Are the County Commissioners throwing stones when they live in glasshouses? Are they suppressing fees for court appointed lawyers yet paying their own private lawyers 175 to 250 per hour. El Defenzor begins the probe....
Are poor citizens being denied their constitutional right to an attorney because the county is pressuring judges not to pay lawyers for their services yet they are obtaining their own attorneys at exorbitant rates? We shall see...
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13 comments:
woudn't surprise me starting with Loyd Neil and his wheeling and dealing. He owns the press here so we never here about his shady insurance deals and the 95% loan from packery channel we are paying for.
Why would the county commissioners need attorneys when they have the county attorney's office? Let's found out. More corruption. Go get them Homero!
And let's not forget Banales has 3 or 4 lawyers he gives all the business to. Are the commissioners looking at him? What about the 140,000 office? I bet that would pay for 100 court appointed lawyers!
Insider: This is politically motivated and they are trying to single out a couple of judges. The county commissioners need to look at all the money they are burning that belongs to the taxpayers.
Keep talking readers...Who has the dirt on this? Is their corruption on paying side lawyers instead of Laura Jiminez' fine lawyers that should be representing the county? Why are there private lawyers? Who knows?Respond anonymously readers. Your input is greatly appreciated and will be followed up and verified...
EDC culture and marketing is the cottage industry that rapes the county funds. The County commissioners have no problem giving out million dollar contracts that are corrupt and full of croneyism but begrudge a poor person and their lawyer a decent wage. It's time to expose them. Look for your seat. Teh county commissioners have the easiest part time job in the world: 80k a year for a few hours a week and they can work at their own jobs and they can buy their husbands a brand new office and we pay for it. Why can't poor people get a lawyer? Because they control the judges that way. They audit judges and then they don't audit themselves! If it wasn't for the Ortiz machine these commissioners and corrupt EDC members from taking over the whole county and raping the system. They started a war and we are going to finish it. EVERYONE RUN AGAINST THE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS! THROW YOUR NAME IN THE RING. IF YOU ARE FEMALE AND HISPANIC GO FOR IT!IF YOU ARE WHITE AND MALE GO FOR IT! IF YOU HAVE POLKADOTS AND A PINK AFRO GO FOR IT. RUN AGAINST FENCE SITTER NEIL WHO JUMPED TO BE A REPUBLICAN TO GET ELECTED. ENOUGH! These guys are denying justice in the courtroom and the poor children a lawyer but they line their pockets. YOU WANT A WAR? YOU HAVE IT COUNTY COMMMISSIONERS.
Homero - your "blog" is rather vague. I would like for you to elaborate on specifically what judges are being audited. I am at a loss. I have heard talk of those "court-appointed" attorneys pay being outrageous - some even living off of it. You need to go pull some records and find that CERTAIN judges have only CERTAIN outside lawyers they will appoint.
As for County Attorney, it is an elected position. That position is to represent the interests of the county when it comes to contractual matters, legal matter, personnel matters. The Commissioners Court should have an attorney as they enter into binding agreements with numerous companies and someone should make sure they are sound contracts.
Still would like to know WHICH judges are being audited? As it is my understanding, the County Auditor is appointed by the JUDGES themselves and the County Auditor answers to the Judges. So, Homero who is feeding you this bullsh*t? If the judges are being audited, it is because one of their own ordered it.
As for the court-appointed attorneys, I think the County should create a department that houses attorneys for those specific cases. Then all the attorneys in the community would either have to become employees of the county ONLY or not get the cases. Then the amount can be reduced greatly by having only a handful of attorneys, rather than hundreds and no one could maintain their livelihood off the back of the judges who appointment. I know that Rudy Trevino even did a report on this and the outrageous amounts "certain" lawyers make.
I think the audit is warranted and since they are considering cutting the budget, this would be a prime place to start. Get more for your buck! But Homero, if you are getting fed this bullsh*t by one of those morons (and you know who I am talking about), you might want to research before posting. Seriously. Don't let their words be the gospel.
And as another note, while you are talking about Judges and money and attorneys, why dont you go ask those lovely district judges why the hell they GAVE the court reporters a 10% increase. It is a state statute that the DISTRICT JUDGES have the right to give them the increase and the county MUST pay it. Those judges have pissed everyone in the courthouse off! I MEAN ALL OF THEM! Those court reporters are a bunch of greedy little women sitting there in comfortable working conditions all day - there's where the finger pointing needs to be. Why did the district judges feel it appropriate to give the 10% to those reporters, when most make more than the ADA's representing the citizens in the county. Saldana had that same question. Seems Watts, Hassette, Banales (who has 2 reporters), Longoria, Galvan, Greenwell, and Ramos were happy a lark to give those "girls" 10%. Who in the HELL gets a 10% annual increase in this country? What favors are those people doing for the judges? I was even told they were asking for 10% every year for the next 4 years. I personally say FIRE them! Find someone else to do it for less. In this economy, you are blessed to have a JOB, don't be greedy! The court reporters have ranges in salary from $45k to 74k (this high one in Banales court) annually. They don't even work 40 hours a week like the typical employee. Banales isn't even in court in Nueces County EVERY day...
There's where you need to look Homero. Go check that fleecing out. Go check out that corrupted pay system. Those court reporters also are able to BILL the county and others for the TRANSCRIPTS they typed on COUNTY TIME. And they make THOUSANDS! So their true annual salary is more like double what the county pays them as OBLIGATED by state statutes.
And again I say - LAURA JIMENEZ GARZA is ELECTED ... she is not appointed and according to statute, her job is: http://www.texascounties4u.org/desc/attorney.html. She is not elected to represent "citizens" in the courtroom as individuals for crimes nor is she there to prosecute them. Her job and that of the other attorneys and paralegals and assistants is clearly laid out in this description.
HOMERO... please get your information straight before you present Laura as a prosecutor or defense counsel. Her job is to provide legal opinions and rulings to the Commissioners and the County Elected Officials as it pertains to OFFICIAL COUNTY BUSINESS.
Please keep in mind, many of these decisions (regarding pay and appointments) were made by PREVIOUS Commissioners Courts and from what I understand, there are some SERIOUS changes going to take place in our county in the future.
Here are some links to help everyone sort out all the DUTIES, APPOINTMENTS and PAY of those in question:
District Attorney & the ADAs: http://law.onecle.com/texas/criminal-procedure/2.01.00.html
Court Reporters: http://law.onecle.com/texas/government/52.046.00.html
Court Appointed Attorneys (appointed by the COURT JUDGE and PAID for by the COUNTY): http://law.onecle.com/texas/criminal-procedure/26.051.00.html
Unfortunately, due to decisions by previous Commissioners, County Judges AND elected legistative representatives, these RIDICULOUS statutes are in place. Why? I am sure it was at sometime to make one of their friends happy - Herrero just passed a bill making all court reporters "OFFICIAL" court reporters. Doesn't he have better things to focus on that such a ridiculous matter? Why did he do it? Why don't you ask his LEGAL buddies why ... and it was all generated by someone in our District Court system. http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=81R&Bill=HB1551
It is true.The commissioners have their own lawyers at the county's expense at 200.00/hr. When the lawyers get paid they put some right back into the commissioner's pockets and we pay for it. But if an abused child needs a lawyer.. oh God forbid that the lawyer bills 80.00/hr. Please. Pusley and Neil are the Republicans pushing this issue yet again, picking on the poor indigent while they have their high price mouthpieces. Hypocrites.
No Gard we know you are commissioner Pusley or his puppet. Please, try to fool someone else dude.
Ok, so Banales can have the same 5 lawyers take all the appointments but other judges can't have favorites. Riiiiiiight. And have you seen this clown run a courtroom. Like watching old people screw. The worst. Angelica or white knight knock his frito bandido ass out.
To NO GARD and ANonymous. Obviously you have not idea what your are both talking about. if you know how to read, the newspaper weeks ago showed Judge Banales was the only District Judge who did not give his court reporters a 10% raise, in fact combined it was about 7%. Also they are one of the lowest paid court reporters in the District. So bot of you need to get your facts straight. Also the $140,000.00 office he supposedly has, that money was voted on by the mayor Lloyd Neal and all the commissioners in Nueces County. If you want to complain, complain to out crappy mayor Lloyd Neal.
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