OPERATON GREYLORD
Operation Greylord is regarded as one of the FBI's most important corruption cases in the history of the bureau and still maintains its distinction as being the biggest corruption bust in the United States. Of the 92 people indited, 17 were judges, and 15 of the 17 were convicted of taking bribes to fix cases, including murder. The Cook County Circuit serves over 5.7 million people, with over 400 judges, it is one of the largest court systems in the world, and where for a price, your case could be "fixed". When you control the judiciary, you become untouchable, This is how the Mafia remained in power for so long. The trouble is a crooked judge, is a crooked judge, and they were not exclusive to the Mafia, they would take bribes from anyone. How different is the Judicial Council advising the Governor from the ward bosses telling Chicago Mayor Daley, who should be seated on the bench? It is still one man making this decision. This is the judicial system I grew up under, and it should concern all Idahoans, that the same elements enabling crooked Chicago judges also exists here in Idaho. Many of the reforms listed below will ensure that corruption will be minimized in our current court system.
JUDICIAL REFORM
NON-FOR PROFIT JUDICIAL SYSTEM
Have you ever been caught in a "speed trap", or other selective law enforcement action designed to extract money from you to feed the Government? Rather than either "right sizing government", or finding the funds from the consent of their citizens, governments will rely upon Policing to cover the gap. Why not take this incentive away through a judiciary operating strictly to cover just the basic costs. Basic transparency online can inform citizens the exact cost to operate the judicial system they are subject to as well as the revenue necessary to function. Any funds that are above and beyond the cost for basic operations will be rebated to the citizens via tax rebates. By further creating a "state wide" index, Idahoans can know where the local judges and courts rank to ask for better fiscal results.
RATING SYSTEMS FOR JUDGES
What does Uber, Lyft, Apple, Amazon, and countless other top tier consumer companies have in common to maintain the highest levels of customer service? Customer surveys for each interaction. Just imagine if the Judges on the bench were rated the same way a Lyft driver is? Each ride gets a survey, so to does your experience in court also gets a score. In order to remain working for these companies in a customer facing role, you must consistently score high. For ride-share companies, this typically is a "3" or higher on a 5 star rating system. If you are unable to make this rating, then after a warning and possible "last chance", you are terminated from you position. Why should judges not work under the same "customer experience standards", as millions of Americans do every day?
POLICE RESPONSE TIMES
When I lived in Santa Monica, the average response time by Police to a 911 call, was 2.5 minutes. At the same time in Los Angeles, the average response time was an hour and half, if ever. For individuals engaged in criminal acts, which location would you choose to commit crimes? The safest communities, have the fastest response times, and in order to ensure uniform basic policing, we need to also maintain uniform police response times. While not widely known, this number should be made available to citizens in policing districts. Without this most basic metric, how can you know how well your local law enforcement is performing?
Gun Crime
As a former resident of the Chicagoland metro area, with family still there, do you want to know the reality of what the "strictest gun laws" produce. Check out this website, with real time tracking statistics for gun crime in the City of Chicago: https://heyjackass.com This data is collected by acoustic sensors, placed throughout the city streets. Using acoustic sensors to determine number and location of bullets, is the same system used by the military for training troops, tanks, and helicopters. This means the people in the City of Chicago are living in a "war zone". Moreover, large portions of Chicago are, "gang controlled" territories. Do you think these street gangs are able to hold and control their "territory", by complying with existing gun laws? Did you know that the Sinaloa Cartel, ran their US drug distribution network out of Chicago? What kind of arms do the Mexican drug cartels have access to? The lesson from Chicago is that only law abiding citizens will comply with gun laws, while street thugs do not. There are no "common sense gun laws", when street gangs, affiliated to Mexican Drug cartels, control large portions of your city. Mexico has some of the strictest gun laws in the world and how is that working out for the average Mexican Citizen?
ELECTION OF JUDGES
When is the last time you actually had more than one name to vote for when electing a judge? For far too long our judges are "selected" not "elected". Why not have at minimum 2 names on a ballot, when a judgeship is up for election? Under our current system, if a judge, resigns before their term ends, they get to "pick", their replacement. Then when the term is up, the judge is listed on the ballot with the simple question to "retain" or "remove". Not very democratic is this process. In the advent that a judge leaves before "picking" their successor, the Governor of Idaho, has a special committee, which recommends replacement judges for him to appoint. Wait, I thought the Judiciary branch was separate from the Executive Branch of the Idaho State Government? This is not only a separations of powers issue, it creates a system of cronyism. Do you honestly think the Governor will appoint someone, truly independent from the Executive branch? Moreover, if judges had to actually "campaign", perhaps we would actually know something about the person running for the office.
JUDICIAL PAY
A former Idaho State Supreme Court judge, complained about the low pay for judges. My response is the same that has been said to millions of Americans competing in a global workspace, "This just sounds like a job Americans, just don't want to do." Did you know that the average district judge in India makes only $1,000 USD a month? For a going rate of $12K a year, we can replace existing judges with contractors from India. Moreover, thanks to Covid, a majority of court proceedings are done all on line, and can be done anywhere in the world. There are much cheaper places to hold court than downtown Boise. The cost savings for Idahoan taxpayers, will be huge. Because the judges will be hired as, "contractors", there will be no further costs for health insurance, pension, etc. Again, this is the model used by both HP and Micron, for their workforce, involved in some of the most technical work in the world. If Indian contractors are good enough for two of Idahos leading technology companies, why not for the court system too?