From Ken Ditkowsky today

From: kenneth ditkowsky
Sent: Nov 10, 2013 11:30 AM
To: JoAnne M Denison , Harry Heckert , j ditkowsky , Len Holland , Larry Chambers
Subject: Re: Fw: WestlawNext – 11 full text items for restrictions on free speech

http://www.ditkowskylawoffice.com/

Dear Readers;

Just to clarify, every US citizen has the right to speak freely and to criticize the government as it sees fit.  Public figures and politicians, by becoming famous, in the public eye and elected have almost no right to complain that they are being criticized.  It is my understanding that in Atty Amu’s cases, there was plenty of fishiness afoot that would lend him to take the route he did and warn the public that the judges in question were themselves being entirely questionable.

As Ken Ditkowsky told the review board during his oral argument, attorneys do NOT become second class citizens when they take their oath of office.    Rather, their duty to speak out, to the authorities, to warn the public, should take even greater precedence.

And, like it or not, we have quickly reached the information age where Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, blogs and other social and not so social media can instantaneously transmit, blunder, bloopers, inconsistencies, concerns, criticisms, jokes, polemic and satire over attorneys, judges, judicial decisions and judicial behavior.

Perhaps Yelp needs to extend its foray into the courtroom, judges and attorneys appearing in each courtroom to better inform the public.

And perhaps that is even a chunk of why the ARDC is clamping down on attorneys talking about corruption, deviations from what is normally or typically seen and other issues in the court room will most certainly fire about the internet, go viral and the gig will be up on perhaps some people that are just plain acting badly.  The blogs are one thing, but then they can easily be linked to numerous Facebook accounts, Twitter accounts, other blogs and someday the torrent of newsmedia and public outcry cannot be challenged, controlled, gag ordered or censored.  It can all easily become too much for comfort and too hard to control.

If is the job of the ARDC to root out and stop corruption, but they are not doing it, and dozens and dozens of serious citizen complaints are routinely dismissed with a rubber stamp when they should in fact be taken seriously, then it truly is up to the legal profession to get it’s act in gear and police itself.

Too many strange and unusual and inexplicable situations have already been reported on this and other probate blogs and other court corruption boards for the ARDC to ignore it or blame the messengers.

The public is getting organized, they are comparing judicial stories, judge’s names and attorney names on such a routine basis, now many are doing the work the FBI, the ARDC and other agencies could be doing, but for a 9 to 5 job and numerous coffee breaks, long lunches and organizational meetings to discuss plans to make plans and charts and create organizational themes.  Been there, done that.

It is hoped that this outcry will help lawyers and judges come to the same accountability and transparency that is already seen on the internet in terms of hiring practices, retention and promotional policies, published salaries, ethics reporting, etc. in order to strengthen proper procedures and polices conforming to basic ethics, honesty and morality.

Right now, there’s just some house cleaning to do.

JoAnne