The Commission on Judicial Conduct has become virtually self-driving and unaccountable. The article "Texas judges' misdeeds often kept secret by oversight commission," found in the Austin American-Statesman, only serves to rile me up further. It unravels the truth that this commission, who is in charge of oversight of our state judges, believes that it should never have to allow someone to go through their files to make sure they are functioning properly. Of course, the commission itself would like to defend why it legally can not share the information it has on cases against the judges in our state, but I love how the Statesman points out that "Defense lawyers, those who have filed complaints and even some judges counter that such secrecy raises questions about how the agency is policing some of the state's most powerful public officials." Of course it raises suspicion! It raises even more alarms when you continue reading the article and see that the Commission on Judicial Conduct has even blocked another state agency from being able to audit it. The Statesman shares, "The Sunset Advisory Commission is charged by the Legislature to review the performance of state agencies to determine if taxpayers should continue funding an agency and, if so, what changes might be made to improve its efficiency." However, the Commission on Judicial Conduct refused to allow the Sunset Advisory Commission access to any of their information. They would not allow them to sit in on any hearings or allow them to assess their functions in any other way.
How can one state agency that is charged with oversight refuse to allow another state agency, charged with the same exact role, to oversee it's operations. I can not even see how that could be legal. The Sunset Advisory Commission's main purpose is to see if taxpayer dollars are being spent well, and the Commission on Judicial Conduct is prohibiting them from performing their role completely. The Statesman even mentions that while some judges are getting a slap on a wrist for serious offenses, other judges are getting serious judgements meted out for less serious offenses. The Commission on Judicial Conduct goes on to say that they believe the other agency has no right to conduct a review on their rulings because they are a Judicial body and is not subject to Legislative oversight.
Concerning the behavior of the Commission on Judicial Conduct, Jim Harrington of the Texas Civil Rights Project said it best, "It says that judges protect their own." That is a very fair assessment. It is clear that just as someone in a courtroom who is being tried before a judge can actually donate money to that judges campaign, this Commission on Judicial Conduct can also be corrupted. I think the only way to fix something like this is to fine tune the legislation that brought about the Sunset Advisory Commission. Something that would say that an advisory commission has every right to assess each and every commission that runs within the boundaries of this state. That would create at least a little oversight into the workings of the Judicial branch and this apparently corrupted commission.
Monday, April 30, 2012
Monday, April 16, 2012
(Assignment #6) Comment on "The Young and the Rest - less educated"
I enjoyed reading fellow blogger, Jackie Goff's post, "The Young and the Rest - less educate." Her title draws you into the article and she sites her references very well. She also has an interesting take on the the events surrounding Governor Rick Perry's challenge to Texas’ higher education institutions to make college more affordable.
At first I disagreed that there was something behind A&M being the only school so far to pick up on Perry's 'call to action', but the more I think about it, the more I think there probably is something to the claim. In class we talked about how Perry would love nothing more than to be in the A&M system and leave his "Big maroon thumbprint all over the state," as Professor Seago put it. I know Perry has yet to make it onto the board of A&M or into any other role with any clout in their system, but I am certain there must be a tie between his challenge to the College's and Universities in Texas and A&M doing something about it so quickly. It looks like one of those "I scratch your back, you scratch mine," type things.
On the actual facts of the degree that A&M is offering, I agree with Ms. Goff's disappointment that it does not apply to people with low income, single moms, or those who have previously served in the military or any other of the vast groups of people who could truly benefit from a degree program that is less than $10,000. I also found it interesting that they only offered this plan with a specific degree program and that they even specified the specialization.
On the other hand, I think to criticize this plan so quickly is a little short-sighted. Everything has to begin somewhere, and it is entirely possible that if A&M has actually put together a respectable degree for under $10,000 that fully prepares the student for a future job, that this will become the gateway to more schools offering less expensive options as well. I do not think it is fair to say that most colleges and universities should have jumped onto the boat and already pushed out a proposal to meet Perry's suggestion. Most university and colleges are not brave enough, or crazy enough to take a leap like this and I applaud A&M for being an innovator in this area and coming up with an attempt at what seems to be impossible to other institutions.
At first I disagreed that there was something behind A&M being the only school so far to pick up on Perry's 'call to action', but the more I think about it, the more I think there probably is something to the claim. In class we talked about how Perry would love nothing more than to be in the A&M system and leave his "Big maroon thumbprint all over the state," as Professor Seago put it. I know Perry has yet to make it onto the board of A&M or into any other role with any clout in their system, but I am certain there must be a tie between his challenge to the College's and Universities in Texas and A&M doing something about it so quickly. It looks like one of those "I scratch your back, you scratch mine," type things.
On the actual facts of the degree that A&M is offering, I agree with Ms. Goff's disappointment that it does not apply to people with low income, single moms, or those who have previously served in the military or any other of the vast groups of people who could truly benefit from a degree program that is less than $10,000. I also found it interesting that they only offered this plan with a specific degree program and that they even specified the specialization.
On the other hand, I think to criticize this plan so quickly is a little short-sighted. Everything has to begin somewhere, and it is entirely possible that if A&M has actually put together a respectable degree for under $10,000 that fully prepares the student for a future job, that this will become the gateway to more schools offering less expensive options as well. I do not think it is fair to say that most colleges and universities should have jumped onto the boat and already pushed out a proposal to meet Perry's suggestion. Most university and colleges are not brave enough, or crazy enough to take a leap like this and I applaud A&M for being an innovator in this area and coming up with an attempt at what seems to be impossible to other institutions.
Monday, April 2, 2012
(Assignment #5) No Surprise... Texas Has Money Problems
Always an issue is the so called 'balancing of the budget.' I am not even sure when the last time our budget was actually balanced, but it has been a reoccurring problem ever since I started paying attention to politics. Not that I am surprised or anything. Its not like I expect us to wake up one day and say "Oh look, government fixed all our problems." However, one can hope that they can at least put their money where their mouth is.
Politicians are famous for saying whatever it takes to get elected, and in Texas, the magic words are "Education is a top priority." One might ponder why those words are so magical, but the answer is quiet simple, education is not a top priority, which makes constituencies unhappy and gives perfect fodder for politicians to call it their platform. If they were to ever actually resolve this issue and make education a top priority then the magic words would not work and politicians might actually have to work to get elected. Ok, that is pretty cynical, but the lack of effort to make education a top priority really shows Texans where our politicians stand on education. We really need to stop listening to their campaigns and we need to start paying attention to their actions.
An Article in the Texas Tribune by Ross Ramsey really drives the point home. Our politicians continually say education is the top priority and while saying that to TV crews and newspapers, they go up to Capitol Hill and pass a budget that goes from $25.4 billion dedicated to Education down to $21.9 billion. Education is but one example of how its is obvious that our legislators refuse to own up to what they sell. It is frustrating to know how short our government falls sometimes, it almost makes you so ashamed that you want to pretend it isn't happening and stop reading the news. I suppose that brings up the cognitive dissonance issue, though. What we find hard to reconcile, we try to avoid.
All that said, I am sure there is hope somewhere. We could always have an uprising of another party that creates a demand for accountability and authenticity in all parties. Who knows what will happen in the future, but going back to one of my original comments, I really wish politicians would just put their money where their mouth is.
Politicians are famous for saying whatever it takes to get elected, and in Texas, the magic words are "Education is a top priority." One might ponder why those words are so magical, but the answer is quiet simple, education is not a top priority, which makes constituencies unhappy and gives perfect fodder for politicians to call it their platform. If they were to ever actually resolve this issue and make education a top priority then the magic words would not work and politicians might actually have to work to get elected. Ok, that is pretty cynical, but the lack of effort to make education a top priority really shows Texans where our politicians stand on education. We really need to stop listening to their campaigns and we need to start paying attention to their actions.
An Article in the Texas Tribune by Ross Ramsey really drives the point home. Our politicians continually say education is the top priority and while saying that to TV crews and newspapers, they go up to Capitol Hill and pass a budget that goes from $25.4 billion dedicated to Education down to $21.9 billion. Education is but one example of how its is obvious that our legislators refuse to own up to what they sell. It is frustrating to know how short our government falls sometimes, it almost makes you so ashamed that you want to pretend it isn't happening and stop reading the news. I suppose that brings up the cognitive dissonance issue, though. What we find hard to reconcile, we try to avoid.
All that said, I am sure there is hope somewhere. We could always have an uprising of another party that creates a demand for accountability and authenticity in all parties. Who knows what will happen in the future, but going back to one of my original comments, I really wish politicians would just put their money where their mouth is.
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