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 […]
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. […]
September 26, 2013
September 26, 2013 31 Courtrooms in Long Beach cost $2.3 billion over 35 years Dear California Media, We write to highlight our continuing concerns about the Court Facilities Program. First we offer an editorial written by Milt Policzer of the Courthouse News Service regarding the Long Beach Courthouse, published September 23, 2013: ________________________________________________________ More Long […]
June 22, 2013
In another thread MaxRebo presents a suitable cause\effect analysis of the politically astute Cantil-Sakauye‘s (HRH-2) offensive renaming of the Star Chamber conference center as the William C Vickrey conference center. I’ll add to that mix the offensive renaming of the Ronald M. George state office complex. Besides the fact that these characters are still above […]
February 6, 2013
From the You’ve got to be f—ing kidding me file comes this story out of the depths of the Death Star’s satellite office in Sacramento. You might recall that our courts are crumbling and are otherwise falling apart due to a lack of facilities maintenance. In fact, the total unfunded facility maintenance liability to California’s […]
January 29, 2013
January 28, 2012 Dear Members and Others, By now, most of you should be aware that the Administrative Office of the Courts entered in to a “Private Public Partnership” for the building and maintenance of one courthouse in Long Beach that will cost roughly $61 million dollars a year for the next 35 years. Branch […]
December 28, 2012
Enclosed is the Long Beach courthouse contract executed between Mr. Robert Emerson of the Administrative office of the Courts and Mr. Stuart Marks of Long Beach Judicial Partners obtained by Mr. Michael Paul via the State Department of Finance. Note that the attachments are mostly larger than 8 megabytes each and that they are numbered […]
December 27, 2012
. Truth be told, we never left the saddle. As we entered into 2012 the first indication that CCMS was dead was on December 20th, 2011 when we announced with the assistance of Tonto (You remember him, the really nice house on the hill in Danville with the really nice yard that had been under […]
December 3, 2012
It should come as no surprise that overspending and spending someone else’s money without their consent doesn’t go over very well. In the case of the 1.8 billion dollar (2.3 billion dollar)long beach courthouse where both the AOC and Judicial Council took liberties, they’re getting their hands slapped. It is well deserved too. For those […]
November 14, 2012
It is being referenced to in growing circles as the long beach courthouse boondoggle. At a 35 year operating cost of 2.3 billion dollars, money has yet to be appropriated by anyone to pay for it. The only money appropriated thus far for courthouses comes out of the existing courthouse construction funding provided for by […]
October 6, 2012
This came in the email from someone who declared themselves an AOC employee. JC/AOC’s 285 management rules of acquisition 1. Once you have trial court money, you never give it back. 2. The best deal is the one that brings the most kickbacks. 3. When using taxpayer money, always pay more than you have to. […]
September 18, 2012
Someone way more familiar with the Long Beach project dropped us a note overnight showing us the errors of our ways. Apparently, the AOC did not sign up for a 22 million dollar per year building which would represent just the costs of construction number and it is the costs of construction number that the […]
September 17, 2012
It is no surprise to find out that JCW is firmly against public private partnerships for building public infrastructure because historically it has always been the people that lose when these projects shoot over budget. In California, examples abound of these failed initiatives that make private investors rich and fail to deliver on the […]
September 11, 2012
I don’t know what is more intellectually offensive – The AOC keeping 111 temps on their books or the October 16th, 4 hour meeting where everyone supervisor and above will be flown into San Francisco. Now if the purpose of this meeting was to issue pink slips, I could understand flying them in to fire […]
October 27, 2014
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