by Bill Baker, J.D.
Editor and Publisher, The San Bruno Beacon
Our legal system loses its credibility and is undermined when the integrity of the jury selection process is not protected.
Because of this, jury system administration should include detailed recordkeeping to create the publicly available paper trail necessary to insure that mismanagement, political influence and corruption are absent from the jury selection process.
Unfortunately, when it comes to the Superior Court of California in San Mateo County, Court Executive Officer and Jury Commissioner John Fitton has made it impossible for the taxpayers who are paying his salary to measure his performance because he does not maintain the records necessary for the public to do so. In my opinion, there is no guarantee that the integrity of the jury selection process in San Mateo County has been protected.
As evidenced by an August 10, 2011 letter to me from Jill Selvaggio, the Court Services Manager for the Superior Court of California, County of San Mateo, Jury Commissioner Fitton commingles public records with privileged records in what may be construed as an attempt to evade public scrutiny; does not maintain a complete file of requests for excuses from jury duty in that he does not have any record of verbal requests for excuses from jury duty and is only able to provide sketchy dated information about written requests for excuses from jury duty.
Based upon the information contained in her letter, it appears that Mr. Fitton does not keep records of the number of prospective jurors who fail to respond to the initial jury summons. However, Mr. Fitton does have dated information that indicates 7,841 prospective jurors failed to respond to any communications from the Court regarding jury duty in FY 2008-2009.
In her August 10,2011 letter to me, Ms. Selvaggio specifically stated:
"Regarding your request for data on the number of prospective jurors who failed to respond to the jury summons and who have been prosecuted for failing to respond to a jury summons, the Court has never referred any matter for prosecution during this time period."
The time period that she is speaking about is the 5 year period for which I requested records from her.
And finally, Ms. Selvaggio states that the Court does not maintain data on the number of prospective jurors who failed to respond to the jury summons and who have received fines, incarceration or other punishments.
Based upon the information contained in the San Mateo County Superior Court Services Manager's letter, it is a FACT that as far as the Superior Court of California in San Mateo County is concerned, if somebody does not want to go to jury duty and does not respond to the jury summons they receive, they have almost no chance of being prosecuted for their failure to respond to the Court's Jury Summons.
If the people who run the Superior Court of California in San Mateo County don't take jury duty seriously then why should anybody else take it seriously? Why should anybody respond to a jury summons in San Mateo County? The jury summons that prospective jurors receive states: "YOU ARE HEREBY ORDERED TO REPORT FOR JURY DUTY". This bold pronouncement should be followed by another sentence announcing: "HOWEVER, IF YOU DON'T WANT TO RESPOND TO THIS JURY SUMMONS YOU DON'T HAVE TO BECAUSE WE WON'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT AND CAN FIND OTHER PEOPLE TO DO YOUR JURY DUTY FOR YOU".
In effect, the Superior Court of California in San Mateo County is taking unfair advantage of the good people who respond to their jury summons by forcing these people to bear a disproportionate jury duty burden by allowing other summoned jurors to ignore their jury summons. In addition, by allowing prospective jurors to ignore their jury summons, the Court is diluting the jury pool and not providing defendants or plaintiffs with a jury composed of a true cross section of the community.
In my opinion, Mr. Fitton's conduct as San Mateo County's Jury Commissioner seriously undermines the administration of justice in San Mateo County.
]]>by Bill Baker, J.D.
Editor and Publisher, The San Bruno Beacon
Our legal system loses its credibility and is undermined when the integrity of the jury selection process is not protected.
Because of this, jury system administration should include detailed recordkeeping to create the publicly available paper trail necessary to insure that mismanagement, political influence and corruption are absent from the jury selection process.
Unfortunately, when it comes to the Superior Court of California in San Mateo County, Court Executive Officer and Jury Commissioner John Fitton has made it impossible for the taxpayers who are paying his salary to measure his performance because he does not maintain the records necessary for the public to do so. In my opinion, there is no guarantee that the integrity of the jury selection process in San Mateo County has been protected.
As evidenced by an August 10, 2011 letter to me from Jill Selvaggio, the Court Services Manager for the Superior Court of California, County of San Mateo, Jury Commissioner Fitton commingles public records with privileged records in what may be construed as an attempt to evade public scrutiny; does not maintain a complete file of requests for excuses from jury duty in that he does not have any record of verbal requests for excuses from jury duty and is only able to provide sketchy dated information about written requests for excuses from jury duty.
Based upon the information contained in her letter, it appears that Mr. Fitton does not keep records of the number of prospective jurors who fail to respond to the initial jury summons. However, Mr. Fitton does have dated information that indicates 7,841 prospective jurors failed to respond to any communications from the Court regarding jury duty in FY 2008-2009.
In her August 10,2011 letter to me, Ms. Selvaggio specifically stated:
"Regarding your request for data on the number of prospective jurors who failed to respond to the jury summons and who have been prosecuted for failing to respond to a jury summons, the Court has never referred any matter for prosecution during this time period."
The time period that she is speaking about is the 5 year period for which I requested records from her.
And finally, Ms. Selvaggio states that the Court does not maintain data on the number of prospective jurors who failed to respond to the jury summons and who have received fines, incarceration or other punishments.
Based upon San Mateo County Sperior Court Services Manager's letter, it is a FACT that as far as the Superior Court of California in San Mateo County is concerned,if somebody does not want to go to jury duty they do not have to respond to the jury summons they receive and have almost no chance of being prosecuted for their failure to respond to the Court's Jury Summons.
I always respond to my jury summons when I receive it because I see jury duty as a civic obligation. Unfortunately, the people who run the Superior Court of California in San Mateo County obviously don't feel the same way and think it's ok for anybody who chooses to do so to exempt themselves from jury duty without any fear of being prosecuted or in any way punished for ignoring the jury summons they receive that boldly states: "YOU ARE HEREBY ORDERED TO REPORT FOR JURY DUTY".
If the Court is not going to enforce the jury summons it sends out to prospective jurors then why should anybody pay attention to a jury summons when they receive it? In effect, the Superior Court of California in San Mateo County is taking unfair advantage of the good people who respond to their jury summons by forcing these people to bear a disproportionate jury duty burden by allowing other summoned jurors to ignore their jury summons. In addition, by allowing prospective jurors to ignore their jury summons, the Court is diluting the jury pool and not providing defendants or plaintiffs with a jury composed of a true cross section of the community.
In my opinion, Mr. Fitton's conduct as San Mateo County's Jury Commissioner seriously undermines the administration of justice in San Mateo County.
]]>The mainstream media was hard at work this morning spinning a December jobs report junk number in an attempt to manipulate investor sentiment to invite new sucker money into the equity markets. The real truth is that from an economic standpoint, things are very bad and getting much worse as the U.S. and world economies continue to contract as a result of being buried under a growing mountain of debt and interest.
The headline news being hyped is that nonfarm payrolls rose by 200,000 in December and that the unemployment rate dropped to 8.5% in December 2011. These U.S. Government Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) job reports are notoriously unreliable.
The main problem with the BLS unemployment number is that it measures unemployment claim data. A 12/08/2011 Smart Money article titled, Is the Real Unemployment Rate 22.6% points out that the BLS numbers do not include tens of millions of unemployed workers who are no longer receiving unemployment benefits.
The BLS nonfarm payroll numbers can also be misleading in that they don’t tell you if high paying or low paying jobs are being created. For all we know, the 200,000 nonfarm payroll increase number (which is not correct) could be reporting 200,000 new minimum wage jobs wrapping Christmas gifts or handling Christmas gift returns.
One Bureau of Labor Statistics report that hasn't seen a lot of play in the mainstream media is the12/22/2011 MASS LAYOFFS -- NOVEMBER 2011 report. In this report, the BLS reported:
“Employers took 1,331 mass layoff actions in November involving 129,887 workers, seasonally adjusted, as measured by new filings for unemployment insurance benefits during the month, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.”
That report didn’t make front page headlines.
Some other important stories buried in the news are:
January 6, 2012 – Alcoa Falls After Announcing Capacity Cuts
January 6, 2012 – Best Buy December sales fall
January 6, 2012 – ECB Steps in as Italian Yields Hit 7%
January 6, 2012 – Euro-Zone Fears Grow on New Data
Once again, the mainstream media is buying into and headlining the same types of lies, half-truths and market manipulation being promoted by the vile Wall Street hype merchants looking for fresh sucker money and a failing, desperate President who will quite literally do or say anything he can to get re-elected. On the other hand, the mainstream media is burying the bad news.
As long as inexperienced investors buy into Wall Street's big lies; the cycle of pain, suffering and retribution will never end. Perhaps, it is time to require all stock market investors to take a series of stock investment courses and be certified as investors before they are allowed to spend one penny of their money on a share of stock.
]]>Always expect the unexpected. Those four words invite all options to the proverbial table when addressing any situation in life and make all things possible.
2012 is going to be a particularly tough year as we begin to experience the full catastrophic potential of the world’s lingering, festering problems that have defied solutions. It will be interesting to see what the world looks like on January 1, 2013.
Throughout the world, the political, social, economic and spiritual status quo is undergoing dramatic change. This change is occurring at the international, national and local levels in all countries. Change is usually the enemy of the status quo because change almost always requires that the current status quo be dismantled and replaced by a new status quo.
During 2012, the following 5 major events may create unexpected butterfly effect consequences around the world:
1). Revolutions. Right now, the growing revolution in Syria and the revolt against Putin in Russia show that government tyrants are an endangered species. The image of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi being dragged through the streets and executed in public like a rabid mad dog earlier this year shows that people's patience with and tolerance for arrogant, abusive government tyrants is wearing thin. Mr. Gaddafi met his horrific, untimely demise because, in the words of, President John F. Kennedy:
"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable"
Failing, corrupt, broken status quo regimes cling to the stranglehold they have on the people they control by implementing ever stricter laws on personal freedoms and using increased levels of police state measures to suppress dissent, instill fear, control the population and turn opponents of the status quo regime against each other. There is a direct correlation between regime fear and the use of police state mechanisms to control the population and more specifically, regime opponents. As the likelihood of regime change increases, the depth and degree of police state activities by the threatened regime, against the population it controls, increases. In most cases, this cause and effect relationship snowballs out of control resulting in a sometimes peaceful but usually violent revolution where the broken regime is replaced.
2). The U.S. and/or Israeli attack Iran? Both the U.S. and Israel have established “red lines” that will trigger military strikes against Iran when Iran’s nuclear program reaches a certain threshold. The red lines for triggering a military strike against Iran could be different. This could result in a unilateral military strike against Iran by Israel.
3). The European sovereign debt crisis continues. 2012 is going to be a make or break year for the ongoing European sovereign debt crisis. European banks have been hit hard by this crisis and in 2012 this debt crisis could ignite a deflationary spiral that will:
4). $15.16 Trillion U.S. National Debt that will continue to increase in 2012. Obama wants to add another $1.2 trillion to the U.S. National Debt. When Obama was first elected President, the U.S. National Debt as a percentage of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product was 74.1%. In 2012, the U.S. National Debt will soar to approximately $16.4 trillion and exceed 100% of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product. During his term as President, Obama has turned the United States into a third world style police state debtor nation drowning in debt and interest payments.
5). The 2010 U.S. Election. The November 2012 U.S. Election will decide who becomes President and which ideological group(s) control(s) Congress.
]]>According to San Bruno Park School District (SBPSD) Superintendent Hutt, Assistant Superintendent Lynn Orong has submitted her resignation to Hutt and Orong's last day of employment with the SBPSD will be on January 1, 2012.
]]>Middle East turmoil, eurozone crisis, U.S. economic decline, China slowdown. Oil prices rising again.
After hanging around in the sub $80/bbl neighborhood during October 2011, oil prices have recently been moving back up to the $100/bbl mark.
The reasons for the rise in the price of oil are numerous. A few of the reasons include, but are not limited to:
1). Oil embargo on tap. A November 29, 2011 Financial Times story by Javier Blas titled: Oil Prices surge ahead of EU embargo talks observed that oil prices are surging:
".....as traders and refiners take positions ahead of a meeting of EU foreign minister that is due to discuss a possible oil embargo against Tehran."
2). Middle East turmoil. Other than Iran, supply disruptions could occur in other OPEC Member countries such as Libya, Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
3). Further quantitative easing by the U.S. Federal Reserve System and its European counterparts will put more money into the U.S, and European economies, increasing demand for and the price of oil.
4). Supplies of oil to China are increasing and China is making moves to increase its share of Middle East oil.
]]>Sometimes, we need to think outside of the proverbial box to solve complex problems.
There might be a relatively easy way to erase approximately 8% of the $15 trillion U.S. National Debt.
The People's Republic of China (PRC) currently holds about $1.2 trillion of U.S. debt. The PRC believes that there is only "One China" and Taiwan is an inalienable part of it. The PRC considers Taiwan to be a renegade province. Taiwan (the Republic of China) has refused to return to the PRC.
Taiwan, located off the coast of China, is a 13,902 square mile island inhabited by 23 million people. The PRC covers 3.7 million square miles and is inhabited by about 1.34 billion people. If Taiwan did not have U.S, military assistance, China's military machine could overrun Taiwan in a few days. Without U.S. military support, the likely scenario would be that Taiwan would negotiate an agreement to return to the PRC in order to avoid a war that would obliterate Taiwan.
On January 1, 1979, the United States changed its diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing. In the U.S.-P.R.C. Joint Communique that announced the change, the United States recognized the Government of the People's Republic of China as the sole legal government of China and acknowledged the Chinese position that there is but one China and Taiwan is part of China. Following de-recognition, the United States terminated its Mutual Defense Treaty with Taiwan. However, the United States has continued the sale of appropriate defensive military equipment to Taiwan in accordance with the Taiwan Relations Act, which provides for such sales and which declares that peace and stability in the area are in U.S. interests. Sales of defensive military equipment are also consistent with the 1982 U.S.-P.R.C. Joint Communique.
On April 10, 1979, President Carter signed into law the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA), which created domestic legal authority for the conduct of unofficial relations with Taiwan. U.S. commercial, cultural, and other interaction with the people on Taiwan is facilitated through the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), a private nonprofit corporation.
Because the United States has already recognized the PRC as the sole legal government of China and acknowledges that Taiwan is part of China, it is logical that the United States could facilitate the reunification of the PRC with its renegade province Taiwan by revoking the TRA, the Three Communiques of the TRA and stopping all transfers of U.S. military equipment and technology to Taiwan. This would motivate Taiwan to come to terms with the PRC so that Taiwan and the PRC could be reunited.
As consideration for expediting this "parent - child" reunification between the PRC and Taiwan, the PRC would forgive the $1.2 trillion debt that the U.S. owes to the PRC.
]]>Half Moon Bay, San Carlos and now Millbrae have voted to disbanded their city police departments and outsource the policing function in their cities to the San Mateo County Sheriff's Department. These cities have outsourced or, in the case of Millbrae, will be outsourcing their police services because it will save them hundreds of thousands of dollars each year.
In a November 17, 2011 Examiner article titled, "Outsourced policing works for San Carlos", San Carlos City Manager Jeff Maltbie was quoted as saying, "From San Carlos' perspective we couldn't be happier".
Unfortunately, even with the happy talk and advertised cost savings the fact of the matter is that the cities of Half Moon Bay, San Carlos and Millbrae no longer have local police departments. In a November 17, 2011 San Francisco Chronicle article titled, Millbrae votes to dissolve police, turn to sheriff, Millbrae Mayor Dan Quigg stated, "I think the citizens will not notice a difference".
Quigg is probably right. Initially, there probably won't be any difference in police services for Millbrae residents. However, as the policing relationships between the cities of Half Moon Bay, San Carlos and Millbrae and the County of San Mateo move forward I have a feeling that what may be starting out as a lovey dovey relationship is going to turn into an ugly legal and political slugfest. Why? Because the County of San Mateo is also a financial basket case. In a June 8, 2011 Examiner article titled, "San Mateo County budget both gives and takes away", San Mateo County Budget Manager Jim Saco was quoted as saying, "“We spend $82 million more than we’re bringing in".
That being said, you can bet that the budgeteers in the San Mateo County Budget Office will be figuring out how to keep as much of the money they receive from these cities for police service in the County Budget, where it can be applied to other County programs, by providing what could best be described as budget conscious police services to the trio of cities who are now at their mercy. As the years go by, the quality of police services in these cities will diminish to the point where residents will notice the lack of police presence in their cities.
This outsourcing will also result in a police force that is significantly less accountable to city residents because the leader of the Sheriff's Deputies patrolling the city will be the San Mateo County Sheriff and not a city police chief who is directly accountable to the City Manager or Administrator. The San Mateo County Sheriff is a County level elected official. So, unless you can find somebody to defeat him in the next County election or put together a posse to recall him, he can ignore complaints from individual citizens, groups of citizens, the city council, the city manager or administrator, etc.
Each time a public service is moved to a higher level of government the individual citizen becomes a smaller part of the equation and is less able to address any problems with those services. In San Mateo County, as city services are converted into county services, those services become less responsive to the needs of the individual cities because the decisions regarding the provision of those services are made by people who think in terms of what is best for the County of San Mateo and not any particular city within the County.
As the County of San Mateo Budget crisis worsens, cuts will be made that will have a greater impact on the smaller cities within the County that have less County level political power. Therefore, small cities (i.e., Millbrae, Half Moon Bay and San Carlos) that are relying on the county for police services might see a significant impact on the level and quality of police services provided to them by the County of San Mateo as County Budget considerations impact the overall ability of the County of San Mateo to provide Sheriff patrol services.
As I have said before, we are living through what may turn out to be the worst depression in U.S, history. Tough decisions about municipal services need to be made in order to maintain the social fabric and physical infrastructure of our cities in San Mateo County. However, from a practical political standpoint, insofar as the City of San Bruno is concerned; in the unlikely event that the disbanding of the San Bruno Police force was ever seriously considered, the best choice for deciding the issue would be for the decision to take the form of a ballot measure so that San Bruno's residents could make the final decision on the issue. If that day ever comes; I will be one of the first people to volunteer for the campaign to stop any efforts to disband the San Bruno Police force.
]]>MF Global, the now bankrupt securities firm led by former Goldman Sachs CEO, Democrat Governor of New Jersey John Corzine went bankrupt about 2 weeks ago. Approximately $600 million appears to be missing from customer accounts and as a result of MF Global's Chapter 11 Bankruptcy filing, about 33,000 MFS Global customer accounts are now frozen.
It would appear that Mr. Corzine is the exact type of person that the Occupy Wall Street movement is upset about. It will be interesting to see what the Occupy Wall Street folks have to say about limousine liberal John Corzine, an Obama buddy, now that: (1) MFS Global, a trading firm that races its roots back to England in 1783, has been obliterated while Corzine was CEO, (2) approximately 33,000 customer accounts worth more than $600 million may have been wiped out and (3) the entire 1,066 MFS Global workforce has been terminated.
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