In an effort to "save money," two Clallam County commissioners are working to restructure public defense for low-income defendants in district court, despite a recommendation from their own ad-hoc committee of experts to keep things as they are.
Commissioners Bill Peach and Randy Johnson instructed Clallam County Administrator Jim Jones on Tuesday to draft a contract that would appoint Larry Freedman, currently a pro-tem judge in Clallam County District Court 1, as an indigent defense coordinator who would manage contracts with attorneys who volunteer to provide counsel for defendants.
“I’m trying to figure out what we did for months in the committee you appointed,” Christopher Shea, a former public defender and prosecutor told Peach and Johnson.
“We worked; we did our job; and now you are saying ‘well, we don’t like that.’
“We just wasted our time and that causes concern.”
Right-wingers trying to appoint a fellow right-winger to short-circuit the ability of poor people to defend themselves in court...Not compassionate, not constructive, not even proactive, but it sure is predictable. Maybe they can convince the CRTC to make some swell leg shackles out of recycled composites?
What a fucking county...
But of course...The same Larry Freedman that granted Chelsea Nutcase a restraining order against Dale Wilson.
ReplyDeleteNobody seems to care about much of anything, anymore, and those with agendas count on that reality.
ReplyDeleteI'm not much for conspiracies. I don't think people can work together well enough to hide secrets for very long.
But the evolution of "extreme outrageous-ness" in the public world seems to have both trained the public to accept previously un=acceptable behaviors and actions, or to have become numbed.
Freedman is the asshole judge who railroaded Dale Wilson by illegally admitting "evidence" of anonymous postings, including from this site. Any law school student knows that is inadmissible hearsay. But when you have a personal political agenda, the law means NOTHING.
ReplyDeleteSo yes, Freedman is your man, Messrs.Peach and Johnson. Because you have no moral compass either.
Let's see...we could spend money on actually providing resources for poor people who need them...or we could spend that money on someone to manage the money remaining after we pay this person to manage the money...Gosh, I wonder what our county commissioners will choose to do???
ReplyDeleteThis is insane. It shouldn't even be legal.
ReplyDeleteTechnically it isn't legal. It's an abuse of the funding. But who among us is going to sue? And the ACLU is too busy frying bigger fish.
DeleteThat they will get away with their crap is their standard operational assumption. Seems to work very well for them in these parts.
Given the perpetual stupidity of Clallam County voters, legality doesn't matter. Rick Porter essentially has a lifetime appointment. The Bruneau/Kelly/Nichols cabal is forever. And in the true spirit of Citizens United, Green Crow was easily elected to the county commission.
DeleteReaders may remember a couple years ago when Judge Porter attempted to get his butt buddy, Will Payne appointed as public defender saying he had a conflict with the entire panel of lawyers from the public defenders office. Now he has resurected this but changed to another butt buddy, Larry Freedman. Reading Freedman's decision on the port o call thing it shows he is either incompetent or corrupt--or both. According to testimony at the work session on Monday Porter originally wanted to be the administrator over the public defenders practicing in district court. Now he has taken a hands off approach by placing his chief pro tem judge as the administrator. why the commissioners cannot see this for the charade it is makes me think a fix is in from much higher up. Clallam Public Defenders has handled this indigent defense admirably for three decades and now they want to change it--and for what? Just to plow a little more money into the snake pit. Commissioners were warned on Monday that this will come back and bite them but they proceed apace. Pathetic.
ReplyDeleteOnly when people hit rock bottom do they get enough motivation to change.
ReplyDeleteAs we keep seeing, the majority of the local population is more interested in the Halloween candy give-away in downtown Port Angeles, or watching morons trying to blow up the former K-Ply smokestack, than getting involved in the issues that affect their lives.
Thousands packed downtown to watch the failed attempt to blow up that smokestack, but 48 people showed up at the recent candidates forum, and I'll venture fewer than that showed up at the last City Council meeting.
The powers-that-be count on this.
Nice choice of contrasts. A big, big crowd to watch destruction. Being involved in shaping your own future? That draws a small crowd.
DeleteWhat's pathetic is the voters guide we received yesterday - how depressing are our options!
ReplyDeleteAt least vote to shake things up and reclassify the city (Prop 1).
DeleteIt will make it harder for crony appointments, as previously appointed offices will now be filled by election. May not guarantee anything, but it's better than the insiders always calling the shots.
Read that voters guide and ask yourself: "Are these the best, brightest, and best intentioned of all the people that live and work in the area?"
DeleteOf course these aren't the "best brightest and best intentioned" We have zero choice for the Moron and Frenchfries.
DeleteTheir opponents decided to bow out, by pre-arranged monkeyshines. This is how pathetic our local government is.
Hey, I did the more appropriate write-ins (Marolee & Lee).
DeleteProblem is, people don't even know they can do that, because the ballot only shows a blank, with no explanation of what it's for.
Well done Anon 1:45! That is doing it the right way.
DeleteWhat's pathetic are the voters.
DeleteAll three Superior Court judges chimed in on the indigent defense issue urging the county commissioners to NOT change the program. Let's see if the board of commissioners have the ignorance to ignore them.
ReplyDeleteThat's a foregone conclusion if there ever was one.
DeleteYou mean Porter, who puts money above the law, just might have more influence on money-grubbing politicians than Superior Court judges?
Delete