(JCW) A recent communique from the Alliance of California Judges You have probably received an e-mail survey from the recently created Commission on the Future of California’s Court System asking your opinion about how best to improve the branch. You may be tempted to ignore this survey; after all, over the last four years, you’ve […]
October 30, 2014
This past Monday we saw a glimpse of some positive movement when Martin Hoshino told the judicial council “I hope they feel as good about me as I feel about them a year from now, after I’ve had the luxury of making some zero-sum decisions that affect their workplace and their lives,” For those who might […]
October 27, 2014
This past Saturday, October 25th marks our 4th year of tracking the most corrupt institution in state government. You’ll note that this is not an event we’re celebrating. We had hoped that by now the other two branches of government would have used their considerable wherewithal to exercise their respective roles of checks and balances. […]
October 24, 2014
Only four years ago, amid great fanfare, the former AOC heralded the opening of the Plumas/Sierra Regional Courthouse in Portola. This 6500-square-foot courthouse, which features a “prominent transparent glazed entry vestibule and tall clerestoried lobby” along with its single courtroom, was built at a cost of $4.7 million. In the AOC’s words, it “exemplifies the […]
July 29, 2014
On July 29, the Judicial Council will vote to “retire” the name of the Administrative Office of the Court and henceforth refer to the AOC as “the Judicial Council staff.” The reasons for the change, and for the haste with which it’s being made, remain muddled. Our branch leaders claim that the change is […]
July 1, 2014
From the Alliance of California Judges…. In a bizarre move, Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye opened Friday’s meeting of the Judicial Council by announcing her intention to “retire, remove, take away, eliminate the name ‘Administrative Office of the Courts.’” Friday’s published meeting agenda contained no reference whatsoever to the planned action. The Chief Justice directed […]
June 11, 2014
This is the contents of an email from the Alliance of California Judges to their members. The first paragraph demonstrates how the AOC misses the mark by about a thousand miles. After all, the AOC burned taxpayer money to stock up on iPads and passed out swag bags with electronic tablets in them to legislators, […]
April 21, 2014
More than 500 years before Christ was born a Chinese general and philosopher penned the chronicles that we know today as the Art of War. That Generals name was Sun Tsu. Packed full of ancient wisdom that has since been passed around the globe, it was produced during a tumultuous time of warring states. History […]
April 14, 2014
The Chief Justice made a startling statement in a recent television interview: “General funds support for the third branch of government has failed. It’s absolutely a skeleton of what it used to be.” Her remarks stand in stark contrast with those of her predecessor in a speech he gave back in 2009: “It was anticipated […]
March 18, 2014
The Alliance of California Judges has learned that the AOC is now projecting a dramatic shortfall in the Trial Court Trust Fund for the current fiscal year. Apparently, revenues from fees will fall far short of the AOC’s expectations. According to the latest figures, the AOC’s original revenue predictions were off by $70 million. This […]
March 8, 2014
It’s time for change Since our inception over 600 articles and about three and a half years ago we have made every effort to disseminate truthful information to offset the Judicial Council’s awesome propaganda machine of lies, deceit and half-truths. At one time this propaganda machine was larger than any newsroom in the state and […]
March 4, 2014
Trying to get information out of the AOC can seem like playing Go Fish with a temperamental child. You have to ask for exactly the right thing in exactly the right way, and even then you might not get it. Often, the AOC claims that it doesn’t keep the kinds of records you’re looking for. […]
February 28, 2014
If a judge speaks to the Judicial Council but nobody documents it, did that judge make a sound? At the Judicial Council meeting last Thursday, Alliance President Steve White was allotted a few minutes to speak in favor of Assembly Member Reggie Jones-Sawyer’s proposed audit of the Council and the AOC. But you’d have to […]
February 19, 2014
Last week, the Chief Justice told an audience in Riverside, “There is a presumption, somehow, in the capitol in Sacramento that the judicial branch is where it is now, with courtrooms closed and less services . . . because somehow, somehow, we mismanaged ourselves into the situation. . . . I have to remind them, […]
February 3, 2014
In the aftermath of the CCMS debacle — a $500 million waste of taxpayer money that ranks among the costliest IT failures in American history — how should the judicial branch go about restoring its credibility with the Legislature and the Governor? One way would be to acknowledge the CCMS failure immediately; hold accountable those […]
January 16, 2014
The Chief Justice recently released the AOC’s three year blueprint for California’s judicial branch. I say it is the AOC’s three year blueprint because the chief herself credits the AOC for all of the hard work they did in coming up with this plan. Incredibly short on specifics, the three year blueprint outlines the desire […]
November 12, 2014
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