Micromanaging the Courts

By Steve Poftak
July 2nd, 2007

The conference budget came out last Friday. There’s plenty of grist for the mill there, but I direct your attention to the following section:

SECTION 26. Section 58 of chapter 218 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out, in line 76, the words “an assistant clerk” and inserting in place thereof the following words :- a first assistant clerk and 3 assistant clerks.

Its worth your while to take a look at the law in question. It lays out in precise and excruciating detail the staffing levels and salaries of a large portion of court personnel.

Section 26, above, mandates that the particular district court in question hire 3 additional clerks.

Pioneer has long written on the brutal mismanagement of the courts and this is just another example. How does it make sense to organize the staffing of the courts through the statutory process?  How about allocating funds and staff through active, accountable management, based on things like caseload?  Just a thought.