Is anybody in there?

In a Waco Trib article. 

The county’s newly appointed criminal associate judge said he may not take the position after the commissioners court set his salary at a lower rate than he anticipated.

I have a smiley face sticker for anyone who can explain why we have 10 candidates for county commissioner and three more not running for office and not one could come up with what seems a really simple solution.

There are 8 justice of the peace courts. Two district courts and two county court at law courts. Any of the presiding judges could do the arraignments of prisoners at the jail.

So we have 12 “magistrates” on the taxpayer tit already. It seems simple. If you think it necessary to fund this position, $200,000.00 seems reasonable for an associate judge budget. All you have to do is add up all the budgets of the 12 existing courts, determine what percentage the extra $120K would be and give the existing courts the option.  The 12 courts can fill the duties and have the currently funded $80K distributed equitably among them or have their budgets cut to offset the needed funds.

This is what RESPONSIBLE taxpayers do when the have an unexpected expense or want to buy something not in the budget. The economy is screwed because people borrowed the money to finance things they had no ability to pay for.  This is the course the court has pursued in the past.  The court suffers no such disability since there is plenty of money.

 

The county budget is on line. Pretty simple to find the information. The commissioners should probably reduce the budget of the “budget director” by 10 percent just because he did not offer this solution. The key to public office is not to be a rocket scientist (can I get a hell yea) but to hire the best possible people to work for you.

The whole associate judge deal has back room deal all over it. The opinion by the District Attorney that the former magistrate was in violation of the Texas Constitution was drafted in August 2011. Prior to the budget approval by the court and the District Judges / County Court at Law Judges didn’t appear to have any problem with ignoring the Texas Constitution.

They did WHAT?

On 12-27-2011, the Commissioners’ Court voted to hire a new associate judge. The court did not know what he was going to be paid or much about what his job responsibilities would be. How does that sound for a plan?

 

McLennan County officials made the case to State Rep. Doc Anderson that due to overcrowding, they needed a way to expedite the processing of people charged with crimes. The justification is murky at best. Some say the justices of the peace who were responsible would not do their job. No particular evidence to support this was ever offered but the JP’s did not raise a fuss because they were going to be paid the same with a significant reduction in their responsibilities.
The part you will not see mentioned is most arraignments take place via video conferencing. Think Skype.  When the jail magistrate was first appointed, video arraignment was not reliable or very evolved. Not the case today. Taxpayers currently pay for 8 magistrate courts in McLennan County.

One advantage of having an appointed judge is that the person does not answer to the voters. An additional level of disconnect is of benefit because the associate judge is appointed by the four criminal judges but the position is funded by the Commissioners’ Court. The judges can say he is a county employee and the commissioner’s  can said they have no control because they don’t appoint him. Why is that important? We offer that no magistrate could do what the appointed one did and have any hope of being re-elected. Another interesting thing about this is that while a brief reference to the matter was posted in the agenda, no documentation was available before court.  In fact, Senior Court Judge Strother emphasized that failure to take the action would have dire consequences. This story by the Legendary http://downdirtyword.blogspot.com/2011/08/criminal-judges-ponder-mclennan-jail.html shows this was a well known issue more than three months ago.

<Appendix>

Quick Study of PR Bonds - Multiple Sex Offenders Freed  - There is little chance a magistrate could be re-elected with a record like this one.

Climate of Terror, Frustration Evident In Robinson -  Much the same for this report.

Waco City Attorney Stonewalls Public Information Requests – In this story details are found about a man who is compelled to beat on his wife after being released on a PR bond.

Alleged Child Rapist Has New Lawyer - Jurors To Pass Sentence – Release of child predators on PR bond might pose a disability to election.

Lady Justice absent from McLennan County – A review of the performance of the last magistrate appointed by Judge Strother.