«  
spacer
  »

Democrats Decline to Support the Public Defender Sham Committee

The Democratic Caucus as decided to decline to appoint someone to the Zyra Committee to select a new Public Defender. In a letter to Legislature President, Minority Leader Harry Bronson stated that the committee as currently configured does not achieve the goal of a merit based selection process. Attempts to convince Republicans to use the process that worked so well in 1974 and 1977 have been ignored. I think the Democratic Caucus made the right decision. Though normally I would say you need to be at the table to “keep ‘em honest” sometimes you need to step away from the table to not give them “cover”. Having ONE community person on the committee comprised of Legislature appointees will not bring the independence to the process that was SO important in 1974 and in 1977. At that time the advisory committee was selected from outsidethe Legislature, by the Monroe County Bar Association. It was comprised of community members, lawyers and judges. The current process being set up by President Zyra is a sham and both the Bar Association and the Democratic Caucus have refused to participate in it. I say —  good for them!

No tag for this post.

Related posts

  • No related posts.

This website uses IntenseDebate comments, but they are not currently loaded because either your browser doesn't support JavaScript, or they didn't load fast enough.

«  
spacer
  »

Bad Behavior has blocked 16 access attempts in the last 7 days.