If you’ve been following the bouncing ball regarding recent revelations concerning the court construction & facilities maintenance programs from post to post AND if you are a long time reader of both AOC Watcher and Judicial Council Watcher there should be no doubt whatsoever in your mind that there are very serious problems in both the court construction and facilities maintenance programs.
We know that from the disclosures made by whistle blowers and others way back in AOC Watcher days that there were serious problems with the facilities maintenance program and that the leadership of this program has barely changed in the six or so years that this program has been in effect.
While they should have performed a clean sweep of all management, we had essentially one step down from a director position before court construction and facilities maintenance were split and one senior manager take a long term medical leave. This caused the elevation of middle managers who were a big part of the problem being elevated into senior management ranks and with them came their really expensive, really bad ideas, like taking the few people who did the work out of the field to chase down a prospectors award.
Today, facilities management in the judicial council remains purely reactive because they focus all of their money and resources on being purely reactive instead of being proactive. The bottom line is that being purely reactive costs exponentially more than being proactive in facilities maintenance. Unlike the federal government, California’s Department of General Services and even the services provided by many counties directly to the courts, there are no longer onsite facilities maintenance personnel full-time in many courthouses. This has been supplanted by one person being responsible for millions of square feet of courthouse facilities maintenance who are relying on overseeing expensive contractors to propose costly solutions and being used to facilitate these services on a sole-source regional basis.
No other governmental entity responsible for facilities maintenance and operations does business this way. Absolutely no one.
But then again, nowhere in the United States will you find any judicial branch entity performing an executive branch function of facilities management and facilities maintenance except here in California and that my friends is a big part of the problem. Not only is judicial branch facilities maintenance roped in to the judicial branch budget but that money is not nearly enough to really do the job. Worse, the Judicial Council continues to make catastrophic decisions about how what little money they get will actually be spent.
Judicial council facilities maintenance overseers on the court facilities advisory committee on the judicial council themselves are not privy to the big picture. Led by Justice Brad Hill, they have no clue about how other governmental entities maintain their facilities and can’t explain why it costs nearly 4 times per square foot more than other entities for the judicial council to maintain a courthouse when deferred maintenance is factored in.
This alone is an important reason for the State Auditor to go in, audit the programs and make the recommendations that we believe that they will make to move all facilities management over to the executive branch where it belongs, where the work will get done and where it will cost less.
This move alone will cut the judicial council staff by 30% because all the support staff will no longer be required to support these programs. Construction and facilities maintenance support staff exist in every division of the AOC and are charged against the monies allocated for court facilities maintenance and court construction, yet perform a plethora of work outside of those boundaries because there’s really not a lot to do in support of these items. But they exist as line-item accounts that the judicial council can charge against to expand their own programs.
The major impediment to an audit of court construction and facilities maintenance remains the fierce lobbying of the state buildings and constructions trades council on the Judicial Council’s behalf. Perhaps they don’t realize that moving these services over to DGS by way of an audit is in their own best interests. It seems to us that breaking off facilities management of courthouses and making it an executive branch function would transfer that work to an agency that would be getting better funding to support it, be getting the work done, employing more of their members and engaging a wider variety of contractors. It does not take a rocket science degree to figure this out so perhaps we should be lobbying the SBCTC for an audit and highlight the issues.
A more prominent side effect of this transfer of responsibilities would be that judges and commissioners would no longer be under undue pressure to convict or not reduce fines due to the direct impact these convictions currently have on their own budget. Sure, one can advocate that judges and commissioners would never do that but all one has to do is sit in Taylor Culver’s courtroom in Oakland and listen to his summation of what people can expect and why when they’re arraigned, which typically includes “don’t ask for a reduction in fines because the judicial council stripped judges of that discretion”
Judicial Council Watcher 
wearyant
July 8, 2015
Great post, JCW. Keep hittin’ ’em! And long live the ACJ.
unionman575
July 8, 2015
Ditto!
😉
sharonkramer
July 8, 2015
“it costs nearly 4 times per square foot more than other entities for the judicial council to maintain a courthouse when deferred maintenance is factored in.This alone is an important reason for the State Auditor to go in…” Yep.
unionman575
July 10, 2015
http://www.courts.ca.gov/cfac.htm
Court Facilities Advisory Committee
July 16, 2015 Meeting (Teleconference)
😉
12:00 to 1:00 p.m.
Public Call-in Number: 1-877-820-7831,
Passcode: 7004216
Item 1
Proposed Senate Bill 1407 Project Funding Requests and Draft Judicial Branch AB 1473 Five-Year Infrastructure Plan for Fiscal Year 2016–2017 (Action Required)
Review the list of proposed SB 1407 capital project funding requests and the draft Judicial Branch AB 1473 Five-Year Infrastructure Plan for FY 2016–2017 to meet the state Department of Finance’s September 2015 deadline.
Presenter: Ms. Angela Guzman, Financial Manager, Capital Program
Item 2
Judicial Council Policy on Art Acquisition for Court Facilities (Action Required)
Review the proposed policy on Judicial Council acquisition of art.
Presenter: Mr. William J. Guerin, Director, Capital Program
Ms. Debora Morrison, Senior Attorney, Legal Services
Item 3
Naming Request for the Merced – New Los Banos Courthouse (Action Required)
Review the request to name the new courthouse under construction in the City of Los Banos.
Presenter: Mr. Chris Magnusson, Senior Facilities Planner, Capital Program
Posted on: July 9, 2015
sharonkramer
July 10, 2015
Uman. If we call in on the 16th do we get to suggest names for the $26M two courtroom courthouse? 🙂 How about the “George’s Folly Memorial Courthouse”?
unionman575
July 10, 2015
Sounds perfect!
sharonkramer
July 10, 2015
More dirt coming to light re: systemic corruption in CA’s legal system. A real embarrassment to the State of CA — people are making MOVIES about it. Two new notices I’ve received:
1. “A Culture of Fear” LA County CPS “If you want an insider perspective on what goes on inside CPS, please listen to this shocking interview, and share this video far and wide.” http://medicalkidnap.com/2015/06/23/former-la-county-social-worker-reveals-corruption-in-child-protection-services/#sthash.qawj29BA.dpuf
2. Full Disclosure Network says soon to be released documentary re: LA County supplemental income to judges causing conflicts of interest in decisions — the Richard Fine Story: http://www.fulldisclosure.net/2015/06/corrupted-justice-the-movie/
************
My favorite, a new documentary “Merchants of Doubt”. This is exactly what Huffman and McConnell et.al aided to continue over the mold issue by falsifying court docs and suppressing evidence of plaintiff perjury in the SLAPP suit against me — brought by Merchants of Doubt in the Toxic Mold issue. I make no bones about it — Huffman, McConnell and several other CA jurists belong behind bars for all the lives they’ve devastated via framing me for libel for my exposing the truth– and then jailing me for refusing to sign a false confession. It doesn’t get much dirtier than this. http://sonyclassics.com/merchantsofdoubt/
Former AOCer
July 12, 2015
http://www.cdc.gov/mold/stachy.htm#Q1
The term “toxic mold” is not accurate. While certain molds are toxigenic, meaning they can produce toxins (specifically mycotoxins), the molds themselves are not toxic, or poisonous. Hazards presented by molds that may produce mycotoxins should be considered the same as other common molds which can grow in your house. There is always a little mold everywhere – in the air and on many surfaces. There are very few reports that toxigenic molds found inside homes can cause unique or rare health conditions such as pulmonary hemorrhage or memory loss. These case reports are rare, and a causal link between the presence of the toxigenic mold and these conditions has not been proven.
sharonkramer
July 12, 2015
FYI, that’s a really old CDC link circa 2002. It’s an example of poor risk communication — while speaking out two sides of their mouths. What they were trying to say is that mold itself can harm (allergy), but that the secondary metabolites, which are microbial toxins such as mycotoxins that are produced by some molds, cause different illnesses — that the CDC was promoting does not occur.
The CDC was working in conjunction with ACOEM and the US Chamber et.al., to promote the false concept that it was proven Toxic Mold in water damaged buildings does not harm. One example: CDC NIOSH’s Elana Page and Doug Trout presenting at a seminar in 2002 while promoting the ACOEM/US Chamber/Veritox BS that mold toxins are proven not to harm. All other presenters are retried CDC and/or expert defense witnesses in mold litigation. (except Jonathan Bernstein who has since acknowledged the problem) http://users.physics.harvard.edu/~wilson/soundscience/mold/mold.html
The term “Toxic Mold” has been used by the US Chamber/authors of the ACOEM mold statements — who are also expert defense witnesses for the US DOJ and who Huffman and McConnell et.al. falsified court docs in SLAPP to aid them with fraud while trying to shut me up.
So, the term “Toxic Mold” is appropriate to use when combating its prior fraudulent usage and double-speak by the CDC, et.al. http://freepdfhosting.com/a8baea5e37.pdf
The Chamber/ACOEM author/Veritox owner, Bryan Hardin, who retired from the CDC in 2000 used the term in the above link for the US Chamber. See last page.
When communicating w/lay people but needing to be technically correct, I usually use the term “mold and its toxins”. But the term “Toxic Mold” best respresents the issue with which most are familiar.
Former AOCer
July 12, 2015
I respect your stance, and as a person who is allergic to presence of some molds, I have concerns. As a scientist, I don’t like media-created terms. It belittles the general public’s ability to understand science.
As a scientist, I have seen peoples’ reaction to the presence of mold. It isn’t pretty. The CDC page was reviewed post 2002.
sharonkramer
July 12, 2015
This is just ONE ASPECT of what the corrupt assholes in the 4th/1st and the San Diego Superior Court aided to continue to happen to people by framing me for libel for exposing Veritox/ACOEM/US Chamber/CDC/ science fraud in policy and USDOJ’s experts’ science fraud in courts.
I personally know of no less than five cases of children made ill from mold in their homes who were taken away from their parents — because U.S. physicians have been brain-washed that moldy buildings do not cause systemic illnesses. I know of two mothers who went to jail under the pretence that Toxic Mold didn’t harm their children — they did.
“Although most of these cases have nothing to do with real child abuse, credulous child welfare officials have too often supported the doctors, threatened parents with loss of custody, and even removed kids from their homes — simply because the parents disagreed with the doctor’s plan of care.” http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/12/opinion/sunday/the-new-child-abuse-panic.html?_r=2
BTW, JCW — I will definately send a letter in support of an audit of the Cal Court construction funds — if for no other reason to make sure Huffman can’t get his dirty hands on the money.
sharonkramer
July 12, 2015
And while I’m on my Sunday afternoon tirade caused by former AOCer unintentionally opening up old wounds, THIS is what I want you all to understand of why no politico will take direct measure to shut down the criminal element at the helm of the Ca Judicial Branch.
The reality is, there are old time members of Judicial Council/committees who have committed criminal acts to cover up criminal acts of authors of policy papers for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and to cover-up for their fellow jurists who aided Chamber authors’ frauds in policy to continue to harm the lives of thousands.
The U.S. Chamber can make or break political careers around the world. Even the most honest of politicians at the highest of levels in gov’t tread lightly when challenging them and their affiliates, including challenging the corrupt judiciaries running the largest judicial system in the United States — California’s.
So..who is the US Chamber that dirty Huffman, McConnell, et.al, aided to defraud the U.S. public over the mold issue by fixing court cases to try to stop the fraud from coming to light?
“CVS Health Quits U.S. Chamber Over Stance on Smoking”
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/08/business/cvs-health-quits-us-chamber-over-stance-on-smoking.html
JCW is right on target of how to stop the corruption and cronyism at the helm of the courts, one baby step at a time; and that’s why I wholeheartedly support this in-for-the-long-term effort.
Ya gotta politely stay on politicians’ asses to first investigate, and then politely stay on their asses to follow through to remove the corrupt element from the branch.
sharonkramer
July 13, 2015
Former AOCer. Yes. I agree with your understanding. Sometimes its extremely important to be technically correct when describing and differentiating between the four types of illnesses caused by exposure to biocontaminents in water damaged buildings: allergy, irritant, infection and toxicity.
When I’m writing for a braod scientific audience about the adverse health effects caused by biocontaminants in water damaged buildings — I use technically correct terms such as mycotoxins, endotoxins, tricothecenes, beta-glucans, fungal fragments, biotoxins, etc.
But if I used those terms when trying to communicate with lay decision makers, their eyes glaze over before I even got to the next sentence. So speaking in broad, general terms and depending on the audience and which illnesses/policies one is addressing, “Toxic Mold” is sometimes the best term to use.
Also, if I’m conversing with associates who are premiere scientists/physicians who research in this issue, I sometimes use the term “Toxic Mold”, because I know that they understand which types of symptoms I’m discussing via the use of that term.
Being poisoned by biotoxins reeks sheer Hell on the immune system. Severe allergic reactions to the molds themselves can be equally scarey, and sometimes even life-threatening. Sorry to hear that you have the allergic reactions. Hope they are not too severe.
sharonkramer
July 19, 2015
Indicative of the twisted cover-up for thieves in CA’s judicial branch:
An OC employee # gets used over 1000 times while taking bribes to fix tickets — and while stealing funds from the courts.
The FBI investigates, but the clerk is not publicly named or sent to jail — only the people who paid the bribes are punished via the dragnet.
The CAL courts get caught by the ACLU stealing funds from the people by excessive fees and fines that they used to build courthouses, but the FBI refuses to investigate the fraud in the construction funding via money that was stolen from the people.
If the corrupt OC clerk was stealing from someone other than the corrupt courts, would the FBI have stopped it? Probably not.
WHY HASN’T THE FBI INVESTIGATED CORRUPTION IN THE COURT CONSTRUCTION FUND PAID FOR WITH THE DOLLARS STOLEN FROM THE PEOPLE?
WHY IS THE OC CLERK NOT BEING NAMED OR JAILED FOR STEALING FROM THE COURT?
WHY NO MEDIA ON THIS FOR ABOUT A MONTH NOW?
“The FBI and Orange County District Attorney’s Office have teamed up to investigate the case-fixing allegations involving drunken driving and other traffic violations across the county. The probe began in March, when the court’s administration discovered that a single clerk apparently altered about 1,000 misdemeanor traffic records starting in 2010, court counsel Jeff Wertheimer said this week. The unidentified clerk no longer is employed by the county, and authorities are investigating cases that involve his employee ID number, Wertheimer said.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/court-667679-defendants-borris.html
Judicial Council Watcher
July 19, 2015
By most accounts a federal grand jury is convened and just recently started interviewing hundreds of witnesses. Once those witnesses are interviewed which could take awhile, I would imagine a several hundred count indictment being handed down on one or more parties, at which point it will no longer be a secret. If it is successfully prosecuted in federal court, someone is looking at many years in prison. This person didn’t steal from the court, they stole from the people of the state of California. Since it affected so many people over a period of years and that it was organized, I can see federal racketeering charges being a part of the package.
As to the construction debacle, public works in general creates a bunch of jobs and keeps the construction unions lobbying the legislature on the spenders behalf – until the bond money well runs dry. Scandalous projects are always completed before the indictments get handed down.
This is also the reason we will see bullet trains and delta tunnels, though the bullet train may be imperiled by the first segment being built by “the change order king” when and if it blows way over budget.
sharonkramer
July 19, 2015
I used to be a person who trusted in my gov’t. That’s no longer the case after exposing a massive fraud in public health/workcomp policy — only to have it aided to continue by officers in the San Diego Superior and Appellate courts and their clerks, fix a SLAPP suit, suborn perjury, falsify material court docs/CCMS to conceal the fix — and then use a second case, coram non judice, to try to shut me up of their criminal roles in the first aiding the fraud in environmental public policy to continue nationwide — including by the authors of the fraud when serving as toxic tort expert defense witnesses for the USDOJ. That kind of stuff will really burst your bubble to the concept that anyone in positions within gov’t ever REALLY gets punished for RICO to defraud the public!
So..this is what I think is going to happen in the OC matter. A Grand Jury will determine that an OC clerk’s employee number was used to enter false data into CCMS — but its impossible to prove if the actual clerk whose number was used, actually did the deeds.
Therefore, it is impossible to prove who to punish.
C’est la vie! It will be stated that the system has been corrected and safeguards put in place so it will never happen again. All is well in the branch and the public is being served….and by shear coincidence, several OC judges and clerks will suddenly decide it is time to retire w/full pensions. Based on the history of how things really work in the CA judicial branch, tha’t my prediction!
Wendy Darling
July 19, 2015
If anyone in a position of authority and responsibility was to actually dig just a bit deeper, they would quickly find that case-fixing in the California court system is not limited to this matter in the Orange County Superior Court.
Not that anyone is actually going to do anything like that.
Still serving themselves to the detriment of all Californians.
Long live the ACJ.
sharonkramer
July 20, 2015
I agree with you 100% on that one, Wendy! I have fraudulent, void on their face, court documents to prove your statement is correct about case-fixing occurring beyond the Orange County Superior Court. Not just from my matter, but also from others in San Diego County.
Justice California has the Clerk of the Marin County for falsifying docs; in addition to shredding others while undergoing a BSA audit. The Marin clerk — who is about to retire with full pension — sits on the Judicial Council’s Financial Accountability and Efficiency Committee — as does the clerk and a justice from San Diego, who I can prove covered-up for case fixing to cover-up scientific fraud in toxic torts, nationwide, including for clients such as the USDOJ.
That’s 3 out of the 14 members of the Committee which just tried to steal control of the Trial Courts’ budget/funding — which means over 20% of the Judicial Council’s Financial Accountability and Efficiency Committee is proven by direct evidence to be involved in case fixing, and no one will do a damn thing to punish them.