Supreme Weekly: Judicial surveys and court room confrontation, the truth may hurt

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August 11, 2011

This week I am guest editing the Supreme Weekly as Katy Farrell is off in Denver for a conference. If you want to hear more about her experiences at the conference check out our Twitter feed for live updates from the event.

California

Judicial Survey leads to surprising and critical remarks

Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye sent out a judicial survey to all judges in California asking for opinions on the state of the judiciary. Many judges did not pull punches when answering these surveys. Most of the attacks center around a number of figures who were respected public servants for many years, such as: former Chief Justice Ronald George, former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and retiring AOC Director Bill Vickery. Also criticized was future Interim Administrative Director of the Courts, Ron Overholt, since he was affiliated with the retiring director for eleven years. Since 2001, all of the state's courts have come under the leadership of the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC), with the goal of creating a more efficient judiciary that could run on a more standardized and streamlined system. Despite being extremely popular after its introduction, this system has come under fire for abuses, large bureaucracy and budget overruns. With this in mind, current Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye is looking to the state's judges to find a solution.

AOC

As aforementioned, the Administrative Office of the Courts was the main target for the angered judges, and may have led to the upcoming retirement of its Director Bill Vickrey. Ron Overholt, his assistant for the last 11 years, is scheduled to take over as the Interim Administrative Director of the Courts, which many judges will see as a continuation of the old guard that created the mess. Many judges feel that the AOC needs a complete top to bottom overhaul because of the culture the organization has developed. The AOC is also perceived as lacking transparency, having misunderstood their direction to serve the courts and have adopted a bureaucracy intent on controlling the courts instead.

Midnight pay raises and the Judicial Council

The second key point raised by justices in the survey was of a financial nature. During the final days of the former chief justice and former governor's terms a Judicial Council of California subcommittee approved retroactive pay raises for bureaucrats within the AOC. They were classified as merit-based pay adjustments, yet still raised the ire of judges who took the survey. As the rest of the judicial branch tightens its belt to cope with $350 million in budget cuts, some predict that courts will need to close twice a month to cut down on expenses.

CCMS debacle
We covered the CCMS budget over-run back in Mid-March. To learn more, check out a previous column, Supreme Weekly: Tensions mounting in the states.

CCMS and maintenance costs

Another point of contention was the continuing expenses of an IT program (CCMS) now projected to cost $1.9 billion dollars. The IT program has been harshly criticized by both the judiciary and the state legislature who have censured the un-elected bureaucrats who have pushed forward on the project. Also, due to the centralized nature of the judicial system, maintenance at the courts has to go through the central agency. One contract was negotiated with a maintenance contractor who placed a 300% mark up on labor cost and required a minimum labor increment of one hour.

Dissension

All this being said, there were still judges who either did not understand the purpose of the survey, felt it was not their responsibility to voice opinions in this matter or felt that the current system worked well. Many of these responses can be contributed to solidarity with the previous Chief Justice, and in some cases respect for the work that those leaders did during their tenure.

Memorable Quotes

Have you ever seen the comment cards at your place of employment and been tempted to fill it out and give your boss a piece of your mind? Well, the members of the California Judiciary were presented with that opportunity with the Judicial Survey, below are the most memorable quotes.

• "He who pays the piper calls the tune," said one answer, "and the members of the Judicial Council have largely been beguiled by the lure of trips to SF and nice lodgings and meals and rubbing shoulders with the elite. How can these pre-selected marionettes not drink the Kool Aid and vote unanimously for the party line?"
• "It did cost the branch $395 to change a light bulb in our trial court facilities."
• "Judges are asked to vote on proposals that are presented for the first time when the meeting convenes, and then only after an AOC staff person has 'walked us through' the details."
• "The prevalent AOC culture," said the trial judge, "appears to be to avoid candor when faced with a difficult question."
• "If you disagree with staff you are not considered a team player and are not invited back to participate."
• "What are the specific problems with the operation of the AOC? The difficulty with this question is where to start. Seriously. Read the State Auditor's report. A bureaucracy run amok, costs out of control, misleading (if not fraudulent) reports to coordinate branches of government. The damage done to the judiciary as a result of the Judicial Council's failure to oversee the AOC's CCMS project is simply incalculable."
• "This Committee, charged with holding the AOC accountable, was staffed by the AOC."
• "Simply stated, the AOC 'Abuses and Overcharges Californians.'"
• "Consider the retirements of Vickrey and Calabro to be gifts from God and immediately accept the resignations of Ron Overholt and Jody Patel and [offers re-education for the bureaucrats] so they understand they work for us, not the other way around,"

Further reading

These articles have links to the actual surveys, which while long and wordy are worth a quick glance.

• Courthouse News Service "L.A. Report on Court Bureaucracy Sets Stage for Battle of the Cuts in San Francisco HQ," July 11, 2011
• Courthouse News Service "Sac Judges Say Court Bureaucracy Should Be 'Dismantled Forthwith'," July 13, 2011
• Courthouse News Service "OC Judge Survey Delivers Broadside to Top Brass of California Courts," July 11, 2011

Wisconsin

Investigation instigated over argument in court chambers: continuing coverage

Dane County Circuit Court Chief Justice William Foust has been charged with the investigating the alleged confrontation between Judges Ann Walsh Bradley and David T. Prosser last month. District Attorney Ismael Ozanne has requested a special prosecutor after the sheriff 's department that initially handled the case made no recommendations on who to charge for the incident. He will assign a special prosecutor by early next week to continue the investigation. The state Judicial Commission is also investigating the event but has made no time table for when the investigations will be completed.

Bradley and Prosser allegations
We covered the initial confrontation between Justices Ann Walsh Bradley and David T. Prosser back in late June. To learn more, check out a previous column, Supreme Weekly: News from Alabama, New Jersey and Wisconsin.