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Wednesday, April 14, 2010

JACKED BY JAC




NO SOUP FOR YOU!

And no money for you.

As the State staggers towards the end of its fiscal year (June 30) and agencies are running out of money, one local state agency we all know and love just lost a ton of money.

The PDs? Nope. The legislature is trying to sell his practice out from under him to private lawyers, but this didn't happen to Silent Charlie.

Regional Counsel? Nope. Nobody knows where they are anyway.

If you said the State Attorneys Office, take a bow.
There are discretionary funds that offices like the PDs, Regional Counsel and the SAO use to spend on cases for things like experts, travel, depositions, etc.

JAC (motto: "it's our money and you can't have it") just took all the discretionary funds sitting in the budgets of all State Attorneys Offices from around the state and put it into one big pot. First come, first served.

Let's say you're the State Attorney in Monore (the Keys) and you were given a million bucks for court case expenses for the year. And lets say you've done a good job and with a month to go before the new fiscal year begins, you still have over $100,000.00 to spend. Now it's gone.

JAC has scooped all the money and if you need expense money you have to fill out the form 456728-/1738#@!000-10987 in triplicate, get the signatures of his Holiness The Dalai Lama, President Hu Jintao of China, and the third assistant secretary for Commerce for Lichtenstein and file the form simultaneously with the Clerk of Court in the Hialeah Branch Court, the probate court in Jacksonville, and the patent office in Wiesbaden, Germany. Then wait for your authorization to spend the money for the depo you need in the case going to trial next week.

Good luck.

So what does this exactly mean for "The Fernandle Crew" on 12th Avenue?

How would we know? You think she talks to us?



10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Short sighted decisions like this just punish responsible officials and encourage agencies to spend their "use or lose it" money like drunken sailors. Talk about bad policy........

BTDT

Toy Story said...

Somebody put that JAC in a box!

But no seriously, that money will never see the light of day again.

Anonymous said...

WHO WERE THE LAWYERS THAT SUED THE SAO AND RUNDLE FOR SEX DISCRIMITION IN FEDERAL COURT AND WON A BIG VERDICT A FEW YEARS AGO? I have a wager on this. any help would be appreciated.

Anonymous said...

All the Miami Dade County State Attorneys just got raises in light of this budgetary mess.

Anonymous said...

6:18. You are incorrect, and should check the facts before you start stating lies. All that happend was the floor for Felony "C" ASAs was raised from $41,000 to $42,000 a year. Now a felony attorney makes just as much as a PD who handles NVDL & DWLS clients and has been out of law school for 1 day. That $1000 floor minimum after taxes just about pays for parking which one did not have to pay for when in county court or juvenile. The Felony "B" floor was raised to $43,000, while the "A" floor was raised to $48,000.

This doesn't mean "all" like you claim, as numerous ASAs made above the floor. DC's, management, Domestic Violence, Child Support, County, juvenile, and all specialized units did not get a raise. In fact, many A's, B's, and C's did not get a raise.

Give me a break 6:18.

Anonymous said...

6:18 a.m. stop spreading untrue rumors. All the ASAs did NOT get raises. A very few got a few shekels to bring them up to the salary floor. The rest of us haven't seen any raises, including cost of living, in four years. Now they want to cut our salaries and any benefits we still get, and it's wrong to spread any false information in light of that fact. Add to that that now we won't have any money to properly prosecute cases and do our jobs; we'll go from public servants to public slaves.

Anonymous said...

I knew something was wrong when the cops let me slide on that cocain possession last week.

Anonymous said...

Richard McDuff and Robert Rosenblatt sued, Chris brown and Sherrill Columbo defended, I think.

Anonymous said...

7:50 AM said, "In fact, many A's, B's, and C's did not get a raise."

So can we assume that many A's, B's, and C's were already making more than the floor salary?

So a 3rd year PD gets less ($42,000) than a 3rd year ASA who happens to handle an A caseload?

Anonymous said...

Dear 7:50 AM,

Calm down. Stop crying over your salary. No need to clarify - when your salary is that low, $1,000 more or less a year only matters to you. I'm sure it sucks to work for no money and with little authority. On the up side, you do get a cool badge and all. . .

I think its funny how riled up you ASAs get and how you are incapable of understanding that, at the end of the day, private defense attorneys are hired by clients and criminal defense practice is a business. Clients are customers. They pay us and we have to try to keep them happy. Otherwise they will go and hire someone else.

So the next time I reject a plea offer that you think is "reasonable" based on your split second glance at an A form, please keep in mind that the decision to take a plea is ultimately up to my client. I am not the one making the decision. So don't look at me like I'm nuts.

And FYI, some of you really need to consider how you treat private defense attorneys. There is absolutely no need to be hostile and jumpy and rude and to give me attitude for wanting to speak to you like a human being for two minutes about a case. You may be angry that you are underpaid and overworked, but your legal career is what you make of it. You chose to work there and taking out your stress on us defense attorneys is a HUGE no no. Because eventually you will want to leave the SAO for private practice and NO ONE will want to hire you. No one will refer you clients. No one will cover for you when you want to go out of town. No one will let you cut in line ahead of them when you are in our shoes wanting to call up a case to get dismissed before the officer walks through the courtroom door. Your only choice then will be to open up your own shop and fight over the low end clients and cases with the rest of your predecessors. How ironic that is - you, 5 years out of law school, scrounging around for the same DWLS clients that you think you are so overqualified for but that the PD's office makes more money defending their first day out of law school.

Very Truly Yours,

Private Esq.