| ► Cleveland Plain Dealer – 06/15/01 – Men bite watchdog – Editorial |
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Cleveland Plain Dealer – June 15, 2001 – Men bite watchdog – Editorial The man who founded the Committee to Expose Dishonest and Incompetent Attorneys and Judges considers himself a judicial watchdog. But some Ohio judges, including Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas Moyer, are feeling hounded.
In that case, they should ensure that the watchdog has nothing to sink his teeth into.
Three years ago, David Palmer, whose own unhappy experience with lawyers and judges years ago spawned the committee, informed the court that some visiting judges had billed counties to which Chief Justice Thomas Moyer assigned them as much as $50,000 total for days they did not work or expenses they did not incur.
That information lay dormant until late last month, when probable-cause hearings were held in Franklin County Municipal Court on 57 felony theft charges Palmer filed against nine judges, including two reimbursed for hundreds of meals they didn’t eat. “Cereal thieves,” Palmer has called them.
None of the judges Palmers has accused find him and charges funny. Most indignantly assert that they broke no rules. But in the past few weeks, several of those named (and a few he hasn’t), have repaid more than $8,000 from checks they mistakenly received – and cashed.
The Municipal Court judge dismissed the theft charges, but ordered that the Franklin County prosecutor’s office pore over the Supreme Court billing records with Palmer to determine whether overcharges were the clerical errors the judges claim, or criminal fraud.
“These are not,” an assistant prosecutor told the Columbus Dispatch, “straws pulled out of the air. There are issues that need to be addressed.”
These are not, the high court says, major sums in a visiting-judge budget of $3.4 million a year.
Nevertheless, the court’s administrator asked State Auditor Jim Petro last week to address the policies and procedure the court has used to track payments to visiting judges since the system was computerized last July 1. The court itself will review its paper records back to 1997. [at the time court had records going back to the late 1980s]
Petro’s office also will review the court’s guidelines for assigning visiting judges, and presumably clarify the guidelines for billing their pay and expenses.
If Palmer feels vindicated, he’s entitled. But the hounded are hounding back: A formal complaint has been made that he is practicing law with a license by “offering free legal advice” on his Web sit.
Beware the watchdog catchers.
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