence” who lives in Virginia is still here or there. The “Judge in Residence” is still here. The attorney who telecommutes from Europe is still there working, and even Bill V and Ron O still patrol the dark hallways of the crystal palace. It is disturbing that the CJ is claiming there has been substantial change when there hasn’t been any. Equally troubling in her comments to AOC staff is her invitation to them to tell ” Jody” about errors and misconceptions in the SEC report since unlike an audit no one at the AOC ever got a chance to respond to SEC conclusions. All of this is very revealing as to where things may be headed. It is time for the CJ and JC to do the right thing and stop denying that huge problems exist at 455 Golden Gate. They need to please take an honest look at the SEC’s conclusions and make significant changes to save our branch from financial ruin and huge reductions in trial court services to the public we serve. A 75% reduction in AOC staff and democratization of the JC might be a good start.
unionman575
May 29, 2012
I saw the commnets – DISGUSTING!
Wendy Darling
May 29, 2012
As has been said, Versal-versal, so much for “transparency.” For those that heard the CJ’s statements first hand, it seems more like the same old “smoke and mirrors.” Again.
Recall the Chief Justice.
Long live the ACJ.
unionman575
May 29, 2012
Smoke and mirrors is a metaphor for a deceptive, fraudulent or insubstantial explanation or description. The source of the name is based on magicians’ illusions, where magicians make objects appear or disappear by extending or retracting mirrors amid a distracting burst of smoke. The expression may have a connotation of virtuosity or cleverness in carrying out such a deception.
In the field of computer programming, it is used to describe a program or functionality that does not yet exist, but appears as though it does (cf. vaporware). This is often done to demonstrate what a resulting project will function/look like after the code is complete — at a trade show, for example.
More generally, “smoke and mirrors” may refer to any sort of presentation by which the audience is intended to be deceived, such as an attempt to fool a prospective client into thinking that one has capabilities necessary to deliver a product in question.
unionman575
May 29, 2012
unionman575
May 29, 2012
Replace the word mother with Tani and you have a winner:
GOTYE LYRICS
Send “Smoke And Mirrors” Ringtone to your Cell
“Smoke And Mirrors”
You’re a fraud and you know it
But it’s too good to throw it all away
Anyone would do the same
You’ve got ’em going
And you’re careful not to show it
Sometimes you even fool yourself a bit
It’s like magic
But it’s always been a smoke and mirrors game
Anyone would do the same
So now that you’ve arrived well you wonder
What is it that you’ve done to make the grade
And should you do the same?
(Is that too easy?)
Are you only trying to please them
(Will they see then?)
You’re desperate to deliver
Anything that could give you
A sense of reassurance
When you look in the mirror
Such highs and lows
You put on quite a show
All these highs and lows
And you’re never really sure
What you do it for
Well do you even want to know?
You put on quite a show
(Mother)
Are you watching?
Are you watching?
(Mother)
Are you watching?
(Mother)
You’re a fraud and you know it
And every night and day you take the stage
And it always entertains
You’re giving pleasure
And that’s admirable, you tell yourself
And so you’d gladly sell yourself
To others
(Mother)
Are you watching?
(Mother)
Are you watching?
(Mother)
Are you watching?
(Mother)
Are you watching?
Such highs and lows
You put on quite a show
All these highs and lows
And you’re never really sure
What you do it for
Well do you even want to know?
Yeah you put on quite a show
Judicial Council Watcher
May 29, 2012
Courtesy of the Chief Justice:
This report is being given to the executive & planning committee where it will die in a long, drawn out death.
There are four things the Chief Justice wants AOC employees to remember about the SEC report.
1. This report was a product of the input of AOC employees.
2. This report is a snapshot in time as of 55 weeks ago, May of 2011 to be exact. The AOC has totally changed. (Step away from the crack pipe)
3. This report is unlike a formal audit and as such is “full off erroneous information and misconceptions”
4. While this audit is critical of the AOC, it is not critical of AOC employees.
Wendy Darling
May 29, 2012
And AOC employees can “trust” Jody Patel. (No line staff employee believes this.)
Long live the ACJ.
unionman575
May 29, 2012
Yes The CJ hopes that committee will be a burial ground for the report.
Wendy Darling
May 29, 2012
The irony is, if the SEC report had said what the Chief Justice wanted to hear, she wouldn’t be able to praise it, gush about it, embrace it, support it, broadcast it, and throw it in the faces of the Alliance, fast enough.
Oh, the hypocrisy. But that’s to be expected these days from current judicial branch administration.
Long live the ACJ.
unionman575
May 29, 2012
Included for each line worker was a complimentary piece of rope, a horse, and an old oak tree…you know the rest Versal-versal.
unionman575
May 29, 2012
Oh my! My humor is so dry tonight!
I need another drink. BRB
unionman575
May 29, 2012
Mark your calendars. 3 days of titillating entertainment chaired by your master of ceremonies, America’s favorite gambling barmaid, Tani!
Next Judicial Council Meeting: June 20, 21 ,22 @ Death Star HQ in SF.
unionman575
May 29, 2012
Let’s “enhance” communications. Shall we?
http://www.courts.ca.gov/18258.htm
TCPJAC Room Block RFP #ASU EG-021
RFP Number ASU EG-021
The Judicial Council of California, Administrative Office of the Courts, Conference Services Unit seeks proposals from hotels for sleeping rooms, August 22 & 23, 2012 in San Francisco.
Any questions must be directed to conferencesolicitations@jud.ca.gov by 5:00 pm Pacific Time, Tuesday, June 5, 2012.
Proposals must be received by END OF BUSINESS DAY Pacific Time, Friday, June 8, 2012.
Hard copy proposals must be delivered to:
Judicial Council of California
Administrative Office of the Courts
Attn: John Remington, RFP No. ASU EG021
455 Golden Gate Avenue, 5th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94102-3688
The TCPJAC and CEAC/COCE convene two statewide meetings annually. The meetings are conducted to provide candid discussion affecting the courts as well as enhance communications among the courts and between the AOC and the courts. Expected court attendance is 120 and will consist primarily of trial court presiding judges, assistant presiding judges, executive officers, and assistant executive officers. For the past three years, the meetings were held at the AOC in San Francisco.
Dan Dydzak
May 29, 2012
All interesting comments about developing events. Videotaped depositon notices are going out with requests for documents and tangible things, including for the SEC reports–the sanitized one and the earlier one.
The scheduling and sequence of videotaped depositions as noticed by me are as follows:
(1) Videotaped deposition of attorney Eric M. George with document request–time estimate of approximately 3 days.
(2) Videotaped deposition of retired Associate Justice Carlos Moreno with document request–time estimate of approximately 2 days.
(3) Videotaped deposition of Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye with document request–time estimate of approximately 3 days.
(4) Videotaped deposition of Justice Kathryn Werdegar with document request–time estimate of approximately 3 days.
There will be other depositions are required for discovery purposes, as well as other basic discovery such as document requests, subpoenas duces tecum, requests for admissions, interrogatories and special interrogatories.
I knew and was hired by the great Melvin M. Belli, Sr. Mel would have liked the discovery schedule.
Thanks for all the information–keep it coming folks.
JusticeCalifornia
May 30, 2012
I love this excerpt from the Recorder article:
‘In a brief conference call with reporters on Tuesday, Cantil-Sakauye called the committee’s work “fabulous” but said the report is “backwards-looking” and does not consider the restructuring and staff reductions now planned.
“I think that this is the branch doing what it is supposed to do: taking a hard look at ourselves and how we can best perform under limited resources,” Cantil-Sakauye said. “That’s what we do. I didn’t need anyone to tell me to do that. I didn’t need the Legislature to order it. It’s something I want to do. It’s something the Judicial Council wants to have done.”’
LOL.
Hey Tani, I hope no one needs to tell you that Team George stalwarts Patel, Soderlund and Couch, and Roddy do not belong in top leadership of the AOC. You put them (or ANY Team George cheerleader) there, and you are asking for trouble. . .. .and mutiny, and derision, etc. But hey, I am sure you know that and no one needs to tell you that.
LOL.
I know you want your good buddy Patel and other comfort thugs by your side, but the truth hurts, baby. TEAM GEORGE IS OVER. No one but a fool would try to put lipstick and fake angel wings on a pig, and hope that pig will fly.
courtflea
May 30, 2012
ok kids, I have told you over and over it was going to be Roddy and his association with Patel was going to continue. Why are you all suprised? I told you so! no one listens to a flea anymore? This has been so obvious since Bill V and Ron O ahh left? retired? or whatever? I hate to tell you but I told you so for MONTHS. HA!
Ok if this does not come to fruition, I will give you a mea culpa. but I doubt it.
Thanks to the alliance for their fab letter.
JusticeCalifornia
May 30, 2012
courtflea, I guess it all depends on if our cj wants to remain in her position. . . . .or hang onto her comfort/thug buddies and lose everything.
By the way, I wonder if anyone has thought about HOW VERY MUCH IT WILL COST to have multiple top AOC leadership positions? Doesn’t this seem like an expensive game of musical chairs? You “get rid” of the regional directors but recycle the positions into a different form of top leadership? Same game, different name.
Oh yeah, that is an AOC specialty.
unionman575
May 30, 2012
Yes expensive musical chairs Justice. Disgusting. Just disgusting!
Guest
May 30, 2012
I may be wrong but I doubt Roddy is going anywhere. First, he only takes jobs where he is begged to take over and the job is easy. The AOC Director position today is way over his head now. Secondly from what I hear the judges in San Diego are still brainwashed by his “legendary skills”. The judges still gaze at him while he speaks like groupies to a rock star. So my bet is Roddy stays. San Diego’s loss is the branch’s gain.
lando
May 30, 2012
I am very troubled by the Chief Justice’s comments. She commissioned the SEC and set up the structure for the report. AOC staff was to play no role in creating the report so a true and honest view of their work would be generated. The Chief Justice also appointed all the members of the SEC and reappointed the Chairs once Justice Scotland exited. The SEC’s findings? A scathing and devastating rebuke to an agency many of us have warned is out of control. For the Chief Justice to now claim the report is not forward looking or was a shot in time that is no longer relevant, or has errors or misconceptions is another of her ever growing significant administrative blunders. The reality is the AOC needs to be dismantled. The Chief Justice and her allies just do further damage to the credibility of the branch if they persist in denying that this agency and their oversight of it has failed. Accordingly, the many calls to democratize the Judicial Council and recall this CJ appear to have been right all along and take on even more force in light of the SEC findings.
Judicial Council Watcher
May 30, 2012
JCW was whispered in my private message window that the Trial Court Administrative Services group provided all of the composition services for the SEC report. I was also whispered that HR (what’s left of it) worked all last weekend creating the layoff packages that will be the first round of layoffs at the AOC being announced this week.
unionman575
May 30, 2012
You have to love the personal “touch” from that divison.
Nothing like an in house report to start my day…
Res Ipsa Loquitor
May 30, 2012
Is the Trial Court Administrative Services group home to Kurt Druecker?
unionman575
May 30, 2012
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-court-costs-20120530,0,4305785.story
Agency that runs California courts ‘dysfunctional,’ report says
The report, ordered by California Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, could undermine her attempts to roll back budget cuts of about $544 million.
By Maura Dolan, Los Angeles Times
May 30, 2012
unionman575
May 30, 2012
Res here is your boy’s info:
Kurt Duecker
Senior Court Services Analyst
Court Programs and Services Division – Trial Court Leadership Services (TCLS) Unit
Judicial Council of California – Administrative Office of the Courts
455 Golden Gate Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94102-3688
JusticeCalifornia
May 30, 2012
Justice Scotland set up a structure that left all AOC members — including Patel– out in the cold. Scotland reportedly issued a scathing preliminary report and then unexpectedly exited, Patel was immediately elevated to top administrator and the report was delayed. This situation was clearly created to allow Patel access to information Scotland had kept from her, and allow the cj to claim, AS WE ALL EXPECTED, that we should all just move along, it’s all been taken care of, nothing more of interest here. . . . .We know from the handwritten notes of a Patel meeting attendee that one of Patel’s top priorities these past few months was preparing for the release of the SEC report.
There was a limit to how much “spin” they could put on this report, because after all, if push comes to shove this report can and should be checked against the raw data– similar to that which the BSA released in connection with the BSA CCMS audit– and Scotland’s preliminary report.
As for the claims of the cj and Patel that they didn’t know what was in the report –LOL. Take their depositions and get them to say that under oath.
The cj should be focusing on real change, including a) prompt elimination (not promotion) of administrators like Patel, Roddy, Soderlund, Couch, and all those others who participated in creating and covering up the AOC mess, and b) democratization of the Judicial Council.
I do not believe anyone can overestimate the danger to branch credibility, branch welfare, and the branch budget, if our gambling barmaid puts ANYONE involved in past AOC follies in top leadership. Why would anyone believe there was change, or hand over more money, to someone “in charge” who has participated in wasting billions?
DLC
May 30, 2012
Wow pay attention Santa Clara County Superior Court employees , we our a mirror image Of the AOC and there H.R top officials!
unionman575
May 30, 2012
Yeah it is a sewer up there in Santa Clara SC.
Guest
May 30, 2012
Yes re Santa Clara. They now have CEO David Yamasaki who is the HIGHEST PAID court employee in the state running the show. He is also a JC member who nodded along as the AOC went wild without any JC oversight. Yamasaki is the ultimate pretty boy AOC suck up favored by cj’s. He is now recruiting an Asst CEO to run the place as he telecommutes from San Diego and/AOC. Oh and he doesn’t care about peon employees who actually do the work. He is the face of court leadership.
DLC
May 30, 2012
Couldn’t of some it up better myself UnionMan 575 with that statement !
Eileen Lasher
May 30, 2012
My daughter and I were provided with an appointment with Michael Roddy the CEO of the San diego Courts. My daughter Natalie had been appointed a Court Appointed Minor’s Counsel Marcia Guy Orenstein, Esq who billed the county for services never rendered. We explained to Michael Roddy that we had just attended a meeting of San diego Family Law litigants spear headed by Michael Aguirre the former City Attorney of San Diego. During the meeting it was discussed that san Diego Family Law attorneys were deliberately churning cases, deceiving court records and delaying resolutions. It seemed to be a cookie cutter structuring of family law cases holding litigants hostage for excessive periods of time reeping excessive fees. My daughter Natalie and I were told by Michael Roddy that his role was to “keep the lights on”. He explained he would bring this to the attention of the Presiding Judge Ken Enright. We were then escorted by 6 deputies and prevented from leaving the courthouse. We were placed under false arrest and taken to Judge Hoffman’s courtroom who attempted to perform a debtor’s exam on me. This was without notice. The only people in the courtroom were Judge Hoffman an attorney Mr. Horowicz who was representing my former attorney Bill Blatchley, Esq who systemically churns other cases seizing homes from protective mothers. I did write to the Commission on Judicial Performance who disciplined Judge Hoffman as his role is not to service Bill Blatchley. I was also never served with any notice of any debtor’s exam. Most recently Theresa Erickson was prosecuted by US Attorney Jason Forge for running an International Baby selling ring in San Diego Family Law court for 6 years. I have requested that Jason Forge US Attorney in San Diego and Damon Mosler of the San diego District Attorney’s fraud division to expand their audit to include the “high conflict” cases in San diego Family Law court which has become a haven for waste and corruption. Eileen Lasher
Wendy Darling
May 30, 2012
Unfortunately, your situation in San Diego is typical of how Roddy runs the San Diego Superior Court, Ms. Lasher, and judicial branch administration in general from 455 Golden Gate Avenue. Hopefully, someone in the US Attorney’s office will do something, but given the past indiffernce to all of the other evidence of what is going on in California judicial branch administration that has been given to the US Attorney, that hope would seem rather dim.
Which, again, is one of the reasons why we’re all here.
Long live the ACJ.
DLC
May 30, 2012
Eileen
It sounds like some of these Judge’s like in our county forget there appointed not anointed when it comes too wilding there Judicial authority and powers.
Dan Dydzak
June 2, 2012
Justice California and others, suffice to say, I am scheduling and noticing depositions, including the CJ’s.
JusticeCalifornia
June 2, 2012
I would love to take the depos of top leadership. 🙂