Sorry to change the subject. But latest talking points by Gov Scott and Legislators is that they are going to balence the defecic on our backs. Soon the ASAs n APDs n AAGs, who havent seen a raise nor COLA in 6 years get to pay their own pention contribution. Instead of HALF what a private attorney can earn will will mAKE A third. THE Make-up/BALENCE WAS OUR BENI'S BUT NOW WE ARE SEEN as PARASITES ON THE STATE BUDGET. THEY have
NO RESPECT for STATE WORKERS or the FACT WE MAKE THE STATE GOV'T RUN. Thanx for your service, NOW BEND OVER!!
The Return of the Jedi....and Almendarez-Torres:
Federal practitioners have long celebrated the Apprendi line of cases, while criticizing the decision in Almendarez-Torres which excepted recidivism (prior record for our robed readers) from the requirement that a prior record enhancement be proven to a jury like other enhancements.
The decision, which was 5-4 to begin with, has been subjected to an unending line of criticism from those like Justice Thomas who said he "succumbed to error" in casting the 5th vote, and from the majority in Apprendi who opined that “it is arguable that Almendarez-Torres was incorrectly decided.”
Shots continued to be fired at Almendarez-Torres as per the SCOTUS blog:
"the Court called for a response with respect to two petitions that ask the Court to reconsider Almendarez-Torres: Ayala-Segoviano v. United States, 10-5296, and Vazquez v. United States, 10-6117. Since the government filed briefs in opposition, the Court has relisted those cases three times, at the January 7, 14, and (apparently) 21 Conferences."
Stay tuned to see if the Empire Strikes Back.
14 comments:
State workers fear likely pension fees
.State and local workers could see paychecks shrink because of new retirement fees.
BY MARY ELLEN KLAS
Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau
TALLAHASSEE -- Teachers, police and even legislators may start seeing -- for the first time ever -- a chunk of their paycheck going into their retirement accounts if Gov. Rick Scott and legislators get their way.
The money could be used to offset the state's nearly $5 billion budget gap, fulfill Gov. Rick Scott's promise to cut $1.4 billion in property taxes or be rolled back into the retirement system to shore it up before the state's aging workforce retires
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/01/29/2041542/state-workers-fear-likely-pension.html#ixzz1Cc3Isn4w
Wah, wah, wah,
Lawyers in private practice have been seeing their income go down. So you work for the government, why do you think you are immune?
Considering the training and experience an APD and ASA get consider yourselves lucky you don't have to pay for your clerkship.
I got 99 problems, and the PDs check ain't one.
The Florida Legislature has been cutting benefits and essentially salaries (no more bar dues) of government attorneys for years now. This pension thing is going to break the back of ASAs and APDs. Rick Scott says he wants to bring the State pension in line with the private sector. How about making State salaries the same as the private sector? A paralegal makes more than a government attorney! Wait, that would actually bankrupt the State! Can we unionize??? Any ideas on fighting this???
Those interested in appearance waivers and rule 3.180 should check out Cruz v. State, 822 So. 2d 595 (Fla. 3d DCA 2002).
Kissimmee Kid: you sound more like the ignorant kid. Prosecutors and APDs are responsible for protecting our community, the rights of victims and the accused (some of whom actually are innocent). While this may not seem important to you, I assure you it's vital to many of us over the age of 12.
Being a prosecutor or APD is not a clerkship. It's attitudes like yours that are killing the offices. These young lawyers have vital jobs..............that state should pay them a decent wage so we can attract and keep the talent we need to do those jobs properly.
Regardless of all of the cuts in private practice, every decent lawyer I know makes far more than the prosecutors and APDs of similar experience and talent.
GET A CLUE.
How many more guilty offenders need to beat their charges, how many more victims need to be traumatized by an uncaring and ineffective system, how many more innocents need to be convicted before people like you understand that this is not the place to cut costs any more than the government already has?
BTDT
This comment may not be popular with my fellow state employees, but it needs to be said because it goes to who we are and how we define ourselves.
I have been a proud state employee for over two decades. I really love this state. I am not sentimental about my appreciation of Florida, but the sentiment itself is sincere.
I feel I do something important for the 18 million citizens of Florida. I happen to be on the prosecution side, but I see the same service on the Public Defender side of the courtroom as well.
I , like my comrades, would like more money. A higher salary would free me from some of the daily economic battles that I would rather not have to confront. I would like to drive a more comfortable car; I would like to be able travel to places I have never been without having to economize; I would like to explore on a regular basis truly fine restaurants. These are just the trivial things I must forego on my salary to properly care for my family.
A measure of maturity is that we understand that which is not available to us and that which is and make measured decisions as to what is truly important.
I have made a choice to involve my life with the pursuit of justice for victims as well as for my fellow citizens. I am not sure how much that is worth to them, but in many ways it is worth more to me.
As Thomas carlyle wrote, "Happy the man who has found his work, he will know no greater pleasure."
Certainly, there are those who make more money than I, but their work cannot be more important. One time, for example, a disgruntled fellow employee complained that a successful journeyman plumber makes more than many career prosecutors, and I reminded her that a plumber deals, literally, with human excrement while we deal everyday with the words of the United States Constitution. Sadly, she didn't share my perspective of how lucky those of us are who realize the opportunity we have been given.
During this period when a very small minded executive who has instituted a hostile takeover of our state institutes draconian measures on the state fiscal budget and when a lot of misinformed and embittered citizens fail to see how dedicated state employees make the life of private citizens much better, we can distinguish ourselves from the exploiters of our society and show that we who contribute to society have a character that makes us noteworthy. We can do this by working even harder to show the worth of the public sector.
In times of economic hardship, and it looks like if an individual is a government employee, these next two years or so care going to be very difficult, the worth of our choice to serve our fellow citizens may have to sustain us. I believe it will.
Why fight something so silly? Judge will just be a dick a deny you a continuance.
"A paralegal makes more than a government attorney!"
We have a thing here in Florida called a market. In this market, wages are set by the value of an employee. Here in the market, a baby lawyer fresh out of law school has little utility; they have no skills.
A paralegal with experience is very useful. They, unlike baby lawyers, can do work for which we can bill. Therefore, in the market, they command a higher wage than the useless baby lawyer.
What they never tell the paralegals, and I would never admit unless hiding behind the wall of a fake name, is that a secretary is far more valuable than a paralegal, and paid to match. Legal secretaries are often the highest paid non-lawyers in a firm. Why? They are irreplaceable. I can do a paralegal's work. I can replace a paralegal in an instant. The loss of a secretary cripples me for months and cuts my income.
Oh, and stop whining about unions, you have a union; a closed shop union. It is called the Florida Bar. You have to belong to do the work, comrade.
you voted for him!!!!! good job florida, then Floridians wonder why everyone thinks we are stupid. We are our own worst enemy! Seriously, why is Florida in such a bad place when it is such a great place to live, why is it not flourishing and why aren't businesses fighting to open an office here? We have beautiful weather, the worst thing that can happen is a hurricane and we get advanced notice on that, we have many major ports, its an international hot spot. etc. Whhhhyyyy are we so broke, pay our state employees less than any other state, whyyyyyy???? Because you keep voting for some serious dumb asses!!!!!!!!!!!
what does btdt mean?
I say state employees show your value, STRIKE! REFUSE TO WORK FOR A FEW WEEKS OR EVEN DAYS, IT WILL THROW THE SYSTEM INTO CHAOS AND FORCE THE GOVERNMENT TO ACKNOWLEDGE HOW BAD THEY TREAT YOU!!!!!! STRIKE AND FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHTS
FLORIDA: The state constitution guarantees the right to collective bargaining but prohibits strikes by public employees. State statute defines "good faith bargaining," requiring parties to meet at reasonable times and places with the intent to reach a common accord. This is the problem with asa, apd, judges, clerks etc. there are no unions that would force collective bargaining and then if at an impasse the possibility of a strike
Dude! Spellcheck please!
Until the Florida constitution is amended to allow an income tax, the state will be the prime target for Republican shrink-governement-until-it's-small-enough-to-drown-in-a-bathtub philosophy. Because the most overrated asswipe president in history, Ronnie Raygun, convinced people that government was bad and on top of it begat the "me" generation, we now have a crop of conservative, small government, selfish, republican (sorry for the repetition with those last two!) scumbag "leaders" that will lead us all to corporatist, fascist hell. Florida is a petri dish in which republiteaparty nimrods are experimenting with our progressive ideals, which, believe it or not, Fox viewers, are the ideals shared by a majority of Americans when they are asked objective questions about their views. Rick Scott is a corporate thug serving alongside a gerrymandered group of tea party and neo-teaparty yahoos holding a veto-override over his head (assuming they could see far enough up his ass to find his head!). It's gonna be a rough few years.
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