Elliott Attention, Bass-LeSure Secrecy

If you ask the average citizen in Central Oklahoma who has been following the news at the courthouse, there is a good chance that they believe Judge Tammy Bass-LeSure to be at home, awaiting trial.  But that isn't the case at all.  She is still seated on the bench, making decisions after being charged with fraud and the Supreme Court has not suspended her, awaiting the outcome of her criminal case.  Conventional wisdom would dictate that a judge making decisions from the bench would necessarily have difficulty focusing on the cases before her and should thereby be suspended until the outcome has been reached.

It is hard to believe, but it's true and the media hasn't covered it adequately, in my opinion.

Conversely, Judge Ray Elliott has been under fire of the media for comments made resulting in the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals granting an appeal in a murder case.  If I didn't know better, it would appear as though the media has been working overtime to ensure the judge handling the Ersland case (which I will further discuss tomorrow in this blog) stays "in line."

The inconsistencies in the media coverage coupled with the fact that the Oklahoma County courthouse is receiving national coverage should make every citizen in Central Oklahoma extremely nervous. 

In addition, we have a judge on the bench who has been very ill over the last six months whose staff is being fully paid, yet taxpayers are not getting what they are paying for right now. 

Tomorrow:  The real costs of the Ersland case.