Is it too much to expect California's top judges to follow their own rules?
Apparently so.
The state Judicial Council recently passed new rules that give the judiciary, like the executive branch of California government, generally ten days to determine if a request for public records will be honored.
But this week, folks at the CA Council's administrative arm, which is called the Administrative Office of the Courts, told us that their request for information will take 56 days. And that's just to determine if it will be honored. Not when.
We're not asking for state secrets.
Just records that will allow us to evaluate how efficiently the top judges and their administrators are performing their new function of running courthouse physical plants around the state.
At a time when California's judicial leaders say they do not have enough funds to keep courthouses open every day and are planning layoffs, SEIU members think it is important to know if they are also wasting big bucks.
So, among other things, we have asked to see contracts with one of the building and maintenance companies they have hired to run the courthouses.
We've also asked to see the company's bills.
Can there really be a question of entitlement here?
We'll let you know when we find out at the end of March.
That's when we'll learn if the judges consider how they spend public money to be public business.
Reposted from the blog of Accountable California, a project of SEIU Local 721's Center for Public Accountability.
Across Southern California, public employees are reporting waste, fraud and illegal activities--and getting results to improve public services. The Center for Public Accountability was created to help make government work better and smarter for everyone--and to guarantee that people in Southern California receive the best possible public services.
