Frankly, there are reasons for an AOC audit that cannot be expressed by the ACJ or other judges because making certain statements would run afoul of judicial cannons. (which is why ANY crime that happens at the judicial council and the AOC is the perfect crime because no one credible can talk about it)
We have a partially composed post days in the making. We’ve reached out to a few people privately. Now we want to reach out to everyone – AOC employees, court employees and judges alike and suggest you use our totally anonymous, private and secure message window at https://forms.hush.com/judicialcouncilwatcher and tell us about it.
These are items that we want the state auditor to look into. So far they include things like an acknowledged 100K embezzlement and a massive cover-up for unlicensed overpriced contractors and a request to place the deloitte contract in the public domain. These are just a few items that it thus far contains. We need more items that the BSA can audit for.
This post is scheduled to be released this Sunday, March 2nd, which is a mere two days before the JLAC hearing on the audit request on March 4th. Anything you can provide that leads to an auditable item that shows mismanagement or outright theft of public funds are items that it is critical that the BSA and the legislature knows about. Some of these items have already been filed with the BSA directly but unless the legislature authorizes BSA to investigate them, they go nowhere.
Stitch
February 26, 2014
I have first hand knowledge of falsified time sheets, “kick backs” for purchasing, and fraud referrals made to the audit manager, who because of his friendship with the target conveniently lost the referral.
Michael Paul
February 26, 2014
The audit manager works for the finance director along side the purchasing department that also reports to the finance director. No conflict of interest there…..
The audit manager is beyond reproach and would never, ever do such a thing… except on days that end with the letter Y.
Stitch
February 26, 2014
On top of that, Judnick is not academically or professionally qualified to conduct audits. How could they hire a clown like that?
R. Campomadera
February 26, 2014
Have they never heard of separation of duties? This is outrageous and a recipe for corruption. The internal audit function should never report to the CFO. It should report directly to the Council. Of course, given the way the Council is selected and operates, that doesn’t necessarily offer much comfort either.
Michael Paul
February 26, 2014
Personally, I would like to see BSA replace internal audits for some genuine checks and balances and to eliminate the inherent conflicts of interest.
I think if BSA were on the job instead of Mr. Judnick, a whole lot of people would be out of a job and I would still be working there.
Wendy Darling
February 26, 2014
“On top of that, Judnick is not academically or professionally qualified to conduct audits. How could they hire a clown like that?”
The same way they could hire Ken Couch to run the AOC’s HR Division, even though Couch had zero HR experience. The AOC doesn’t hire people like Couch and Judnik because of their academic or professional qualifications. They’re hired because of their abilities as liars and bullies, and their dedication to blind and unquestioning obedience, including breaking the law.
Long live the ACJ.
Michael Paul
February 26, 2014
The audit manager is also the ironically named fraud, waste and abuse coordinator who takes his assignment seriously and coordinates (facilitates) fraud, waste and abuse within the judicial council and the AOC.
Isn’t that correct Mr. Judnick?
As to organicmama – any records request that is courts related would start with the local superior court. The AOC provides the services and the clients (the courts) maintain their data.
Michael Paul
February 26, 2014
Food for thought: This is an allegation I have been making for four years about Mr. Judnick. Let’s be perfectly clear – I am not making this representation as an opinion I am stating such as a fact.
Now, you would think that after four years of making the same factual allegation with respect to Mr. Judnick and his role with the judicial council or the AOC, that if I could not prove my allegations in a court of law, he would be pursuing me for libel and defamation of character.
There’s a little problem with that possible lawsuit though…isn’t there Mr. Judnick?
Ginny
February 26, 2014
I am uncertain what the AOC is responsible for. I know they do not have admistrative records of the Superior Courts. Is this true? What records do they have?
Judicial Council Watcher
February 26, 2014
Any court that subscribes to california courts technology center services (usually smaller courts that don’t have big it departments) has their records maintained by the CCTC which is an AOC vendor.
Correction and clarification: Some records. They can subscribe to services such as case management and email and other services.
organicmomca
February 26, 2014
So how does one get a hold of Superiror Court Records, The AOC has emailed me that they do not maintain those records of the judges or Superior court records of administration and such. I cannot even find out who is who.
sharonkramer
February 26, 2014
It might be a good idea to also send comments of anything that would cause the legislators not to order the audit. Rules one and two in sales are: Know your product. Know your competitor’s product.
Its much harder to overcome an objection if you haven’t thought it through about what objections may occur; and what your answers will be when objections are raised. Its also always good to think of any actions that could be taken to mitigate any matter that could cause foreseeable objections.
In other words, you have to think about what your opponent thinks about, to make the sale. You have to think of reasons why they would not want to give an audit, in addition to reasons why they would.
NewsViews
February 26, 2014
Reblogged this on News and Views Riverside Superior Court and National Family Law Abuse.
Peppermint Pattie
February 26, 2014
The State Auditor should look at AOC fraud done by double invoicing, and AOC ghost employees, including employees who are listed as FTE’s and who are being paid a salary on the books, but are in fact not working there. The State Auditor should also take a good, close look at the Trial Court Workers Compensation Fund, that is controlled by the AOC.
If the State Auditor has the authority, the AOC’s hiring practices should also be audited. For example, friends and relatives that are being hired or promoted into positions for which they don’t meet the minimum qualifications, people being hired with criminal records but not being required to pass the State background check, and people being allowed to attend college classes on state-paid time to get a college degree, even though they claimed/lied on their State employment application with the AOC that they already had a college degree but didn’t, but the position the AOC hired them for required one.
Then there is also the culture of fear and retaliation at the AOC. If anyone reports misconduct or files an internal complaint, their work life suddenly becomes a living hell and they get fired. But the State Auditor probably can’t do anything about that. No one else will.
unionman575
February 26, 2014
“Then there is also the culture of fear and retaliation at the AOC. If anyone reports misconduct or files an internal complaint, their work life suddenly becomes a living hell and they get fired.”
How true.
Michael Paul and many others have suffered at the hands of the Death Star.
Wendy Darling
February 26, 2014
Today’s installment of Tani’s Follies; more lying from 455 Golden Gate Avenue. From Courthouse News Service, by Bill Girdner:
Modus Operandi
By BILL GIRDNER
Modus Operandi: A distinct pattern or method of operation.
Here is the statement made by Justice Terence Bruiniers last year before the Judicial Council rubber-stamped new e-filing rules over press objections:
“It is interesting that Orange County’s experience with mandatory e-filing indicates that … most of their filings are completed within 24 hours.”
That statement helped ram through a set of tortured definitions that would give administrators an excuse to delay press access to newly filed public records until they are processed and thus deemed “official.”
But it distorts the truth about the delay.
I talked last week to our Orange County correspondent who said the delay for regular civil cases was running up to one week. On Friday, cases from Tuesday and Wednesday were docketed but could not be seen while the cases from Thursday and Friday had not yet been docketed and could not be seen either.
Over the last month, cases filed earlier in the week are regularly being processed on Saturdays, an expensive proposition given that the shortfalls in the budget for other courts and one that belies the court clerk’s claim of efficiency through technology.
Our correspondent noted that the complex cases — the new matters most likely to be important and newsworthy — are further “lagging.”
A class action over the denial of alcohol permits at a mass music and dance party on Huntington Beach, a controversy that generated coverage on KABC news, was filed on February 7th but not made “official” until February 19th, fully two weeks after it was filed.
So that newsworthy case was filed but kept in an electronic vault, in effect sealed, until long after it was news.
The statement that filings are completed within 24 hours was roughly correct for the couple days before it was made, when Orange County, for some reason, suddenly speeded up processing.
But it is not a true statement of “Orange County’s experience” over time.
Moving to another statement made on behalf of another California court that delays press access, a lawyer representing the Ventura Superior Court was asked by Ninth Circuit Judge Kim Wardlaw why it was that Ventura was unable to provide the access sought by the press when “other courts are.”
Wardlaw was referring to the traditional same-day press access granted by other courts in California.
Robert Naeve with Jones Day answered Wardlaw, “No courts are, your honor.”
That statement cannot be called a distortion of the truth. It is simply false.
A host of California courts provide the press with same-day access to new unlimited civil actions, including those in Kern, Fresno, San Mateo, Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco and, the biggest court in the state, Los Angeles Superior.
The statement was made in oral arguments on a case brought by Courthouse News against the Ventura clerk over access delays similar to those in Orange County.
Another example of the operational method used by administrators resisting press access comes from Orange County’s head clerk Alan Carlson. He told a national gathering of administrators last fall that the press wants access to a new filing “as soon as it is filed with the EFSP.”
An EFSP is an Electronic File Service Provider, which, shorn of techno-talk, is an attorney service. It delivers legal documents to a court.
The press wants to see those documents promptly after they are delivered to the court, the date reflected on the file stamp, and not before.
To say that the press wants to see the new filings while they are still in the hands of the delivery service is false.
And rankly so.
But that is the modus operandi employed by the bureaucrats and their enablers who fight press access: to say that a court’s experience is that new filings are available the next day when in fact the delay stretches to two weeks, to say that no courts provide same-day access when in fact plenty do, to say that the press wants access before a new filing is delivered to the court when in fact the press wants access after it is delivered to the court.
That is their method.
http://www.courthousenews.com/2014/02/25/65654.htm
Long live the ACJ.
courtflea
February 26, 2014
i say audit the AOC’s travel expenditures/reimbursements. I bet that would be really interesting especially in relation to the top AOC staff; Jahr head, Patel, the Curts etc.Are they getting paid per diems to cover housing while working in the City? Mileage to and from home to work?
unionman575
February 27, 2014
Are they getting paid per diems to cover housing while working in the City?
Yes.
Mileage to and from home to work?
Yes
Lando
February 27, 2014
Where to start. The Judicial Council and AOC need to be audited in the following areas: 1. How many AOC management employees were allowed to never contribute any of their own funds into their retirement plans? Who in the judicial branch authorized this “retirement” program?. How much has this retirement give away cost the California taxpayers? 2. Why is Clark Kelso the highest paid Judicial Council/AOC employee ? 3. Why is the Judicial Council and AOC paying for Mr Kelso’s retirement when his role as CDC receiver has nothing to do with the operation of our courts ? 4. Over the course of the last 5 years, how many AOC employees were allowed to telecommute ? Where did the employees telecommute from? Were these telecommute policies consistent with the State of California telecommute policy? 5. How many employees does the AOC really have? 6.How many temp workers does the AOC really have? 7. How many consultants does the Judicial Council and AOC have or had working for them in the last 10 years? Who authorized the hiring of each consultant and what were the substantive areas of the consultants work? 8. After the demise of CCMS, the Judicial Council authorized the expenditure of between 7-10 million on salvaging CCMS. Since CCMS never worked, what exactly did this 7-10 million get spent on? 9. Does the Judicial Council/AOC own a condo, apartment or other living space in the San Francisco Bay Area? 10. What amount is spent by the Judicial Council on “security costs” for their members , including any and all amounts paid for CHP transportation? Specifically how much has been spent driving the Chief Justice back and forth from home to work on an annual basis for the last 10 years? 11. How much has been expended in the last 10 years for San Francisco hotel rooms for AOC management and all members of the Judicial Council? 12. What really is the Shapiro fund? Who actually funded it and what were Shapiro funds used for? 13. How much has actually been spent on new courthouse construction in the last ten years? Who in the Judicial Council authorized spending billions on the Long Beach private public courthouse program? 14. When was CCMS approved by the Judicial Council? In other words , at what date and time and specific meeting were millions allocated to a statewide Case Management system? 15. Who in the Judicial Council or AOC authorized AOC staff to support the trailer bill to give the Judicial Council and AOC the power to select local trial court Presiding Judges and Court CEO’s? 16. How much is being expended for Mr Child and any and all Judicial Council members to defeat this reasonable audit request? Hopefully this list based on my decades of experience dealing with and watching the Judicial Council and AOC will be of help to the legislature in determining what needs to be audited at the Crystal Palace located at 455 Golden Gate Ave.
unionman575
February 27, 2014
Lando,
Bingo.
😉
Nathaniel Woodhull
February 27, 2014
Ditto!
Lando the folks within the Crystal Palace are quaking in their boots that this audit will take place. Their principal reason for this apprehension is that they cannot answer many of the questions which you raise and those that they can answer will not be flattering.
The OBT
February 27, 2014
Great list Lando. The Shapiro funds paid for lots of excesses during HRH-1’s regime. However did they cover them all? Was the Shapiro fun ever accounted for as a “gift” to HRH-1 or to the dictatorship as a whole at 455 Golden Gate? Maybe the State Auditor can look into that. What I have never figured out is why did Mr Shapiro give all this money to HRH-1 to begin with? Do his contributions continue under HRH-2 ? I also think the Auditor should evaluate all the expenses set forth for the many task forces and AOC Committees that meet regularly. Air travel, hotels, meals ,etc must be adding up to a significant amount. The auditor should further look into why half a million dollars is paid to the National Center on State courts. What benefit do the struggling trial courts derive from that arrangement? Finally trial courts have cut way back on out of state travel for conferences and seminars. Has the Judicial Council and the AOC done the same? These are all legitimate and fair questions that the Judicial Council and AOC need to address. Their attempt to block a fair and open audit of their operations will only cause them to lose further credibility throughout the state and potentially cause further budget cutbacks that adversely effect the trial courts.
unionman575
February 27, 2014
http://www.courts.ca.gov/16791.htm#tab24607
Trial Court Budget Advisory Committee
Next Meeting
Tuesday March 25
10:00am – 3:00pm
AOC San Francisco
3rd Floor Conference Center
😉
unionman575
February 27, 2014
Drum roll…
The newest yes man is: http://www.courts.ca.gov/25172.htm
unionman575
February 27, 2014
How We Build a Courthouse in California
😉
http://www.courts.ca.gov/documents/building-brochure.pdf
Judicial Council Watcher
February 28, 2014
For some odd reason we’re getting in quite a bit of information from current and former AOC employees and retirees. Information that the trial and appellate courts would only describe as disturbing.
We want to encourage you to continue and get the BSA the information they need to do their job most effectively by clicking on the above link.
Does your boss lock himself in his big screen TV office all day like one AOC boss?
Is your boss so foolishly incompetent that grant recipients of the AOC were cheated out of a half million dollars because your boss changed IT systems and the cash vanished – like another AOC boss? (By the way, the AOC provided reports say the money was doled out and the private message window says to match the records against the checks issued and you will find the discrepancy)
Is another AOC boss so foolishly incompetent that they made nonprofit grants conditional upon part of the money flowing to a legislator? (We call that political money laundering folks and the grant recipients have no choice if they want funding)
Is your boss a closet smoker and an occasional weekend hard drug user like a certain AOC director? (on this one regrettably we won’t be naming names)
coochiecouch
February 28, 2014
Can someone please look into why Ken Couch has a flat screen TV in his office? His door is closed much of the day also. Is he watching Duck Dynasty? Yeeeeee haawwwww
unionman575
March 1, 2014
How can sofa man relax all day without a flat screen TV in his office?
😉
Wendy Darling
February 28, 2014
Probably Duck Dynasty with a chaser of Grey Goose.
Long live the ACJ.
unionman575
March 1, 2014
I’ll pass on Duck Dynasty…but I’ll have the Grey Goose.
😉
organicmomca
March 1, 2014
AOC has no records of complaints? Do they have to provide those?