Kentucky

I had thought the Senior Status Judges program was going, going, gone.  But alas it is going out interestingly enough.

Here is a post I did dated Dec. 22, 2008.  Since there was no reason to heap more coals on to this program which was about to expire, I opted to keep it in the draft file.

Alas, consider it no longer a draft in light of the suggestions being made on handling the retirements and applications for senior status.

Apparently, some fiscal responsibility is taking hold in Frankfort regarding this program and it's impact on justice and budgets.  However, I have not seen  the details of the fiscal proposal other than the general plan is to keep the senior status judges in place and delay the appointments.  If simply maximizing the benefits from the current laws and keeping the retiring judges on the bench during their first half year to avoid duplication is the plan, then that is great as I assumed that was what they were going to do in the first place. This is simply good sense in the face of a bad situation in which my tax obligations will obviously increase to fund the financial tail the senior status program has created for years to come.

However, if the plan is to keep them on the bench beyond their allotted six months rotation and then have a gap pending the appointments and deny the appointees some overlap for mentoring, then that is not such a good plan as justice delayed may be justice denied with the blame for this rush for retirement resting on a poorly conceived program without objective guidelines AND limitations on quality and quantity compounded by a lucrative retirement system enhancement that in the face of this economy was too good to pass up members of the judiciary.

And then to tell us all that these changes will save us money in the face of a program that is costing us money is a bitter pill to swallow. 

I guess it never occurred to anyone that a retirement is a retirement and once done it is done with no guarantee that a senior status judicial assignment would be waiting in the wings.  Thus, simply not approving the application for senior status by the judges might have even saved more money.

Here's my Dec. 22, 2008 'non-post' to be followed by some more posts.

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Here is how they do senior status judges in West Virginia; the judge applies and must be approved by the state's highest court (click here for story).  This simple expedient permits limitations on the quantity and quality of those participating in the program which should be a privilege and not a right.

Not so in Kentucky which has no controls and allows a judge to run for a term, and then make an early exit to work less and make more money in retirement.  With pension funds under scrutiny, recession running rampant, and budget shortfalls everywhere, something is amiss even with the sunset provisions of the program approaching next month.

Senior status judges are useful and needed to fill in the personnel shortages for vacations, illness, mentoring of the new judges, and short-term work-load imbalances; but a program without any protocols for approving the participants or capping the eventual finances is questionable.

Kentucky has made a constitutional commitment to elected judge which is being sorely tested as recent judicial elections have become more divisive, partisan, and expensive.  The bench is becoming bloated with a retiring judiciary and price tag that will be paid by future generations of citizens with the number of senior status judges approaching the one-hundred mark.  Although the short term costs may be de minimis, the long term costs are no different than borrowed debt with a financial tail that extends for the life of the retired judge and surviving spouses. 

The senior status program as currently structured is dead. but will the rush for retirement and senior status result in a delay in filling the vacancies for those constitutionally created offices to save a penny with retired but no-longer-elected judges now sitting at the same bench?

State and local governments are instituting furloughs, not filling positions based upon retirement, and other reductions of personnel.  State and county prosecutors are raising issues on the budget shortfalls and the reduction in the administration of justice.  Firefighters and police are facing potential layoffs and the public risks reduction in essential services.  The Ford plant's parking lots are not full.  Congress bails out the banking industry for greed-prompted loaning practices to the tune of nearly $850 billion, but rakes the Big Three over $17.4  to re-tool and keep afloat.

But, the senior status judge's program's doors remain open for business as more and more judges jump before their elected terms expire to enhance their financial prospects for the future at taxpayer expense with some grabbing a potential retirement that equates to what they earned while on the bench working full-time.

The Elizabethtown News-Enterprise had a recent story by Bob White on the local politics and costs of the senior status program, double dipping of pay, and its high costs circulating around the revolving doors of the judiciary and the county attorneys office with current and former county attorneys moving to judge and to county attorney and back.

Most would concede there is a need for senior status judges to serve in limited capacities, eg. filling in for illness, vacations, administrative absences.  A very valuable role is or could be a six-month one-on-one mentoring of the newly elected/appointed judges.

Thus, retool the program to meet specifically defined and quantified needs of justice rather than the financial wants of the individual judges.  Senior status is a privilege and not a right, and it should be regulated by objective criteria.  One of the reasons the program's demise was unbridled retirements and a bottom-less checking account was needed to pay for it.  Well, the drain got plugged.  Now what?

Simple suggestions:  numeric cap on the number of judges in the program, to include an absolute number for all participants, active particpants, and by location or districts; financial cap on the retirement to be received; extending the period of availability to continue serving beyond the four-years (eg., serve x-number of hours for four years, and then be available for y-number of hours until a certain age); application deadlines to avoid bottlenecks and rushes so the best can be culled for temperment, location, etc.; approval by the chief justice or a majority of the Supreme Court; limitations on private practice (if in the program than no private practice since still serving as a judge - no mediation; if straight retirement then can serve - similar to how the SCOTUS works i am told).  Just food for thought.

With regard to the Senior Status Judge's program, Bob White added: