Los Angeles, CA A Joint Legislative Committee of California Senators and Assembly members held a hearing on December 8, 2009 at the Museum of Tolerance in West Los Angeles that was sparsely attended by the public. Without fanfare or any promotion to the public, the apparent purpose of the meeting was to videotape the Legislative leaders at this panel discussion to demonstrate they were attempting to resolve the State’s budget process that contributed to a dire fiscal disaster that now has California on the brink of insolvency. Other such hearings have been held across the state and the video of those discussions appear on the government website.
PUBLIC OUTRAGE AT THE COURTS & CORRUPTION
At the end of each of the two panel discussions, there was a public comment section where participants ignored the budget discussion but lambasted the officials for failing to address the issues corruption in the Courts
Full Disclosure Network® compiled an eight minute video revealing the essence of what happened and demonstrated the growing unrest among the citizens over Court Corruption in Los Angeles. Specifically, the citizens kept focusing on the controversial State Senate Bill SBX2 11 that was approved by the Legislature during the budget session that gave retroactive immunity from criminal and civil prosecution to Judges, Courts, and government officials who had accepted and or given illegal public funds from the County to the Judges.
Listed on the agenda as participants on the panels were the State Auditor, Controller, Inspector General, Treasurer’s Office and a few selected business representatives along with State Senators, who appeared shocked that the public was more concerned about government and court corruption than they were with the mundane discussion between the legislators and bureaucrats.
Featured in the video are:
- Mike Feuer, State Assembly Chair of the Joint Legislative Committee
- State Senators Dutton, Wyland, Saulnier and Pavley
- Gabriella Holt, President of Citizens for California Government Reform
- George Buzzetti, Community Activist
- Daniel Gottlieb, Emeritus Professor Purdue University Mathematics Dept.
- Rabbi Schifren, Candidate for State Senate
- Steve Bardo, Center for Judicial Excellence
- Jeanette Isaacs, Concerned Citizen and Victim of Court Corruption
Comments to date: 47. This is page 1 of 5.
Why so corrupt? california
Posted: 06:59 pm [PST] on September 07 2010
Wont this corruption eventually shut down the whole court system? what will happen to the Judges jobs? Do they think of this?
Ben Siegfried San Diego
Posted: 11:26 am [PST] on March 26 2010
None of them are doing a very good job.
Aarde V Atheian Los Angeles
Posted: 06:06 am [PST] on March 20 2010
The entire California Judiciary budget is a waste that should be easily cut off. Our corrupt court system should be replaced by a private mediation system that costs nothing to the taxpayers.
Anonymous Los Angeles City
Posted: 03:30 pm [PST] on March 07 2010
Go figure, the FAT CAT CORRUPT JUDGES keep getting fatter while starving poor kittens who do the work.
People are getting angrier and angrief at what their government and select high level bureaucrats are doing to the public.
Anonymous Location unknown
Posted: 09:01 am [PST] on February 25 2010
Here we go again...tax payers will spend approx. $18,400,000 this year for the illegal now legal payments to (Los Angeles only) Judges, but then turn around and cut other jobs to offset the budget crisis. This amount does not extend to other counties, only Los Angeles. This calculation is based on approx 400 Los Angeles Judges on the SBX211 gravey train. But the cuts will effect the little people that make the courts function. Go figure.
"Los Angeles Judge Warns of 300 Lay Offs
This article was posted on Friday Feb 12, 2010
Presiding Judge Tim McCoy, of the Los Angeles Superior Court, has said that the court will lay off 300 people or more in March. The court employs more than 5,500 people and will have a $79 million deficit in 2010. McCoy said the deficit is expected to increase to $130 million. McCoy said that unless they receive external help from budget cuts that have been imposed on the courts lay offs will probably be inevitable.
In March 330 employees may be laid off. By June 30th, 485 positions will be lost and in September the court may lay off 500.
Don Mike Anthony, president of the Los Angeles County Bar Association and partner at Hahn & Hahn, wrote a letter to the Judicial Council of California urging the release of approved construction bond money to pay the courts operating costs. This course of action is facing opposition from different groups including the Judicial Council itself.
The first round of layoffs would probably impact temporary and contract workers the most, followed by those employed by the traffic courts."
Ben Dover California
Posted: 09:09 am [PST] on February 09 2010
Seriously people, this is out of control. Just how much money can be rapped from tax payers, and then justified by Corrupt county officials? Just WHO is in control here anyway? President Obama, do you have any power, or are you merely a puppet and congress pulls your strings to make you talk. WAKE UP. CALIFORNIA OFFICIALS ARE OUT OF CONTROL. GET THESE EGOTISTICAL, MEGLOMINACAL THEIVES OUT OF HERE. OR ARE YOU IN COLLUSION WITH THEM?
"With cuts looming, some L.A. City Council members use off-budget funds to boost their salary accounts
February 9, 2010 | 6:04 am
Members of the Los Angeles City Council will renew their efforts to address the city's budget problems Tuesday as they consider a three-year plan to deal with the deficit. But as they've debated how to whittle down the city's costs, we've noticed that some have been moving money into their office's salary accounts.
This year's budget set aside $21.4 million for salaries in the 15 council offices and allocated $7.9 million for salaries in the mayor's office, according to a recent budget memo from the city's top financial analyst.
In our story today, we detail some of the council-controlled accounts that members can use for their special projects. One is their "street furniture" fund, which captures revenue generated by ads on city bus shelters. We note that:
Since November, amid dire warnings from their financial analysts about plummeting tax revenue, nine council members requested transfers of at least $1.6 million from their street furniture accounts to buttress the money available to pay their aides.
Just last week, four council members asked for transfers into their office's salary accounts: Richard Alarcon ($389,000), Tony Cardenas ($278,000), Janice Hahn($100,000) and Bernard C. Parks ($95,000). Their motions said the funds were needed to assist on transit-related projects. These have yet to come up for debate."
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/02/with-cuts-looming-some-la-city-council-members-turn-to-offbudget-accounts-to-bolster-their-salary-ac.html
red slider Sacramento
Posted: 10:38 pm [PST] on February 07 2010
To: FDN
just something that FDN might wish to be aware of (track in the future).
Our website is www.ceav.us We also had an article printed in the current issue of the Sacramento News & Review (feb 4, p. 14) . It is a matter which Cal Expo, state and local politicians and private developers don't wish anyone outside of local residents to know anything about. Why? Because you folks might be mad as hell at what we're doing with public assets.
Red Slider, steward
The CEAV Project
California Advocates for the 21st Century
www.ceav.us
Truth Seeker Location unknown
Posted: 09:19 am [PST] on January 24 2010
@ Courtwatch. Please work with Leslie Dutton on a report NAMING NAMES. We deserve the right to know the names of these Judges. All 2000 of them. We deserve the right to know, from top to bottom, who came up with the sudden SBX211 "Bill/Law" to make these payments legal. Every one of them.
It's extremely interesting that Marin County and San Diego County are now undergoing "audits" for Court Corruption, but Los Angeles, which is where THIS part of the corruption started has been left out. Los Angeles is the center of the septic system of Court Corruption, and the law makers as well. (Some who's spouses are Judges)
It appears that our Government is just really a large mafia. Why is Madoff in jail if these Judges aren't? They have done the exact same thing, but it's worse. He was at least caught, and stopped. There is no stopping the Government.
Leslie, please do a report, naming names of all the ones involved from top to bottom. Who drafted SBX 211, who supported it, and who is getting the payments. All 2000 names.
courtwatch Marin County
Posted: 08:11 pm [PST] on January 21 2010
The judiciary has become the strongest branch of government, because there is absolutely no transparency, and no oversight. The judges say oversight would interfere with their "independence". Uh Huh. Yeah. Right. The CA judiciary, the largest in the Western world, has a $4 billion budget, unlimited power, lots of public relations consultants, the power to wreak horrific vengeance against those who criticize them (see: Richard Fine, and innumerable other victims) and no oversight.
For those of you who are interested in the Richard Fine issues, the statistics about the judicial perks he was complaining about can be found in the Judicial Council's December 15, 2009 report entitled "Historical Analysis of Disparities in Judicial Benefits". The key statistics are in attachment D, pages D-9 to D-14. In 2008, CA counties paid a total of $30,388,289 in "supplemental judicial benefits" to their judges, above and beyond their state salaries and benefits.$23,482,932 of this total $30.3 million was paid by Los Angeles County, to Los Angeles County judges. The report does not state how much each judge receives per capita, but it states that Los Angeles County has 436 judges-- that comes out to each LA judge receiving approximately $53,860 from LA County. Richard Fine challenged the LA judges, stating that those receiving these hefty benefits from LA County should not be hearing cases involving LA County. He also claimed the payments were illegal. In 2008, a court of appeal agreed that the payments were illegal.(Sturgeon v. County of Los Angeles (2008) 167 Cal.App.4th 630.) According to the Judicial Council report (page 4), in response to the Sturgeon case, "the judicial branch sought legislation, Senate Bill X2 11".
The legislation, commonly known as SBX 211, was pushed through on an emergency basis. It allows judges to continue to receive these extra benefits, and also provides RETROACTIVE IMMUNITY from prosecution to counties paying the benefits, and judges receiving the benefits.
In other words, CA judges were taking the county benefits in violation of the law. When this was made public, the CA judiciary got emergency legislation passed, allowing them to continue to receive their benefits (while courts are being closed due to "budget constraints"), and also allowing them to escape prosecution. Meanwhile, the lawyer who had been challenging the LA bench for taking these hefty illegal perks for years, was disbarred and sent to jail, where he has been held in solitary confinement for almost a year.
The legality of SBX 211 has subsequently been challenged -- something the language of the legislation itself anticipated.
Today, January 21, 2010, the Judicial Council voted to continue court closures through June 2010. And, they are going to blame this on the legislators, for not giving them MORE money, while, at the same time lobbying for MORE judges, BIGGER salaries for judges, MORE benefits for judges, MORE money to have NICER courthouses, to maintain the current quality of judges. Hah hah.
If you think this report on judicial benefits is interesting, check out the report issued the same day (12/15/09), by the CA Judicial Council's "Commission on Impartial Courts" recommending that judges be allowed to take campaign contributions from those who appear before them (although 75% of the public, and over 25% of judges, believe such contributions affect the outcome of cases), and also recommending AGAINST the implementation of Judicial Performance Evaluations--which consultants to the Judicial Council have repeatedly,strongly recommended.
kevin kunkle long beach
Posted: 08:23 pm [PST] on January 10 2010
Mrs. Holt has got this right!
She is the voice of the citizen statesman. California legislature is out of control and corrupt to the bone. There is no control of corporate intrests or limits on government intrusion... laws are constantly passed that violate both the state and national constitutions... Also when was this group of criminals gonna tell us that planes have been leaving "chemtrails" in the sky to block out the harmfull rays of the sun? It was in the paper recently, which is funny cause i've seen the trails for years and do not recall any hearing, notification, or alert of any kind!! I for one demand that the legislature inform thr people what those chemicals are, who is spraying them and under what authority are thet doing it?!