Morale is in basement (and they don't even have a basement on 14th street, do they?)
Some top (very top) guys were at a goodbye party for a PD leaving for a civil firm last Thursday and were telling everyone that they were going to get poor Ol'Rumpole. This is apparently how scared they are of us mentioning that there are problems in Casa de Carlos. One top PD guy has "hacker friends" who are going to hack us and shut us down, while others are sure that a lawsuit would work. Tsk tsk. Don't you guys have a representation crisis? (click the link).
Instead of drafting lawsuits against our humble blog, how about picking up a file and pitching in?
Anyway: here are some of the things that are bringing people down: (note- these are summaries of emails we received from assistant public defenders. Some have identified themselves, others have not but have answered some of our questions to at least satisfy us they appear to be PDs. It should also be noted the context and tenor of the emails and the subjects they all mentioned were remarkably similar. So after reading this log in and respond- are things okay dokey at 14th street, or are there problems? We will print the responses on a front page post.)
ITEM: RAISES FOR SOME.
There is no money for raises. Yet-one very highly placed administrator's salary went up $49,000.00 from 2002 to 2006.
ITEM: DRESS CODE FOR JAIL: Work for the PDs and go to jail. Do not pass Go, do not speak with silent Charlie, and DO NOT WEAR JEANS.
Yup. If morale wasn't bad enough in these tough times with no raises except for a few feeding at the public trough, the PDs are now being yelled at for their out of court dress.
There are other issues. A few PDs raised an issue of nepotism to us, but while we confirmed some details, others are still murky- but this issue has some assistant PDs upset.
A few other PDs raised the issue of a supervisor accosting people in a parking lot on a few occasions and on one occasion rifling through the files of another PD while that PD was on vacation looking for evidence that the PD on vacation was not taking enough depos.
There have been in our emails even more serious and insidious allegations, but we can't confirm all the details, so we just write this so that the leaders at 14th street know we know about them, and apparently so does some major media outlets in our community. Maybe they amount to nothing. And maybe they don't. We'll be here to see.
So there you have it: all the makings of a revolt in PD land. Morale is rock bottom, and the guy at the top ain't saying nuttin (just like they tell their clients to do. ) All they can do is threaten our humble blog.
In the history of the blog there have only been two other people to threaten to shut us down- one got disbarred but still shoots us threatening emails every now and then, and the other faded into obscurity, having achieved nothing. And now, it appears possibly some of the top people at the PDs office may be joining that august group of malcontents.
Here's a piece of advice: Try looking in a mirror and cleaning up your own house first. Either I work there, or a whole lot of your people are upset and talking. The blog is not your problem; morale is.
We should all be on the same side here. The Dade PDs office produced some of the finest lawyers in this country. We here at the blog don't want them to fail. We want the PDs office to carry on the proud tradition and do the normally excellent job of defending their clients that the attorneys have historically done.
We used to feel the same way about the SAO, but since Janet Reno left that office has descended deeper and deeper into a bureaucratic morass killing the innovative spirt of all who work there. We would hate to see the same thing happen to the PDs office. But that's the way it appears they are heading. It is true Mr. Martinez hasn't had a full year yet to get things running, and he is entitled to more time. But currently some of his employees are upset, and they're talking.
Here's our advice:
Ease up a bit. Let the attorneys wear jeans to the jail and keep your eye on the ball- serving your clients. The rest is just BS.
See you in court, getting PD tips all the time.
22 comments:
Caption:
"The three bothers are together again. "
Would you please change your caption and add an R to bothers.
It just bothers me.
Fake Jack Thomspon, J.D., Ph.D., M.D., D.M.D., D.D.S., Pharm. D., Psy. D., LL. D., D. Div., D.O., D. Sc., D.V.M., O.D., D.P.M.
Gentlemen:
I am going to report both Rumpole and Carlos Martinez to President Obama, Attorney General Holder, Governor Crist, The Florida Bar, Miami-Dade Mayor Alvarez, every U.S. senator, every U.S. representative, every Florida state senator, every Florida state representative and anyone else who will listen to me. For that matter, I also might inform the bigwigs at the U.N., Janet Reno, Bennett Brummer and maybe even George W. Bush. Plus I will drop my dear friends at the Florida Bar a note, or two, or five thousand.
I am going somewhere with this--trust me! Lots of trees will die and I intend to crash at least ten computers in the process.
Can't wait to really fuck you over,
Fake Jack Thomspon, J.D., Ph.D., M.D., D.M.D., D.D.S., Pharm. D., Psy. D., LL. D., D. Div., D.O., D. Sc., D.V.M., O.D., D.P.M.
That's it? You have to be kidding me.
As Borat might say:
RUMPOLE, THANKS FOR THE SUPERB EXPOSE -- NOT!
You got nothing. NOTHING. YOU GOT NOTHING!
Seriously, with all the build up, that's all you have? You've got to be kidding me. I'm beginning to think you're working for a certain screaming reporter........
Gov't employees are sometimes unhappy in their gov't jobs. Wow. What a revelation! Supervisors actually checking that their underlings are actually doing their work? Outrageous! Bet the clients might actually be happy knowing their lawyer has some oversight. Sounds like some disgruntled employees fed you a load of crap.
The entry level PD who started last week already makes more than me, and I've been at the SAO for 3 years.
Really - that's it? That has been the same complaint forever. With the possible exception of the jeans to jail thing - I definitely don't agree with that one.
As far as bitching about money. Old news and usually warped.
As far as supervisors checking up on the attorneys - MANY of them need checking up on. The ones who don't aren't being micro-managed and they are not the ones complaining.
What a let down RUMPOLE you dipshit.
I agree. It's lame. But people's reputations are at stake. I have juicy stuff- I just can't verify it- I'm not a reporter- I cant just call someone and ask them to go on the record. If reporter's email me I can point them in the right direction, but they need to do the leg work.
as a current PD, some of the new policies are a little annoying and take away from the former culture, but it is still nothing that is earth shattering. The office still has some great attorneys and a team environment that fosters growth and development in their attorneys. The training we receive is still better than almost any where else. Carlos means well and he is really try to make the office better, I hope that he does in fact do that with the policies he is implementing. The PROUD tradition remains.
Selective enforcement sucks. Its one thing when a supervisor is across the board checking files to see who is taking depos and who is not.
But when one person is being targeted while others are not being questioned, then that truly sucks, because of unequal treatment.
Nepotism, favoritism are all terrible things because again, they go to matters not depending on fair treatment and more matters having little to do with things that ought to matter at a job.
I think you have a good point Rumpole. The life of the SAO has already been drained. Lets not let the PD's Office go the same downward route.
Lets do less danishes for Rory and have supervisors who are willing to jump in and help their pit people rather than nitpicking and micromanaging them.
THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:
MORATORIUM ON HAND-SHAKING AT ALL MIAMI-DADE COUNTY COURTHOUSES ....
Beginning tomorrow, September 1, 2009 and continuing for the rest of flu season, OUR HONORABLE CHIEF JEFE Joel Brown and his office along with the CLERK OF COURT Harvey Ruvin together with the AOC of the 11th Judicial Circuit, has called for a moratorium on hand-shaking at all courthouses located in Miami-Dade County.
We at the BLOG support this effort and encourage all attorneys at the GJB to go with the fist pump or elbow pump as a substitute for the handshake.
The CDC has stated that the swine flu could infect upwards of 40% of our population and that as many as 90,000 could die this year from the flu.
According to the statement released by the 11th JC, "The safest way to avoid transmission of the flu virus begins with less contact - and the easiest way to accomplish that around the courthouse is through less hand-shaking".
The Captain agrees, and as a Public Service, we will continue to print this regularly until we begin to notice a severe drop in hand-shaking at the GJB.
CAP OUT .....
6:36, the entry level PD actually has to think on her feet, you just have to do what you're told. That's why she makes more
Captain
That was the best post from u yet.
Rumpole
I love you but i must agree with the t bags at the helm over at the pdo- that post sucked. Crack some heads already.
the ultimate
Rump........if you can't publish it here, than you shouldn't even be hinting it. It's not fair to the PDO since many people will speculate on what it is.
10:26...I've yet to see a PD who thinks on her feet. However, the legal argument of, "it's not fair" is innovative.
And I do agree that it is ridiculous that the PD higher ups are focusing on the out of court PD dress, as they should be focusing on the in court dress. Untucked shirts, peep toe shoes, sneakers, and wearing inappropriate seperates that are horrid to look at. I guess pantyhose are banned from the PDs office, as I've never seen a single PD wear them.
The majority of the PD clients believe their attorney make six figures. At least try to live up to that standard and look presentable.
I was at the pd"s office during the real revolt. things could not be worse today then the were then-- since that time, they do not have history of making the right moves when they feel threatened.
for example- look at how they treated some of their opposition... they banned lynn overman from entering the building. you might remember BANNED BY BRUMMER... btw lynn is now a deputy at main justice working for the atty general. then they fired lonny washington for making anti brummer comments at a mlk parade and then and paid out 350k to avoid trial.
now they attack rumpole. i say,, never attack a smart man with a sharp wit who has an audience and the power of the pen.
Bennet Brummer is to blame for all of this! Were it not for him, Carlos wouldn't be PD and Rory wouldn't be the new Weed. Now Weed is in charge of ERU for people who are not in custody! And he makes 235k for doing it. That is really all I need to know to realize that some of those guys are criminals representing criminals.
And you think Overmann got the job based on her skill as an attorney?
The PDs office is still a fine place to work. Maybe it's a tighter ship now, but it's still a very good office with decent morale.
For example - I was at a happy hour for a B-level PD leaving the office for private practice. None other than Carlos Martinez himself was there, drinking a beer and chatting with young PDs. They were joking with him and calling him "Carlos." I was amazed. In all my time at the SAO, I saw KFR twice, and one of those times was when she interviewed me.
Keeping it real: I removed your comment because you reference a complaint I did not make or publish and it is a serious one, and without proof I do not want to publicize it. What I did was copy your comment, remove that one portion of it, and post the entire thing on the front. If you email me privately I will be happy to discuss it more with you. I think you can confirm that but for that one small paragraph, your comment has been re-posted in its entirety.
People are upset they are being treated like children. And, I haven't heard the word "client" coming from the 5th floor in along time.
Carlos is a nice guy and knows not what he does, it's all Stein's fault, who plays favorites.
And, make fun of David Weed all you want, but he knew how to manage attorneys, elegantly. I miss David Weed's presence on the 5th floor.
And, lastly, please DO NOT compare us to the SAO. We've always been better trained, and better run, even today.
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