About the “Reality Check” barometer….

A few years ago JCW launched as “California’s ten billion dollar reality check”. The reason we picked that number in particular is because that is how much public monies were at risk of being mis-spent by the boondogglers that run the AOC and the hand-picked long time inside brown-nosed boondogglers of the judicial council. Over the past three years we’ve changed this barometer. We lowered the barometer when CCMS was terminated only to raise it a few months later with the Long Beach courthouse project. Due to some changes related to the diversion of funding and the cancellation of courthouse projects, we’re having a difficult time currently assessing where todays barometer should be so we’re leaving it at the current 9.1 billion dollars.  What is at risk is 9.1 billion dollars that would be best spent by the trial courts but given to the AOC as the accountable to no one central planners and distributors of this public funding.

In a recent news release of the Alliance of California Judges, ACJ president Steve White opined to legislators that if the JC\AOC has enough money hanging out to grant 150 million dollars in trial court loans then the JC\AOC has enough money hanging out to distribute an additional 150 million dollars in trial court funding. In accordance with the newly defined trial court funding distribution plans, I’d call that new money, especially if the legislature redirects the 150 million from the JC\AOC and redirects those monies to the trial courts. In our opinion, even this is not enough to impact nor deter the piss poor planners at the central politburo.

The legislature needs to turn over ALL court construction funds directly to our trial courts to preserve our justice system and to compel actual and significant layoffs at the central politburo. It will be these loose lips that are no longer under the threat of AOC termination that will sing like a bird and tell us all what we need to know about these questionable transactions. Today, they fear a loss of their jobs, their benefits and their pensions for speaking out. Previous layoffs were of low level persons who were all but out of the loop of impropriety. There is much knowledge of impropriety among current AOC employees and they tell us as much. What they also tell us is that they fear speaking out on the issues under the threat of no recourse termination for they are smart enough to realize that the modified whistleblower laws serve only the AOC and not the people they’re supposed to protect and that there was no enabling legislation that would cause the process to work for anyone.

With so much damage created by just one obscure little agency that appears to be accountable to no one, it is high time that our state legislators open up a broad investigation of California’s Administrative Office of the Courts and their handlers on the judicial council with an eye on following the money. Thus far, the AOC has used the executive branch to protect them legally at the cost of trial court funding. One could reason that because you’re driving the getaway car that you too will pay the price for the bank clerk murdered by the actual bank robber and therefore, you need to have your budgets cut.

A suitable budget for the Judicial Council and the AOC for fiscal years 13-14 would be a conditional budget. Keep the same management team employed as of December 31 and your annual budget is $1.00 moving forward. Lose the management team and you get to stay funded. This is what it took to wake up the state bar for all the good it did. It’s time the AOC and the Judicial Council also received a wake-up call because it is obvious probation hasn’t worked.

Related articles

• Why are we so afraid of democracy? (judicialcouncilwatcher.com)
• JCW’s wishes for the May budget revise (judicialcouncilwatcher.com)
• As Transparent As An Iron Curtain (judicialcouncilwatcher.com)