Ronald George’s time as California’s long-serving chief justice officially expires at the close of Jan. 2. But “rather than watch the minute hand go by on a 38-year judicial career,” George said he and his wife Barbara will spend the last two weeks of his term on their second trip to Antarctica.
During his final annual meet-and-greet with the press, George said his last opinion for the court has already been released: Last month's People v. Foster, a death penalty case that was affirmed 7-0. “As I got it ready I said ‘this is the last one of these I’ll have to do.”
He added that “working on the capital cases was definitely not high on the list of things I liked particularly.”
Ruminating on his time as chief justice, George said he won’t miss some of his Sacramento duties.
George was asked about the politicization of judicial elections and the November ouster of three Iowa Supreme Court justices who'd backed gay marriage. One possible solution, he said, would be longer single terms, “say 15 years, period. That’s it.”
George said that once the court's budget issues were resolved this summer, he figured it was the perfect time to retire. He said his post-retirement plans consisted of having no plans, though he also suggested that once out of office he may write about his views on certain topics, including, perhaps, his thoughts on the death penalty.
But he told reporters he isn't saddened by the prospect of leaving his corner office in the Earl Warren building. His wife, he said, had told him his shoulders seemed to lift a little bit more as his term draws to a close. He then invoked the classic Kenny Rogers tune: “You got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em. Know when to walk away...”
Justice George was a pioneer in creating a court SYSTEM for the 3rd Branch and a true hero for advocating access to the justice system for all. He also showed courage and wisdom in his writing for the Court. We will miss him greatly...
Posted by: Joseph J. Bell | December 06, 2010 at 12:39 PM
While Mr. George's accomplishments are worthy of taking note of George's legacy is severely tarnished by decisions made as the top administrator of the branch.
Let me provide the reader a list of other George accomplishments.
1. A 1.3 billion dollar computer fiasco called CCMS where a catch-all statewide computer program is being developed for the courts by the same legends of software development that brought LAUSD's payroll system to its knees and Marin County's accounting system to its knees and is embroiled in similar litigation with other states nationwide.
2. An unlicensed contractor fiasco where a company that built the 35W bridge in Minnesota (the one that crashed into the river) and did a peachy lousy job on a bridge in Marin (where they were sued and lost) was maintaining courthouses as a joint venture with another unlicensed contractor since 2006, yet is currently only filing suit against one entity and only for a fraction of what was paid them - and disclaiming the existence of the other entities participation in this joint venture so they can sue them for substantially less and someone else can keep their kickbacks.
3. 42 of some of the worlds most expensive public buildings being built with 5 billion dollars of yet to be sold bond money, while courthouses across the state are being shut down, personnel laid off and lines that are beginning to stretch around the block. Incidentally, these courthouses cost 2 to 3 times what it costs the federal government to build a similar courthouse.
4. The failure of the George Administration to secure one dollar in federal stimulus funds to go towards any one of those 42 new courthouses OR CCMS because transparency and accountability are for the other two branches of government - not the judicial branch.
5. The recent termination of 5 whistleblowers in his administrative offices and the constructive terminations of several more who sought to expose the fraud, waste and abuse and actually "serve the courts for the benefit of all californians"
6. The issuance of contract extensions to previously unlicensed and therefore ineligible contractors who are and have been grossly overcharging the state under lucrative DOD style, sole-source cost plus contracting.
7. The recent issuance of an RFP custom written so that only the previously unlicensed contractor qualifies due to being the only entity with court experience. A 10 year, sole source, cost-plus contract.
But lets not lose focus of the big picture. He helped unify a branch of government. Unfortunately, he unified it all under his absolute command as any despot would. While most of his decisions from the bench have been respectable, let's not forget that he refused to hear Sturgeon vs. LA County and then spun around in his administrative role and ordered his administrative office to lobby the legislature for SBx211, passed in the dead of night without so much as a public hearing, making extrajudicial payments retroactively legal for him and the six people that sat on the California Supreme Court and also took those payments.
As the chips fall in all of this George will be remembered. Unfortunately, not as fondly as some might wish to believe.
Posted by: JudicialCouncilWatcher | December 16, 2010 at 09:10 AM