The judge in Ferguson, Missouri, who is accused of fixing traffic tickets for himself and colleagues while inflicting a punishing regime of fines and fees on the city’s residents, also owes more than $170,000 in unpaid taxes. Ronald J Brockmeyer, whose court allegedly jailed impoverished defendants unable to pay fines of a few hundred dollars, has a string of outstanding debts to the US government dating back to 2007, according to tax filings obtained by the Guardian from authorities in Missouri. Brockmeyer, 70, was this week singled out by Department of Justice investigators as being a driving force behind Ferguson’s strategy of using its municipal court to aggressively generate revenues. The policy has been blamed for a breakdown in relations between the city’s overwhelmingly white authorities and residents, two-thirds of whom are African American. Investigators found Brockmeyer had boasted of creating a range of new court fees, “many of which are widely considered abusive and may be unlawful”. A city councilman opposing the judge’s reappointment was warned “switching judges would/could lead to loss of revenue”. Brockmeyer, who has been Ferguson’s municipal court judge for 12 years, serves simultaneously as a prosecutor in two nearby cities and as a private attorney. Legal experts said his potentially conflicting interests illustrate a serious problem in the region’s judicial system. Brockmeyer, who reportedly earns $600 per shift as a prosecutor, said last year his dual role benefited defendants. “I see both sides of it,” he said. “I think it’s even better.” http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/mar/06/ferguson-judge-owes-unpaid-taxes-ronald-brockmeyer Keep reading, it gets better.
I find this worse - Brockmeyer, who has been Ferguson’s municipal court judge for 12 years, serves simultaneously as a prosecutor in two nearby cities and as a private attorney. Legal experts said his potentially conflicting interests illustrate a serious problem in the region’s judicial system. Brockmeyer, who reportedly earns $600 per shift as a prosecutor, said last year his dual role benefited defendants. “I see both sides of it,” he said. “I think it’s even better.”
In every city, the real power, feared by Mayor and rich man alike, is the Prosecutor, who decides in secret whether to destroy you fully or just partially. In the fake system of checks and balances, his pretend-opponents are the defending lawyers, who kiss his ass and compete to have lunch with him. There is no negotiation in plea bargaining; the Prosecutor just announces to your lawyer what he'll give you. Your lawyer is just there to pass messages to you from the Prosecutor. Legislated sentences exist simply to intimidate you into accepting the Prosecutor's plea bargain offer, which is still more than the average man on the street would hit you with. The jail sentence length doesn't really matter, since living unemployable in hiding is a life sentence.
There seems to be an untold story here. "white city officials condone a striking lack of personal responsibility among themselves and their friends,” the Justice Department investigators said" The last time I looked up the stats, in the last election, only about 7% Ferguson of the population voted. That in a City where around 75% are non white. However, the majority of the voting majority were white. Now, I don't know why a white guy would vote for this asshole, but then it should not matter. Why do the black people not vote and allow a despicable prick like this to have any say? I don't get it. I am not sure the Justice department can help them when it appears they will not help themselves.
License taken away for BS ticket, no valid license, no valid form of ID, no voting. But I agree with your point, elected officials should only serve the people that elect them and not the entire population of the district, city or state That's why if I'm elected I will only serve the Koch brothers. SlyPokerDog for President!
Missouri is pretty easy on ID to vote. Missouri driver’s license or non-driver ID card. U.S. passport. A copy of your current utility bill, bank statement, or paycheck But you don't even loose your license when it is suspended. No, that was not the problem, they needed a wake up call, almost 3300 new voters registered to vote since Brown. What we have here is, greed and control stewed with apathy. But perhaps it will now end and end without the Justice Department. Withdraw apathy from the stew and corruption can not brew. Funny Holder never mentioned this. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/10/02/ferguson-vote-registration/16572305/ But I doubt even new control will fix the problem since the cop did nothing wrong. Police policy has to change some in the black community until they begin to teach young men not to charge a cop, an acknowledge that a persons rights come from the creator, not to be taken from you by a mere policeman, so there is no reason to fear the cop in your neighborhood. But until that day comes then the police need to refrain from injecting themselves into a situation where they are liking to be goaded into using deadly force against a lad big and bad, out to show it. A number of police will do the trick at the critical moment rather than one vulnerable looking little white guy with a badge. And for goodness sake not a little Korean cop.
How do you ring up 170k in back taxes? Even if you're moonlighting a bit as a private attorney, being a municipal judge probably doesn't bring home a ton of cash. This guy has to have been not paying a dime for roughly a decade at the least.
Uh oh! They maybe registering to vote in Ferguson, but they're not waiting for the effect. More shit going down! http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/03/12/shots-fired-ferguson/70194
Geez! Holder better get out and set those people strait in Ferguson before someone gets pissed and starts cleaning out the place, block by block. Holder (and Sharpton) set this crap in motion. They best stop it before a bunch of poor dudes pay the price.
