We forward this link to an article by Monica Showalter of the American Media Institute that was recently published in the Long Beach Press Telegram. The article details the ongoing financial burden posed by the George Deukmejian Courthouse in Long Beach. We note that the article might have lowballed the annual service fee; according to the AOC’s own figures from 2013, we’re on the hook for an annual service fee that will average $61.1 million a year, not $53 million, for the next 35 years. The true cost of the Long Beach courthouse is being borne by the court employees and members of the public across the state who have to do their business in deteriorating courthouses.
What motivated this monumental misallocation of resources at a time when the state could least afford it remains the unanswered question. We hope Ms. Showalter’s continuing investigation can answer that question. In the meantime, we continue to call for an audit of the courthouse construction and facilities maintenance funds.
Directors, Alliance of California Judges
Judicial Council Watcher 
unionman575
June 6, 2016
😉
Maxrebo5
June 7, 2016
CA Courts are making national news today and not in a good way:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/07/us/outrage-in-stanford-rape-case-over-dueling-statements-of-victim-and-attackers-father.html
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2016/06/07/judge-stanford-sex-assault-case-draws-outrage/85543204/
Choose your press source from the links provided but it looks pretty bad for Judge Persky (rightfullly so) with recall efforts already started. I don’t know this judge at all but this is a shameful sentence.
There is so much corruption in CA Courts all the way to the top and so many insider deals (LB Courthouse and CCMS) yet nothing ever happens to change it. The posters on this page have been railing about corruption on the Judicial council for over a decade with little results to show for all that good effort. Perhaps millenials on Facebook, who are outraged by this rape case, will start to see the connection between corruption at the top of CA Courts and how a culture of special treatment for a select few trickes down to the trial courts. For me the connection is very clear.
Judicial Council Watcher
June 7, 2016
We’ve been tracking the two thousand signatures per minute that this petition is getting.
https://www.change.org/p/california-state-house-recall-judge-aaron-persky
Just shy of 1/2 million signatures. Maybe this is the California version of “affluenza”?
Judicial Council Watcher
June 8, 2016
Though the pace of signature gathering on the above petition has slowed considerably to a few hundred a minute, now there is over 650,000 signatures and appears to be going strong. There are now a number of similar petitions in circulation that we know about with well over a million signatures between them.
In addition, Assembly members Susan Eggman and Cristina Garcia are calling for Judge Persky to resign. The CJP has been snowballed with thousands of complaints and a Stanford law professor has set up a site to recall the judge.
sharonkramer
June 8, 2016
Three things:
1. What kind of ingrates would give thumbs down to a blog-host for relaying info of how angry people are at a CA judge’s disgustingly lenient rapist sentence? Particularly a blog-host who has done more than anyone out there to help CA judges get their sides of various stories out?
2. Adding to the appearance of hypocrisy in the Santa Clara matter, a young black man (who apparently does not swim at Stanford) was given a 34 year prison sentence yesterday in San Diego. No rapes involved. http://fox5sandiego.com/2016/06/07/man-sentenced-for-lewd-acts-in-girls-bedrooms/
3. OC Judge Steiner, who was having sex with students in his chambers, won yesterday. So did two open-seat candidates — a deputy district attorney and a prosecutor involved in the OC jail house snitch scandal. http://www.ocregister.com/articles/county-718594-steiner-orange.html
“It’s a big farce, cronyism and nepotism,” said Schatzle, 51. She added her decision to run against Steiner violates an “unwritten rule” about challenging sitting judges and that the result has been “career suicide.”Schatzle’s boss, Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas, denies the allegations.But Rackauckas is among several local politicians and law enforcement officials who support Steiner, 42, who two years ago was censured for having sex with two former law students in his judge’s chambers.”
sharonkramer
June 8, 2016
Look at these stories that the Daily Journal tellingly chose to put out together in one pdf. http://www.caljudges.org/docs/PDF/dailyNews/dailyNews-06-06-2016.pdf
Alliance judges, I still believe in you and what you are trying to do. But it makes me sad that you cripple your strength to fight for us all by refusing to first try heal the systemic infection which lies within.
For me, this is not a matter of politics. I am trying to save lives. http://freepdfhosting.com/9736c0dab4.pdf
wearyant
June 9, 2016
Sharon, you must have had a bad experience indeed with a superior court judge, but please do not paint all judges up and down California with the same brush. The Alliance judges are heroes to take on the established status quo and only bring discomfort and possibly an end to their world as they know it for standing up to the AOC and judicial council. Their only reward must be the ability to look in the mirror and sleep at night without discomfort. Your mission is truly admirable, but please continue the fight on your website rather than muddying the message of the judicial council watcher merely for more exposure.
Long live the ACJ!
sharonkramer
June 9, 2016
Wearyant,
Not “a” Superior Court judge….try seven of them, five appellate justices and a presiding appellate justice who refuses to recall and rescind remittiturs when she knows that she’s enabling the continued usage of fraudulent legal documents. (I have a falsified, back-dated and void on its face (but not vacated) 2008 judgment document to prove it) No one wants to acknowledge it or the continuing public defrauding because of it.
I’m not worried about it. I’ll get there — in large part because I have been dumping counter-productive baggage.
But that’s not the point of why I share that info HERE — it just serves as an analogy and hopefully aids lessons to be learned.
The point is: There are severe problems at the helm of the CA courts, too. The only ones I see trying to really do anything about it are JCW and ACJ. Just like my matter, the facts are there –but no decision makers want to acknowledge them or the continuing damage — even when it’s clearly documented over and over again.
Look at this Daily Journal pdf in its entirety and try to image that you know nothing of the issue of problems in the CA judicial branch. http://www.caljudges.org/docs/PDF/dailyNews/dailyNews-06-06-2016.pdf
Do you see the judges’ counter-productive baggage that enables the JC to continue to promote that they are the ones above board and that the trial judges are just a bunch of self-serving loose cannons? I do.
I have a degree in marketing. I don’t think it’s an accident that these three matters are lumped together in one pdf and I wonder where all this has been distributed. Should JCW readers/Alliance judge be censored from seeing what everyone else can see?
My point is, ACJ is going to continue to keep losing fights to the JC until they start taking steps to dump baggage. Wearing rose colored glasses and never saying a word of the ethics problems in the courts themselves on this board — is not helping. All that does is keep JCW readers/ACJ members in the dark of what others are seeing and saying (to legislators, to the public, to the governor, etc.)
I think JCW was absolutely correct to post of the public outrage surrounding the Stanford-rape-case judge. If the judges only want to hear how great they are in the fight with the JC, then they are never going to understand what’s holding them back.
It’s not “broad strokes attacks”. It’s a wake-up call to go back to the drawing board and figure out why the JC is constantly able to get away with such outrageous behavior.
(And again, I’m not trying to sugar-coat my interest in this. My pony in the race is that I’m trying to save lives. I want the branch ethics problems from top to bottom to be stopped to help me achieve that. I think there are some things the Alliance judges could benefit from hearing via this board that would help them fight the JC; and and as a result, help me and many others, too.)
anonymous
June 9, 2016
I agree with wearyant. This is not a site dedicated to either your case or cause Sharon. Your broad stroke attacks on judges are unwarranted.
As to the issue of the JCW thumbs down, the media spectacle that the Brock Turner case has created has also created a distraction/headache for the courts, the county sheriffs department and Judge Perskey so I can empathize with the thumbs down of covering the case here even if it is news. Unquestionably, the outcry is news. I’ve yet to talk to anyone who believes that justice was served in this case. The sentence shocks the conscience of everyone I’ve talked to when you consider that the victim was re-victimized during the entire process and the perp essentially gets to walk out of court with a slapped hand.
On the other hand, there is no question in my mind that if Turner was sent to the big house, him and his curly blond swimmers body would end up being somebody’s bitch and he would end up on the receiving end of what he dished out. That would have been a far more appropriate punishment and I’m reasonably certain that everyone involved was cognizant of that prison reality choosing to alter it instead. A lost opportunity.
sharonkramer
June 10, 2016
Jeez, more thumbs down? I’m just trying to tell you that the trial judges have an image problem. It gets effectively used against the ACJ in their efforts to fight corruption at the JC/AOC. Go back and read my comments within the last three weeks.
I got called to give an interview about the hinkey races in San Diego. It was odd. I suspected that the questionable election conduct was going to be used to the JC’s advantage in the judicial deck chair rearrangement. And it was on 6/6/16: http://www.caljudges.org/docs/PDF/dailyNews/dailyNews-06-06-2016.pdf
I have no idea what ACJ should do about it. But you really need to do something or you are going to keep losing to the JC. I’m just telling you what no one else dares to. I’d like to see you win a few with the JC.
wearyant
June 10, 2016
Sharon, when you say the trial judges have an image problem, do you mean all CA trial judges? I would strongly disagree. Again, that sounds too inclusive a slur. I knew many who worked as hard as the great unwashed they served and worked alongside with. I suspect you are bitter about San Diego county, I don’t know, it is way too south of me. All I know of is the infamous Roddy. Give the ACJ a break. They don’t have to stick their knowledgeable necks out for our failing justice system. Their totally altruistic in their efforts.
And I am really angry about TheOBT being chased off this website so there’s my bitterness … however I am not among the latest “thumbs down.”
sharonkramer
June 10, 2016
Wearyant, Yes, I mean all CA trial judges are experiencing an image problem. No, I don’t think they all deserve it. That’s just the way it works in the games being played in the branch.
I’ve been trying to explain what I understand is throwing a major loop in the ACJ’s ability to triumph over the JC. There are some image problems that need to be countered, somehow.
As far as OBT being “chased” off this board — I don’t know what to say. I’m sorry to hear that your friend left. I think one can’t solve a problem without first acknowledging that the problem exists.
unionman575
June 10, 2016
From: Alan Carlson
Date: June 7, 2016 at 5:16:14 PM PDT
Subject: I could do this forever, but
Today I have informed the Presiding Judge, Assistant Presiding Judge, and Chiefs of my intent to retire at the end of October. This has been a very hard decision and I have been considering it for months.
Every day I wake up knowing I have the opportunity to make things better, to improve the quality of justice for the litigants and people we serve. This Fall I will have served in state trial courts for 40 years, the last eight in Orange County. I am proud of the many impacts I have made on how trial courts serve the public, here in Orange County, in the State of California, nationally, and, even, internationally. I have had a very rewarding career.
Every day I have the honor of working with so many wonderful, talented, and dedicated people. We are inspired by, and inspire, each other. Together we achieve great things, day after day, more than we could ever accomplish as individuals. Each of us has a different role to play – judge, manager, courtroom clerk, legal process clerk – and I have always found you to do it with pride and a commitment to justice. And we have had fun as well.
So, why do I want to retire? To spend more time with family and friends, especially my granddaughter, and enjoy life. To visit new places for longer periods and at a more leisurely pace. To try new activities I have wanted to do, but for which I felt there was not enough time to do it right. Most importantly, I want to do all these things while I am still relatively young and healthy.
I leave knowing the Superior Court in Orange County is one of the most effective state trial courts in the US. This court has set the standard for how to deliver justice in a cost-effective manner making best use of current technology. We have not done this for acclaim; rather, we are acclaimed for quietly serving the litigants and people of Orange County as they expect to be served – impartially, professionally, promptly, and graciously. You should be very proud of what you have done, and continue to do.
I am proud to have served with you. Thank you for all your support over all these years. I will certainly miss all of you.
Alan
sharonkramer
June 11, 2016
“State Budget Deal Scraps Plan to Shift Vacant Judgeships”
Read more: http://www.therecorder.com/id=1202759834287/State-Budget-Deal-Scraps-Plan-to-Shift-Vacant-Judgeships#ixzz4BI9EstaC
unionman575
June 11, 2016
Click to access Public.%20Round%202%20-%20Conference%20Committee%20Agenda.pdf
Pages 51 & 58
😉