Consumer Survey On - The ReAppointment of the Honorable Daniel F. Driscoll

As a consumer of judicial services you have a unique opportunity to complete vetting of the Honorable Daniel F. Driscoll who is up for re-appointment. The Maine Judiciary Committee will be going through formalities Thursday February 2, 2017 at 2 pm in State House room 438.

The Maine Bar and Judicial Advisory Committee have sent out emails asking for the opinions of lawyers and have cleared the Honorable Daniel F. Driscoll for the Judiciary Committee. Consumers were left out of the equation. Your views as consumers of Judicial Services are just as valuable - if not more so - than those of lawyers. Otherwise without actual human experiential dimension any reappointment is just rubber stamping the judge back into court.


Our survey is one question - whether you believe the Honorable Daniel F. Driscoll should be reappointed. You then have the opportunity for comment before submitting. Wednesday February 1 2017 we will be submitting the results to the Judiciary Committee for consideration.

Our survey may be found here: Honorable Daniel F. Driscoll ReAppointment


NaGAL is bringing about change in our Family Court System through educating the public and legislative action.

Connecticut To Review Nominations Tomorrow - Act NOW

The Judiciary Committee in Connecticut meets tomorrow to consider the renomination of several judges.

Public comments, which are limited to 5 pages, may be submitted to: Judtestimony@cga.ct.gov. Anything you submit will be public and indexed by search engines. Testimony may be submitted anonymously - but in doing so the testimony may be given less weight.

Absent a Committee vote to the contrary, the judges will likely be considered in the order specified in the Agenda below. Note that Bozutto is second, Suarez is ninth and Adelman is tenth.

The CT Constitution requires judges be renominated after 8 years. For some judges (Not sure which ones), the 8 years expires as early as January 20th. Thus in all likelihood:

(i) the Judiciary Committee will vote to approve all of the judges listed below tomorrow night; and

(ii) the House and Senate will vote next week to approve all of these judges.

Thus, NOW is the time to contact your legislator about these judges.

Judiciary Committee

PUBLIC HEARING AGENDA

300 Capitol Avenue

Hartford, CT 06106

Wednesday, January 11, 2017

10:00 AM in Room 2C of the LOB

NOMINATIONS FOR REVIEW

I. To be a Judge of the Superior Court

1. The Honorable Salvatore C. Agati of Watertown

2. The Honorable Elizabeth A. Bozzuto of Watertown

3. The Honorable Mary-Margaret D. Burgdorff of West Hartford

4. The Honorable Robert J. Devlin, Jr. of Shelton

5. The Honorable Kevin G. Dubay of Hartford

6. `The Honorable Bruce P. Hudock of Old Greenwich

7. The Honorable Corinne L. Klatt of Meriden

8. The Honorable Douglas C. Mintz of Redding

9. The Honorable Jose´ A. Suarez of Chester

II. To be a State Referee

1. The Honorable Gerard I. Adelman of Meriden

2. The Honorable Joseph P. Flynn of Derby

3. The Honorable Richard P. Gilardi of Stratford

4. The Honorable Flemming L. Norcott, Jr. of New Haven

5. The Honorable William J. Sullivan of Waterbury

Thank you goes out to Peter and Monica Szymonik for the Facebook post and letting us all know. For additional third party data visit - The Robing Room

Pro se Civil Rights Abuse not Important Enough for Senator Susan Collins

In 2015 NaGAL approached Senator Susan Collins office for help in supporting the civil rights of Pro se parents who are being systematically abused by the justice system. It was pointed out that across the country over 50% of the "Family Court" cases are Pro se. Maine has the distinction of having 75% of court cases being Pro se.

As a Pro se litigant you are going into battle often knowing little or nothing about the rules of engagement. You are a caveman against a modern day soldier.

In June 2015 the process was started and in September of 2015 her office agreed to help and make inquires into this issue.

Almost two years later we are still being told that the office is working on the issue with the Department of Justice and that something maybe happening next month. This was the same canned answer given a month or so ago and the time before that. For all we know nothing has happened in the past two years other than being told that something maybe happening.

When pushed recently as to why Senator Collins did not go directly to Attorney General Loretta Lynch the staff person replied that the Senator only does that for "IMPORTANT" issues. Otherwise it is low level staff member to low level staff member for issues like ours. We asked if this meant that Senator Collins doesn't consider Maine and other families whose civil rights are being abused in Pro se "Family Court" cases as being important - we were told "Oh No. Every constituent is important! Everyone!".

Yeah sure they are Senator Collins.

That is why something is always going to happen "next" month.

NaGAL encourages you to contact Senator Collins to ask her why Pro se litigants whose civil rights are routinely abused by the system of Justice that should be protecting them. Why is this not important enough for her to pay attention to?

NaGAL is a grass root organization that is working for "Family Court" change and the management and oversight of court vendors like Guardians ad litem. If you are having a "Family Court" issue we encourage you to contact us at NationalGALalert@gmail.com or find us on Facebook.


Senator Susan Collins may be contacted by filling out this form