In advance of a public comment session to be held next month, the Commission on the Future of California’s Court System just released its first batch of ideas. These proposed areas of study, a year and a half in the making, are grouped into 15 “concepts.” You can read them at this link.
We have a bad feeling about this. Many of these concepts—hatched in closed-door meetings with AOC support staff—look like the same tired old proposals that the AOC has been advancing for more than 15 years. The proposals include a “consolidated system” for juvenile courts; “systems to be implemented statewide,” including a “uniform statewide system of child custody mediation”; and a “transferable case management methodology to support all courts throughout the state.” [Emphasis added.]
Apparently the Commission sees the big problems confronting the branch as stemming from a lack of uniformity. The bulk of their proposed solutions involve an increase in central control—and in the power of the AOC. The Commission seems to have overlooked the spectacular failure of CCMS or the withering criticisms of our central bureaucracy by the Strategic Evaluation Committee in 2012 and the State Auditor just last year. If recent history teaches us anything, it’s that the AOC has the Midas touch in reverse when it comes to local court administration.
Concept 4 involves “trial court employment and labor relations.” The authors point to the “great variation in trial court terms and conditions of employment” and urge the Commission to rethink “existing labor practices” in order to flatten out “court-to-court variations in employment terms and conditions.” The Commission will explore “the costs and benefits of different models of bargaining”—specifically including statewide bargaining.
When we recently suggested that the Commission was contemplating an expansion of the AOC’s role in local labor relations, including hiring and firing, our branch leaders went ballistic and quickly denied it. But the fact remains that the AOC can’t engage in statewide bargaining unless it has statewide authority over labor issues. It can’t bargain unless it has control.
Concept 5—a call for “a cost-effective official record in all case types”—also gives us grave concern. We sense it is a drive for more electronic recording in our courtrooms, fewer court reporters, and an attempt to deny reporters compensation for the transcripts they produce. This is dangerous. We firmly believe that a certified shorthand reporter provides the most accurate record for the parties and the strongest bulwark against bogus complaints of judicial misconduct. Anyone who has listened to an electronic recording of a court proceeding knows that it is no substitute for a reporter’s transcript. Moreover, further steps to reduce compensation to reporters will leave California struggling to find certified reporters, already a huge problem in states like Illinois and Pennsylvania, leaving courts with no option but to compromise due process by using unreliable and undecipherable electronic recordings.
There’s more. One statement in support of Concept 6, “Technology-Enhanced Court Proceedings and Online Transactions,” gives us chills: “Courts are unable to share information across jurisdictions and some are even unable to share information within the same jurisdiction, due to incompatible case management systems. . . .” [Emphasis added.]
In these words, the ghost of CCMS stirs. We are deeply concerned that the Commission will propose a statewide case management system along the lines of the one that cost us half a billion dollars and brought us to the brink of financial ruin. We are dismayed that the Commission contemplates an even greater role for our central administrators in technology management when past experience tells us they should be looking to vacate the field entirely.
The issues the Commission left unaddressed are just as disturbing as the proposals buried in these “concepts.” Nothing suggests that the Commission has considered an audit of the billions in court construction funds, scaling back the AOC’s staffing levels, moving toward a fee-for-service model for the AOC, or democratizing the Judicial Council. To the contrary, this set of “concepts” reads like an AOC wish list. The vast majority would entail an expansion of the AOC’s already excessive reach into local trial court affairs.
In his recent budget proposal, the Governor specifically mentioned that he was hopeful that the Futures Commission would come up with ideas that would “effectively and efficiently enhance access to justice.” With every proposal that expands the reach of the AOC, hope fades. We will do our best to prevent this Commission from “transforming” the judiciary into an inefficient statewide court system with centralized control and reduced flexibility and efficiency. Our trial courts and the public they serve deserve better.
Directors, Alliance of California Judges
Judicial Council Watcher 
Dante
February 1, 2016
Among other things, it’s interesting to look at the makeup of the Executive Committee of this Futures Commission. Even though it’s called the “Commission on the Future of California’s Court System,” the Commission is specifically looking only at changing the trial courts. There is no examination or discussion of the appellate courts, either Courts of Appeal or Supreme Court, or the Judicial Council or its staff. Nevertheless:
There are 23 members of the Executive Committee;
12 of those 23 (52%) are Court of Appeals justices;
Only 7 (30.5%) are Superior Court judges;
Of the 12 justices, 3 have never been on a trial court. Another one has only one year on a trial court. That’s fully 1/3 of the justices with less than one year trial court experience. The average experience of the 12 on a trial court is 7.3 years.
Stacked deck?
Anthony
February 1, 2016
I am huge advocate for a stronger centralized AOC/Court System. Also, I oppose the unconstitutional county benefits (along with several civil rights attorneys), because I believe counties should not meddle in a system which should be consistently balanced across the state. Not only are counties (LA is the worst) incenting corruption with their illegal supplement benefits – they are committing “tax fraud”. I know firsthand what it is like to be in a system where “local rules” add significant complexity and provide far too much discretion for rogue judges to run up enormous tax debt through Winner-Take-All divorces – Google: Judge Thomas Trent Lewis for example.
Hopefully we (my network and the AOC watchdogs) can work together to provide a consistent state legal system…which has greater input from the public.
Judicial Council Watcher
February 1, 2016
I’m not so sure Anthony has read the gist of this blog. If he had, I doubt he would be a huge advocate for Al Capone of the 1920’s taking over the white house today because that would be tantamount to the centralization he is looking for.
Maxrebo5
February 1, 2016
Anthony, let me preface my comment by first saying I very much support all viewpoints being expressed and am glad to have read your comments. That said, I am curious to know are you on crack?
Did you miss how the the centrally run AOC mismanged the CCMS project causing it to be shut down by the legislature in a huge scandal for the branch? Did you miss the AOC expanding from around 200 employees to over 1,000 employees at it’s peak under Ron George and Bill Vickrey? Did you fail to notice that the centrally run AOC is in expensive SF where they process zero cases for the public but they did produce their own TV shows for a time? Did you miss the AOC had staff telecommuiting from Switzerland? Did you miss the massive fleet of state cars they had? Or how about the many execs at the AOC still making more than the Governor? Speaking of the Governor, did you miss the “traffic hellhole”, as Governor Brown called it, when events in Furguson Missouri exposed on a national level how excessive fines and fees on the poor and minorities has to stop? California’s Chief Justice got a new rule passed right away and acted pleased the ACLU brought the topic up to her. Apparently beforehand she had no idea this sort of crap was going on in CA Courts where the public had to pay the fines first before ever having their day in court to contest a traffic ticket. Did you see any of that Anthony? I wonder Anthony, have you ever watched the public comments section of a JC meeting? (You should). Have you ever heard of a dissenting vote on the Judicial Council or observed what happens to those judges/members who on a rare occasion cast a no vote on a key issue? (They are usually thanked for their service and then gone in short order).
My point is while the idea of a centralized admin for the state is a noble and logical idea in theory the reality has been a nightmare due to unchecked corruption coming from the very highest level within the branch. Granted there can be local corruption too and you are right to comment about that being wrong. My point back to you is what happened to CA Courts was the most corrupt folks made it to the very top and used the Judicial Council to expand the AOC and dominate nearly all voices within the branch. This has been going on for 15+ years now and has caused the rise of the ACJ’s in protest. Team George uses mafia like tactics against anyone who dares to speak against them on policy issues and Tani has kept that exact same bullying system in place. Why would she change it given how it works incredibly well for controlling both judges and staff? It is a control freaks dream system. Even the process where Ron George hand picked his successor was corrupt if you were watching. So your hope of having the “watchdogs” at the AOC be your salvation simply shows how incredibly naive you are to the way CA Courts has worked for the past two decades. The truth hurts but better to know than continue to be pawn for the wrong side.
Anthony
February 1, 2016
Love the passion, all excellent points and I am grateful we have people closely watching the judicial counsel. I agree – a mismanaged centralized system is worse case; however, there are many benefits to an optimized state system (what has been achieved in the private sector is possible in our Judicial). If the state is heading towards a stronger unified/centralized judicial, then we should align to ensure the publics interest is represented…pointing out the lessons learned is definitely the place to start.
I work in an area where it is important to have single points of contact (accountable “owners”) and consistent processes which allow you to apply best practices – To fix the badly broken family law system it sure helps to have one unified system.
Lando
February 1, 2016
I have a great idea J Humes. Let the same people that wasted a billion dollars on a failed computer system while at the same time buying a fleet of cars take over all the hiring and firing decisions for the trial courts. I guess under that well thought out plan the 455 Golden Gate ” insiders” would also pick all the trial Court CEOs. Is there any one in the real world that that thinks this is a good idea? The Futures Commission should do every one a favor and focus on how we could democratize our branch and end the tyranny that Ronald George created and built at 455 Golden Gate. My guess is though that pigs will fly over the moon before this royal Commission looks at something that significant.
Wendy Darling
February 2, 2016
“The judges will be allowed to control their courtrooms and we (the AOC) will control everything else.” Curt Soderlund.
Jodi’s dog Spot may have left the building at 455 Golden Gate Avenue, but not this Grand Plan of Queen Feckless, just like Ron George before her, and the rest of the judicial branch “leadership.” This has always been the plan, still is the plan, and will remain the plan. It is, in fact, the only plan. There is no “Plan B.”
So let’s take a little stroll down recent history . . .
The Trial Court Employment Protection and Governance Act (SB 682) was a companion and contemporaneous piece of legislation to the Trial Court Unification Act, the Lockyer-Isenberg Trial Court Funding Act, and the Trial Court Facilites Act (SB 1732). The Trial Court Unification Act made the trial courts an entity of the State of California, not an entity of their respective counties. The Lockyer-Isenberg Trial Court Funding Act made the funding of the trial courts a State function, not a function of their respective counties. And the Trial Court Facilities Act shifted governance of the trial court facilities from their respective counties to the State over a 4 year period.
And then there is the Trial Court Employment Protection and Governance Act, which states, in relevant part:
California Government Code Section 71615:
(a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), the effective date of this section shall be January 1, 2004.
(c) As of the implementation date of this chapter, all of the following shall apply:
(1) All persons who meet the definition of trial court employee shall become trial court employees at their existing or equivalent classifications.
(5) Each trial court shall be deemed the successor employer of all trial court employees in the county in which the trial court is located.
California Government Code Section 71620 (a) Each trial court may establish such job classifications and may appoint such trial court officers, deputies, assistants, and employees as are deemed necessary for the performance of the duties and the exercise of the powers conferred by law upon the trial court and its members.
California Government Code Section 71521: The Trial Court Employment Protection and Governance Act establishes a trial court employee personnel system that provides authority to hire trial court personnel, regulates the classification and compensation of trial court employees, labor relations, and personnel files, and requires each trial court to establish a system of employment selection and advancement and an employment protection system.
All of these legislative “reforms” were sold by George, Vickrey, and Judicial Branch “leadership” to the State legislature, the trial courts, the trial court employees, and the public as needed “to bring greater efficiency to court operations and improve public access to court services.”
So – the trial courts became State entities, the funding of trial court obligations became a State responsibility, and maintenance of trial court facilities was also transferred to the State. But the trial court employees? They became “trial court employees.” More specifically, the trial court employees did NOT become State employees.
And why? Well, therein lies the tale . . .
At the time HRH I, the ever deceitful Ron George, and George’s own dog Spot, the completely ruthless and corrupt Bill “Darth” Vickrey, were orchestrating all this legislation to “reform” the California trial court system, the issue of how to transition employees in the respective trial courts from being county employees to employees of trial courts that were now going to be State entities was the talk of much discussion and debate. George, Vickrey, and the “speak with one voice” folks that passed for branch “leadership” were strongly advised, on numerous fronts, including both houses of the State Legislature, the California Department of Personnel Administration (now the California Department of Human Resources), the State Personnel Board, and others, to transition the trial court employees to State civil service employees in the California Judicial Branch.
But George and Vickrey were adamant that this would not happen, for several reasons. First, doing so would have also required including AOC employees, as judicial branch employees, to be also be designated as State civil service employees. This would have given both the trial court employees and AOC employees certain protections and rights under the State Civil Service Act. Trial court employees already had, and still have, most of these same rights, guaranteed to them either by state law or their respective collective bargaining agreements. But AOC employees had, and still have, none of them. And both George and Vickrey were beyond adamant that AOC employees would have “no rights. Not now, not ever.” (Yes, that’s a quote.)
Second, making AOC and trial court employees State civil service employees would have required judicial branch administration (i.e., the AOC) to follow state law regarding competitive and merit based appointments, position classifications, collective bargaining, and layoffs, among other issues, and taken the insular manipulations of these issues “out of the AOC’s control.” (Another quote.)
Third, doing so would have subjected the AOC to “scrutiny” and “diluted” the AOC’s ability to “get rid of the unions.” (Another quote.)
So, instead George and Vickrey, with the assistance of the State legislature, “compromised” and carved out a whole new designation of State employee: the “trial court employee” and hence the language of the Trial Court Employment Protection and Governance Act, which makes it perfectly clear that authority for all personnel and labor relations issues in the trial courts remain vested in the individual trial courts, NOT in the State. And George, Vickrey, and branch “leadership” new EXACTLY what they were agreeing to when they supported and endorsed this legislation.
But even as they were supporting and agreeing to this legislation, branch “leadership, and especially George and Vickrey, and their current successors, were looking “down the road” on how to ultimately evade, circumvent, erode, and eventually “undo” the provisions of the Trial Court Employment Protection and Governance Act vesting the trial courts with autonomy over their personnel and labor relations, and have the AOC control those issues, but still not have to make trial court employees, and AOC employees, State civil service employees.
In fact, in late 2007, the AOC was developing an internal “Strategic Plan” regarding long-range plans for control of the trial courts, including personnel and labor relations issues. As part of the “Strategic Plan” the AOC’s HR Division, then under Ernie “Bluto” Fuentes and Little Ernie, Ken “Sofa Man” Couch, was tasked with developing a long-term plan for the AOC controlling the hiring of all trial court personnel and trial court labor relations, including collective bargaining. This particular aspect of the AOC’s “Strategic Plan” was never disclosed to the trial courts. At the same time, George and Vickrey made their now well known clandestine and surreptitious attempt to change the government code taking away a trial court’s authority to select and hire their own court executive officers, and instead vest that authority with the AOC, an act which Vickrey deceitfully tried to blame on the State Dept. of Finance.
Contemporaneous to these events, in a May 2008 AOC meeting to discuss long-range plans to take over the personnel and labor relations issues of the trial courts, Curt Soderland made the above statement, among others, that “The judges will be allowed to control their courtrooms and we (the AOC) will control everything else.” It was directly pointed out to Soderlund that this “plan” was in direct conflict with state law and violated the authority granted to the individual trial courts over these issues. Soderlund indicated the AOC and branch administration would easily be able to “evade” these provisions of state law and stated “we can do whatever we want” and the trial courts “will do what we tell them to do” In this meeting, Soderlund made it clear that he was making these statements under the authority of the Chief Justice, Vickrey, and branch administration. He even went so far as to state “this is what everyone wants and it is what is going to happen.”
So, while Soderlund may have left the building at 455 Golden Gate Avenue, the “plan” certainly hasn’t, and never has. The names of certain people determined to make this happen may have changed slightly, but it is still the plan, and it is the only plan. And the plan isn’t going to change. Only now, instead of calling it a “plan”, it’s being word-spinned as a “concept.” Next it will probably be called “organizational restructuring” or some other nonsensical word-smithed doublespeak.
So here is some advice to all the trial court employees out there, their unions, trial court administrators, and trial court judges: if the AOC and branch “leadership” is determined to push this “concept” it is worth considering that the AOC and branch “leadership” also be required to do what they were strongly advised to do when they orchestrated all this “reform” legislation to begin with: make the trial court employees, and the AOC employees, State civil service employees of the judicial branch. Otherwise, don’t be surprised when you are all just more carnage on the AOC’s highway of administrative disasters, all under the masquerade of ostensibly being done “to bring greater efficiency to court operations and improve public access to court services.”
It is also again worth stating that, at this point, any trial court in California that would accept administration of their personnel and labor relations issues by the same people that gave you CCMS, an embezzlement of public funds which was knowingly covered up, and rewards the behavior of people like Ernie “Bluto” Fuentes and Little Ernie Ken “Sofa Man” Couch, among many, many other examples, deserves what they accept. Because, again, some of the names may have changed, but not the plan or the behavior. It all continues, unabated, at 455 Golden Gate Avenue. And that’s not going to change either.
Because, as should be abundantly clear by now, no one, absolutely no one, in any position of authority is actually going to do anything about any of it. Not one damn thing.
Long live the ACJ.
Nathaniel Woodhull
February 2, 2016
Great insights Wendy! You have absolutely nailed it.
Maxrebo5
February 2, 2016
That was awesome Wendy! Your summary matches perfectly with my life experiences. I am very happy to be in the executive branch now where there are civil service protections and unions to fight for what is right. I wish all CA court employees and AOC employees had such protections but most do not.
There were no employee protections for me when I worked in the trial courts and even if there were the forces against me were very very powerful. I had 9 years of seniority as an analyst with Sacramento Superior Court and also a masters degree in judicial administration from USC when they laid me off in February of 2012. I also had five years of experience in Utah’s AOC, two years in San Mateo Superior Court, and two years in Orange County Superior Court. I was very well qualified, excellent skills, and had perfect performance evaluations. Furthermore, there were far newer analysts with Sacramento Superior Court that could have been let go before me but they did not follow the state practices for layoffs and used the “budget cuts” as an excuse to go after their enemies. I was the number one enemy target at that point for Team George in Sacramtento but my layoff was not really work related. They wanted me gone primarily for personal reasons related to my home life.
In my case I was an enemy because I was Bill Vickrey’s very recently made former son in law. After an 18 year relationship and 14 year marriage, Bill’s daughter blindsided me in November of 2010 and said she wanted a divorce. No fight, no counseling, she was “just done.” I was being devalued and discarded as is common practice by sociopaths. I was as clueless and naive as Anthony is in his above posts, so no hard feeling Anthony, because God loves fools like me and Anthony too. I pleaded on my knees with my wife not to break up our family and asked her what she would like me to change and she replied, “Your sense of justice.”
You see Bill Vickrey’s daughter had lost all respect for me in 2010 when I refused to take an insider promotion to a management position in Sacramento Superior Court offered only to me in a corrupt back door appointment from Dennis Jones (the CEO) and Jake Chatters (the deputy CEO – now on the Chief’s futures committee) within the court. I simply could not live with myself if I got ahead by cheating that way so I told them no because it was an unfair process.
Little did I know that the route they had pressed me to take was the only way possible for me to move up in the field. It was a test of loyalty and test of willingness to corrupt myself. Just as Frankie Andreu had to “get with the program” and take performance enhancing drugs if he wanted to remain on Lance Armstrong’s cycing team. You could not ride clean in that doping era of cycling as such clean riders were a risk of exposing the other corrupt cheats.
At the same time that my ex wife was devaluing and discarding me for my ethics and integrity she was also seducing my best friend of 20 years and actively breaking his marriage. Amazingly, he was married to my wife’s 20+ year friend, her college roommate, her bridesmaid, and that marriage also too had two young kids as well.
So two divorces occured and my ex loved it all. Mine in the spring of 2011 and our friend’s family in 2012. Myself, my best friend’s ex wife, and four kids were hurt badly and the divorce was just the beginning. It was shell shock for me and the shoes just kept coming. The divorce was 2010, my friend’s betrayal in 2011, and getting me gone was the Vickrey plan for 2012. They are great planners if they put there focus on something. .
Vickrey and my ex wife wanted me gone in the worst way in the the fall of 2011 as I was now openly speaking the truth about their mom to the kids. My oldest daughter was the one who came to me in the spring of 2011 saying she saw her mom and my best friend making out and sharing a glass of wine on the couch. My best friend was still married to his wife in 2011. My brave oldest daughter told me the truth about her mom and my “friend”. I listened but a part of me didn’t believe my daughter (I wanted to remain in denial for a few months as such a truth was so very painful to process). I carried on as normal for a few months and just co-parented acting like the affair was not fur sure happening. Plus I felt I needed more evidence before confronting my ex wife though I did send her an e-mail telling her to respect her friend’s marrage. I received no reply.
A few months later and that further evidence came. I had agreed to watch the kids for my ex on my kid free weekend in August of 2011 because she said she had work in LA. I was being nice and was excited for more time with my girls. I called my 20+ year “friend” to see if he wanted to have dinner with me and the girls that weekend. He took the call but said he was in LA for his 20 year HS reunion. His wife and I, slow as we were to confront them, put two and two together at long last. My ex wife and her husband were meeting up at the Disneyland Hotel for his reunion and using us (the discarded spouses) as day care and pet sitters for their fun weekend. Wicked behavior! At that point I confirmed to my oldest daughter that she was right all along and her mom was indeed having an affair with my old friend. The second divorce process soon followed that weekend.
My ex-wife came back from LA absolutely livid I had told our daughter she was right all along about her mom having commited adultery and was also knowingly betraying a long time friend as a complete homewrecker. My ex wife’s mask dropped and for the first time and I saw her true hatred for me reavealed but even then I did not suspect she was an actual real life sociopath. That would take more time for me to see.
In the fall of 2011 my ex wife and Bill Vickrey were determined to make me pay for exposing her actions and how those actions had damaged her relations with her daughter. It didn;t take her long given her father’s connections in CA Courts and with Ron Overholt (Tonto) being the State Court Administrator at the time to get my job ended with Sacramento Superior Court. FYI, to my kids, Tonto is known as “the other guy” as he was always with Bill Vickrey on family trips to Alaska or New Mexico and seemed like a lackey kiss ass even to a child’s eye.
So this is the real context of how In early 2012 the Sacramento Superior Court laid me off due to “budget cuts” but claimed it was nothing personal. However as the budget has improved in recent years they have never asked me to come back so I doubt their claim very much. It was very much personal on their part. My friends at the court encouraged me to apply for jobs back with Sacramento Superior Court last year and I did apply for an analyst opening but I didn’t get rehired. I’m blacklisted. They won’t rehire me while Team George is in power. That’s too dangerous.
Returning to 2012, the layoff was the stick they hung over me but they also used a big carrot to get me gone. The carrot was a job offer in Alameda Superior Court as a “reengineering analyst” (my exact former positions – how fortunate for me). As I recall, Tonto was from Alameda Superior Court before going to the AOC. Perhaps just a coincidence? In any case, I appled and got the job offer. That was their plan. If I took it I would move away and be gone. They could lay me off from that Oakland job anytime they wanted but the real goal was to get me out of the lives of my daughters in the Sacramento area and I almost took the bait. I was so heartbroken at the time that a part of me wanted to take it and just run away for my own healing but being a dad is my real job so I came to my senses.
I turned the Oakland job down and had to go on unemployment for the first time in my life. That was scary in the midst of the great recession and not knowing at the time if I would be able to get another job. I had only worked in the courts at that point. It was my work world and I worried I’d lose my home.
My ex had to pay child support (she was really pissed about that, haha) and I got by. In just two months I found a job with the executive branch in the Sacramento area and have stayed in the lives of my daughters for the last four years now. They are Bill Vickrey’s grandchildren and the label Darth Vickrey is well earned but I do not tell them much about his professional misdeeds as they are not adults. I did tell them that “Pappa” (that’s what they call him) had me laid off as it was very relevant to our financial circumstances and family situation at the time.
Is should add that Dennis Jones the CEO for Sacramento was 100% on the AOC payroll at the time when I was let go. It was that corrupt! Someday my girls will be adults and they can come to this site and read it all for themselves and see their dad was telling the truth all along (just as my brave daughter was telling me the truth about her mom’s affair). We were deceived and betrayed by our own family.
My ex wife I now honestly believe is a real life sociopath. I came to this conclusion in the child custody dispute just in 2015 and also after reading Confessions of a Sociopath by M.E Thomas. That taught me that Sociopaths can be very high functioning and hide in plain sight. The auther (revealed to be Professor Jaime Lund) was an attorney and law school teacher. So these folks without conscience can and do rise to the top quite well.
My ex is now actively trying to “Gaslight” (that is the actual scientific term for breaking someones memory) my oldest daughter so she does not recall seeing what she and a friend of hers saw at age 12. My ex wife is also alienating my daughters against me and using her family connections against me in family law court within Placer County to take custody of my kids from me. Guess who the CEO for Placer is? Good old Jake Chatters. When my ex-wife needs a court appointed therapist to side with her it is no problem. The last one was changed her recommendation at the last minute to be in exactly my ex’s favor. It is comical how they control it all.
So yeah, CA Courts has been run by a bunch of thugs for a long time and they are still running the show. Many of your in the courts are working in the equalent of the Lance Armstrong era for cycling where a sociopath rider (Lance) took over the sport and ruined anyone who went against him for a decade. I’m similar to a rider who wanted to ride clean and that would not be tolerated in such a corrupt culture as I could never be trusted to not rat them all out. The current Chief Justice owes her appointment 100% to Ron George and Bill Vickrey (and to Arnold who is a mess too – ask Maria Shriver).
Team George still runs CA Courts and they all have to go. It is a mafia like organization at the top not democratic in any way. Only unions could break them which is why they hate unions as Wendy explained so well in her post. Governor Brown should demand the Judicial Council be reformed in on his justice ballot he is pushing this fall as that is what needs to be fixed more than anything else in the state. Not likely to happen is my view. This is a real ongoing mess like Flint Michigan’s water is a mess and it can’t be swept under the rug as the Chief is trying to do by pretending to reform but really doing nothing to weaken her power.
On the plus side, it is Groundhog’s Day today and spring is coming. There is always hope and my USC school motto of Fight On has served me very well. Keep fighting and don’t ever give up! This huge fall for me has led me to God and for that I am very grateful. It is only in and through him that I have gained peace. So I tell my story and am not silent for this is my light to shine and I am going to do so without fear. I do so because we can’t allow ignorance of the truth to continue. The Anthony’s of the world have to come up to speed fast aand not learn the hard way as I did.
.
Anthony
February 2, 2016
Naïve Anthony again, I already learned the hard way…I filled a civil case against my judge – Thomas Trent Lewis (Tom Lewis) – a notorious thug/bully which the AOC (at the time) recognized was a bad guy and he was demoted and transferred – the AOC finally ended the terror against me (and many others). Had they left this monster in power – I can attest people would literally lose their lives (I can share many stories of the dehumanizing and evil rule by Tom Lewis which devastated many, many lives – he was the poster boy for the devastating Winner-Take-All divorce).
My prior civil case challenged the courts unconstitutional supplement benefits and the subsequent tax fraud my judge continues to commit (although the tax fraud issue was not fully baked at the time). The case was strong and EVERY judge in LA disqualified in matters relating to my case (EVERY Superior and Appellate court judge), except one judge – the judge my case was against (and good ol Tom Lewis lost immunity at on point)!! Unfortunately, I did not take my case beyond the appellate court and after it ended the same judges who disqualified, “un-disqualified” and have been beating the hell out of me ever since – every year for 7yrs I have received and excessively lopsided ruling to the point I was funding the wealthy parties egregious litigation against me through a significant debt position In Pro Per – Elkins Task Force clearly was a colossal failure.
I am all about action and through this site I learned a great deal about what is wrong – if you would please – help me thru your wisdom on how we change things? I am relatively fearless at this stage (I have nothing left after the courts retaliation) and I am committed like no other (anyone I have met) to reform the terror organization which is Family Law – the primary tool we have to reform bad law/policy is to file a civil case, which I intend to do in the next few months (my case is significantly stronger than the prior case in which EVERY justice in LA disqualified) – what else do you suggest?
Maxrebo5
February 2, 2016
Good for you Anthony! (I mean that sincerly) Fight for your rights and for what is right. Being fearless is good too. As Gandalf said at a desperate hour, “Courage is your best defense now.”
Those supplemental benefits judges get from their local counties are indeed nuts. That double dipping goes back to what Wendy was saying about the consolidation of the courts. The local judges got their state pensions plus their county benefits and played it both ways leaving the taxpayers to foot the bills. That was on top of the Muni Court judges also getting raises up to Superior Court salaries. This con job was what made Ron George into King George beloved within the branch. He delivered big money to judges and that bought alot of loyalty to him and a centrally run CA Courts.
The whole thing was a rip off for the public and totally unethical but the judges aren’t giving those benefits up if they don’t have to. All those added costs were supposed to be offset by cuts to admin due to consolidation of muni and superior courts. Those savings did not happen either. They did cut local court admin some but then Team George expanded the AOC so much that there was no savings in admin for the state at all. The other branches do nothing to hold them accountable but doing so is harder that one would think.
The public has been getting fleeced for two decades now paying high admin costs plus increased costs for judges salaries and benefits. Plus case filings statewide have been down consistently since 2009. I have no idea why the Governor is giving the branch more money to process fewer cases. That makes no logical sense unless he needs the Chief and Supremes to back his bullet train, water tunnels, and other legacy projects when the time comes. I’m thinking it is basically politcal shake down money he has to pay up to get what he wants accomplished. Works that way for the legislators too. Mess with the courts funding and they mess with something you as a legislator wanted.
Similar to your case, I am also curious to know how the Long Beach Courthouse case is going where the county tax assessor was trying to get the AOC to pay taxes to the state on a public/private partnership. Haven’t seen anything on that case in a long time now. I bet the tax assessor is being pushed around just like you have been as he is right but that case is political death to take the distance on appeal.
You must understand that the majority of the CA Court judges have played along or been silent about the corruption in the branch for a long time now. It is not a new issue. Most of the judges in the CJA (California Judges Association) are fine with the status quo. Only the Alliance of California Judges speak up on some issues (mostly related to judges being treated badly or admin waste) and they are far fewer in number. So the crooks at the top have it rigged just the way they like it and are not going anywhere anytime soon is my point.
Family law is a mess so yeah file a civil case if you have the resources. Get media attention if you can. Put the system on trial as it is supposed to be fair but the outcomes seem pretty one sided. The court is not supposed to be about outcomes so why is it that the litle guy rarely seems to win?
It is a rigged system. Sadly we are all too stupid to bust out of the trap/hell hole before it snaps shut on us. We end up getting eaten. broken and discarded, or too beat up to fight back anymore. Keep your sense of humor though as that always helps! This short Youtube video illustrates the idiot trap we are all stuck in fairly well. Perhaps you can beat it. I wish you luck!