Government
Aug. 5, 2016
State legislators call for audit of Commission on Judicial Performance
A pair of state legislators has requested an audit of the Commission on Judicial Performance, the independent state agency responsible for investigating judicial misconduct.
Daily Journal Staff Writer
A pair of state legislators has requested an audit of the Commission on Judicial Performance, the independent state agency responsible for investigating judicial misconduct.
According to a July 27 letter to Joint Legislative Audit Committee, obtained by the Daily Journal on Wednesday, they are requesting an audit of the CJP's "policies and practices for handling and resolving complaints against judges."
The request comes after months of public criticism of the CJP, including calls by state legislators to review Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky after he gave a light sentence to a former Stanford University swimmer for sexual assault, though this is not mentioned in the text.
The letter is signed by Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, D-Santa Barbara, and Assemblywoman Catharine Baker, R-San Ramon. Jackson chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee. Baker is an attorney. Calls to both offices were not returned.
CJP spokeswoman Victoria Henley could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
The committee can consider the request during an Aug. 10 hearing and will have the option of making an official request to State Auditor Elaine Howle.
The five-page letter notes "the Commission — a public agency — does not appear to have ever been audited by the State Auditor."
It goes on to list 26 questions they would like an audit to answer, including details on the standards used in evaluating cases, justification used for taking legal action, the percentage of complaints acted on, the processes used to notify judges and evaluation of witness credibility.
The letter also asks about the standards used to train CJP staff attorneys and "the size and composition of" commission staff and the qualifications and training demanded of staff attorneys.
It goes on to request information "for 2010 through 2015" on "number of cases, case-processing time, and outcome" as well as the commission's "total revenues, expenditures and fund balances."
Only one discipline case is mentioned by name. The letter quotes a May 2 Daily Journal story about Ventura County Superior Court Judge Nancy L. Ayers, whom the CJP admonished in 2015 for bringing a guide dog in training to her courtroom.
Ayers challenged the decision and last month was able to convince the state Supreme Court to dismiss the case.
It is another case, however, that has landed CJP in the news in recent months.
In June, Persky sentenced former Stanford University swimmer Brock Turner to six months for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman. This led to calls for Persky's ouster, including a Change.org petition signed by nearly 1.3 million people.
Sixteen state legislators signed a June letter asking the CJP to review Persky's conduct, and activist groups picketed CJP offices in San Francisco.
The CJP has been under fire since well before the Turner decision, however. In April, the advocacy group Court Reform LLC published a report calling the CJP a "negative outlier" when compared to similar commissions in Arizona, New York and Texas.
The group's founder, Joe Sweeney, said the CJP generally disciplines and removes judges at a lower rate than these other states, and operates with less transparency.
"When judges know that their oversight agency is going to take every complaint seriously and be held publicly accountably, that is going to result in less misconduct," he said.
malcolm_machlachlan@dailyjournal.com
Malcolm Maclachlan
malcolm_maclachlan@dailyjournal.com
For reprint rights or to order a copy of your photo:
Email
jeremy@reprintpros.com
for prices.
Direct dial: 949-702-5390
Send a letter to the editor:
Email: letters@dailyjournal.com