Legislature(2001 - 2002)
03/14/2001 01:40 PM Senate JUD
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ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE
March 14, 2001
1:40 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Robin Taylor, Chair
Senator Dave Donley, Vice Chair
Senator John Cowdery
Senator Gene Therriault
Senator Johnny Ellis
MEMBERS ABSENT
All Members Present
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
CONFIRMATION HEARINGS - Commission on Judicial Conduct, Alaska
Judicial Council, and Violent Crimes Compensation Board.
WITNESS REGISTER
Dr. Colleen Murphy
2811 Illiamna
Anchorage, Alaska 99517
POSITION STATEMENT: Appointment to the Violent Crimes
Compensation Board
Ms. Eleanor Andrews
PO Box 241845
Anchorage, Alaska 99524
POSITION STATEMENT: Appointment to Alaska Judicial Council
Ms. Leslie Wheeler
PO Box 878885
Wasilla, Alaska 99687
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in favor of Dr. Murphy
Ms. Ethel Station
PO Box 529
Sitka, Alaska 99835
POSITION STATEMENT: Appointment to the Commission on Judicial
Conduct
ACTION NARRATIVE
TAPE 01-8, SIDE A
Number 001
CHAIRMAN ROBIN TAYLOR called the Senate Judiciary Committee meeting
to order at 1:40 p.m. Senator Donley, Senator Cowdery and Chairman
Taylor were present. Senator Therriault arrived at 1:44 p.m. and
Senator Ellis arrived at 1:45 p.m. The first order of business was
the appointment of Dr. Colleen Murphy.
DR. COLLEEN MURPHY, Violent Crimes Compensation Board, said she has
served on the Violent Crimes Compensation Board since 1998 and
serving on the board has been a wonderful experience for her. She
said the board members have been working together in trying to make
sure that the damage to victims of violent crime are minimized.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR asked Dr. Murphy to comment on some of her
experiences on the Violent Crimes Compensation Board.
DR. MURPHY said the administrative staff of the board is superb and
should be recognized for the work they do. She said that a bill
last year on sexual assault became an unfunded mandate for victims
of sexual assault. In the future, funding of forensic examinations
should be considered because victims have not been able to access
the board. Victims may not be able to access the board because
they cannot appeal to the board for their medical expenses. In the
last several years, though, a comprehensive consistent policy
around mental health needs for victims have been developed in
helping with posttraumatic stress disorder.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR thanked Dr. Murphy for her service to the state and
for her willingness to serve.
SENATOR COWDERY forwarded Dr. Colleen Murphy's name for
consideration to the Violent Crimes Compensation Board. There
being no objection, Dr. Murphy's name was forwarded.
Number 387
MS. ELEANOR ANDREWS, Alaska Judicial Council, said she is filling a
five month unexpired term of Ms. Vickie Otte, and as a
prelegislative appointee she was involved in making recommendations
to the governor for a vacant seat on the Anchorage district and
superior court. She has also participated in the review of
candidates, orientation, and judicial ethics.
SENATOR DONLEY asked if she would support putting a judge's
"decision making timeliness" record into the voter's guide,
enabling voters to make an informed decision before an election.
MS. ANDREWS said she had talked with Chief Justice Fabe and Mr.
Bill Cotton, Executive Director of the Alaska Judicial Council, as
to how this information is purveyed. The information is on the
council's web site and is information the voters should have access
to. She asked Senator Donley if his concern was whether the
information was readily accessible.
SENATOR DONLEY said the only way the information is truly available
to the voters is by putting it in the voter's guide. The web site
is very complicated and a person has to know exactly what they are
looking for before the information can be accessed. He asked her
if she would support including the information in the required
judicial council's report, which is part of the voter's guide.
MS. ANDREWS said, philosophically, she would say yes but she had no
idea of the mechanics for doing this.
SENATOR DONLEY asked her how she would deal with the conflict of
interest questions that have arisen over the past several years
concerning members of the commission who have been awarded
"extraordinary cash amounts and attorney fees" by certain justices
that the commission has voted on for retention.
MS. ANDREWS said she did not know if there had been a conflict of
interest. She said an attorney who wins a case is entitled to a
fee and the amount of the fee depends on the size of the case. In
and of itself, she did not see this as a conflict of interest and
she had not yet had an opportunity to discuss this with other
council members.
SENATOR DONLEY asked if she had read the ethic provisions for the
commission.
MS. ANDREWS replied no.
SENATOR DONLEY noted that the ethic provisions call for the
avoidance of the appearance of impropriety. Last year one of the
council members voted on retention for three supreme court justices
who the year before had awarded him extraordinarily high attorney
fees in a case. Senator Donley said this raises the question as to
whether there was an appearance of impropriety and whether the
commission followed its own ethical requirements in deciding that
it did not see a problem with that.
MS. ANDREWS said she could not comment because she did not have all
of the facts. She would ask the commission to address that
question at a future board meeting.
SENATOR DONLEY said the commission's response to him was that this
was not important because the commission had decided to recommend
retention of the judges anyway. Senator Donley said he thought
this clearly violated the commission's own ethic guidelines -
allowing someone to vote, even though it was known it would not
make a difference, does not satisfy the ethical requirement.
MS. ANDREWS commented that she would also request that question to
be put on the agenda of a future board meeting.
SENATOR DONLEY said he would appreciate that.
SENATOR DONLEY asked Ms. Andrews if she had seen the Internet
display of the warrant information.
MS. ANDREWS said she had not seen it but she had requested that it
be discussed at a future board meeting.
SENATOR DONLEY noted that he had corresponded with the board
requesting that the Internet site be modified so the information
would be more accessible to the public.
SENATOR COWDERY forwarded Ms. Eleanor Andrews' name for
consideration to the Alaska Judicial Council. There being no
objection, Ms. Andrews' name was forwarded.
Number 899
MS. LESLIE WHEELER, Wasilla, said she was supportive of the
nomination of Dr. Colleen Murphy to the Violent Crimes Compensation
Board.
MS. ETHEL L. STATON, Commission on Judicial Conduct, said she had
been serving on the commission for four years and she felt it had
been a great opportunity for her. She said Senator Donley had
previously asked her what the commission does about punishment for
judges - why some punishment is public and some is private. By
statute, all commission complaint records are confidential until
formal charges have been brought forward. At the time of a formal
charge, all documents relating to the charges and the subsequent
formal hearing are made public. No information is made public
before a formal charge. The presiding judge may waive the right to
confidentiality but this rarely happens. Before formal charges,
the commission has the power to issue informal adjustments or
counseling, which are a significant part of the commission's work,
as they allow the commission to privately address minor conduct
before it escalates to serious conduct. Private adjustments and
counseling are used in isolated instances for such things as court
delays, rudeness, or temperament problems. If records for an
infraction were required to be made public, the judge would likely
feel the need to challenge the allegation formally, adding cost and
delay in addressing a minor infraction. These factors might also
cause the commission to not act on minor matters. Informal private
adjustments allow the commission to act quickly and responsibly
without the burden of a whole hearing for the process. In 2000
there were three private sensors of judges.
MS. STANTON also answered Senator Donley's question about adding
more public members to the commission. She felt that three public
members, three attorneys, and three judges were fair. The board
gets its packets ten days in advance, allowing them to read the
information before a meeting and, as a public member, she has been
treated very well with all board members speaking their peace on
issues.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR thanked Ms. Stanton for her service over the years
to both the community and Alaska.
Number 1225
SENATOR DONLEY wondered if the public is not made aware of an
informal resolution, how this can be balanced with the right of the
public to know the information before an election. He asked if the
commission felt this was information the public should have.
MS. STANTON replied that if formal charges were made, a judge would
be disciplined publicly. A private hearing is for a very minor
infraction that does not harm the public. Public discipline is for
an infraction that causes harm to the public.
SENATOR DONLEY asked if there was a policy for putting information
about formal discipline into the voters guide so the public can
make an informed decision.
MS. STANTON said she did not know the answer but she would research
the question and furnish the committee with her answer.
SENATOR COWDERY forwarded Ms. Ethel L. Staton's name for
consideration to the Commission on Judicial Conduct. There being
no objection, Ms. Staton's name was forwarded.
Number 1447
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR noted that there was one other item he wanted to
bring before the committee - the confirmation of Commissioner Glen
Godfrey, Department of Public Safety. Mr. Godfrey's confirmation
had not been scheduled because Chairman Taylor had received
information that had been somewhat surprising in nature. He felt
the committee should have some advice before the confirmation
hearing. Chairman Taylor's thought was to consult with people who
had retired from service with the Alaska State Troopers. These
people would review the information and then give the committee a
recommendation. He said this was somewhat unusual but the comments
were also unusual and he did not feel qualified to make these
inquiries.
SENATOR ELLIS asked if Chairman Taylor was considering a contract
with a former trooper for this inquiry.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR replied no. He was suggesting retired Commissioner
Burton and maybe one or two senior retired officers that were still
in Alaska. Some of the information may be specious but would be
serious in nature if confirmed. Some of the matters are of a
personal nature and Chairman Taylor felt the committee needed
advice.
SENATOR ELLIS asked what type of arrangement was contemplated.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR said he had not considered anything that had a
financial aspect. He had considered submitting the information to
a group of three or four retired troopers, asking them to check on
it. He did not want to put anyone in an embarrassing position and
during an open public committee hearing the response could be mean.
All information made available to the Chairman would be turned
over to all committee members.
SENATOR ELLIS stated that he had reservations about going down this
path. He had only seen one critical letter of the commissioner and
it seemed to be a personality conflict. Senator Ellis said he
would not be comfortable that this type of criticism could trigger
this type of activity by the committee. He said he was reassured
that no money would be spent on this matter.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR said he too had reservations about this type of
approach but some of the information he had received was so
sensitive in nature that if it was brought up at a public hearing
it could turn out to be a "circus." He said he did not want
anything of this nature to happen and he did not want anyone to be
embarrassed in the process. He said he would be happy to accept
any names the committee felt would do a comprehensive review.
SENATOR ELLIS asked for confirmation that there would be a public
hearing.
CHAIRMAN TAYLOR guaranteed him a hearing would be scheduled. He
said he would try to find people who were retired and no longer in
the system to check into the matter.
With no further business to come before the committee, CHAIRMAN
TAYLOR adjourned the meeting at 2:12 p.m.
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