Thursday, January 26, 2017

Tim Jeffries: How I transformed DES and got fired

Tim has a great piece in the Republic explaining his side of the story. Some excerpts:

In February 2015, Kirk Adams, the governor’s chief of staff, shared it would take me “two years to dent the culture” at the antiquated DES. I chuckled at his well-intended defeatism because I had successfully transformed several ventures in my 30-year career.
I shared “it will only take me two months to dent the culture.” In fact, I knew I could transform the culturally bankrupt calcified bureaucracy within two years.
Within 550 days of my spirited start, I had joyfully visited every one of the 164 DES locations and sites in Arizona, the sixth largest state in America.
Untouchable bureaucrats “resigned.” Clique-perpetuating managers were exited. Bullies, racists, sexual harassers and slackers were ousted. Fraudsters were arrested. Poor performers were coached up and coached out when necessary.
Close to 4,000 colleagues received raises; most had never received one. 
DES policies and procedures were slashed by 50 percent. Project Quantum Leap was commenced. One hundred archaic custom IT systems would be retired within two years. Taxpayers would save $200 million over five years.
I will always be grateful for the more than1,000 DES colleagues who that contacted me after my exit. 
Read the article

Monday, January 23, 2017

Legislation introduced this session to reform corrupt Arizona Bar


STATE BAR REFORM BILLS INTRODUCED - FIFTY-THIRD ARIZONA LEGISLATURE,
FIRST REGULAR SESSION 2017  







HB2300 and HB2295 were introduced Friday by lawyer regulation reform champion Rep. Anthony Kern.

HB2300 is the pure voluntary bar bill. It would establish that lawyers are not required to be a member of any organization to become or remain a licensed lawyer in Arizona.

HB2295 bifurcates or splits the State Bar of Arizona into two subsets. One preserves the mandatory membership character to function as a regulatory public protection quasi-agency. The other subset becomes an optional, voluntary organization engaged solely in non-regulatory trade association activities. It also mandates open meetings and public records transparency when the Bar accepts any mandatory assessment monies.  

HB2295 additionally acts to resolve the continued impingement of lawyers' constitutional rights that takes place when membership in a trade association is a precondition to earn a living in their chosen profession. The bill also remedies the State Bar of Arizona's inherent conflict of interest because it separates the Bar's current role as both a regulator of and a trade association for lawyers.

The text of both bills follows:

HB2300
AN ACT AMENDING TITLE 12, CHAPTER 1, ARTICLE 1, ARIZONA REVISED STATUTES, BY ADDING SECTION 12-119.06; RELATING TO THE SUPREME COURT.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:
Section 1. Title 12, chapter 1, article 1, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended by adding section 12-119.06, to read:
12-119.06. Regulation of attorneys; mandatory assessments;
uses

A. TO THE EXTENT PROVIDED BY THE ARIZONA CONSTITUTION, ALL
REGULATORY FUNCTIONS RELATING TO THE PRACTICE OF LAW IN THIS STATE ARE
WITHIN THE AUTHORITY OF THE SUPREME COURT. ALL REGULATORY FUNCTIONS THAT ARE ADMINISTERED BY THE STATE BAR ON THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THIS SECTION, INCLUDING ALL PUBLIC PROTECTION FUNCTIONS, ARE TRANSFERRED TO AND PLACED EXCLUSIVELY IN THE SUPREME COURT.

B. THE SUPREME COURT SHALL ACTIVELY SUPERVISE ATTORNEYS TO REGULATE
THE PRACTICE OF LAW AND MAY COLLECT A MANDATORY ASSESSMENT FROM EACH
ATTORNEY, AS A CONDITION OF PRACTICING LAW IN THIS STATE, TO SUPPORT THE
COURT'S REGULATORY FUNCTIONS. THE SUPREME COURT MAY USE MANDATORY
ASSESSMENT MONIES ONLY FOR THE FOLLOWING REGULATORY FUNCTIONS FOR
ATTORNEYS WHO ARE UNDER THE ACTIVE SUPERVISION OF THE SUPREME COURT:

1. ADMITTING AN ATTORNEY TO THE PRACTICE OF LAW.
2. MAINTAINING ATTORNEY RECORDS.
3. ENFORCING THE ETHICAL RULES THAT GOVERN ATTORNEYS.
4. REGULATING ANY CONTINUING LEGAL EDUCATION MANDATES FOR
ATTORNEYS.
5. MAINTAINING ATTORNEY TRUST ACCOUNT RECORDS.
6. PREVENTING THE UNAUTHORIZED PRACTICE OF LAW.
7. MAINTAINING A CLIENT PROTECTION FUND, A BOARD OF LEGAL
SPECIALIZATION AND THE APPOINTMENT OF CONSERVATORSHIPS TO PROTECT CLIENT INTERESTS.

C. THE SUPREME COURT SHALL INCORPORATE ANY MANDATORY ASSESSMENT MONIES COLLECTED INTO ITS BUDGET.

D. AN ATTORNEY SHALL NOT BE REQUIRED TO BE A MEMBER OF ANY
ORGANIZATION TO BECOME OR REMAIN A LICENSED ATTORNEY IN THIS STATE.

_____________________________________________________________

HB2295
AN ACT AMENDING TITLE 12, CHAPTER 1, ARTICLE 1, ARIZONA REVISED STATUTES, BY ADDING SECTION 12-119.06; RELATING TO THE SUPREME COURT.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:
Section 1. Title 12, chapter 1, article 1, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended by adding section 12-119.06, to read:
12-119.06. Regulation of attorneys; mandatory assessments;
voluntary membership dues; uses; records;
definition

A. TO THE EXTENT PROVIDED BY THE ARIZONA CONSTITUTION, ALL
REGULATORY FUNCTIONS RELATING TO THE PRACTICE OF LAW, INCLUDING THE
REGULATION OF ATTORNEYS IN THIS STATE, ARE WITHIN THE AUTHORITY OF THE
SUPREME COURT.

B. THE SUPREME COURT MAY COLLECT A MANDATORY ASSESSMENT FROM EACH
ATTORNEY, AS A CONDITION OF PRACTICING LAW IN THIS STATE, TO SUPPORT THE
COURT'S REGULATORY FUNCTIONS. THE SUPREME COURT MAY USE MANDATORY
ASSESSMENT MONIES ONLY FOR THE FOLLOWING REGULATORY FUNCTIONS FOR
ATTORNEYS WHO ARE UNDER THE ACTIVE SUPERVISION OF THE SUPREME COURT:

1. ADMITTING AN ATTORNEY TO THE PRACTICE OF LAW.
2. MAINTAINING ATTORNEY RECORDS.
3. ENFORCING THE ETHICAL RULES THAT GOVERN ATTORNEYS.
4. REGULATING ANY CONTINUING LEGAL EDUCATION MANDATES FOR
ATTORNEYS.
5. MAINTAINING ATTORNEY TRUST ACCOUNT RECORDS.
6. PREVENTING THE UNAUTHORIZED PRACTICE OF LAW.

C. THE STATE BAR OF ARIZONA MAY ESTABLISH, COLLECT AND USE
VOLUNTARY MEMBERSHIP DUES FROM AN ATTORNEY FOR ANY LAWFUL ACTIVITY THAT IS NOT INCLUDED IN SUBSECTION B OF THIS SECTION.

D. THE COLLECTION OF MANDATORY ASSESSMENTS MUST BE SEPARATE FROM
THE COLLECTION OF ANY VOLUNTARY MEMBERSHIP DUES. THE SUPREME COURT SHALL INCORPORATE ANY MANDATORY ASSESSMENT MONIES COLLECTED INTO ITS BUDGET. ANY OTHER ENTITY IN THIS STATE MAY NOT COLLECT A MANDATORY ASSESSMENT FROM AN ATTORNEY.

E. IF THE STATE BAR OF ARIZONA ACCEPTS ANY MANDATORY ASSESSMENT
MONIES COLLECTED BY THE SUPREME COURT TO CARRY OUT A REGULATORY FUNCTION LISTED IN SUBSECTION B OF THIS SECTION, THE STATE BAR OF ARIZONA, ON OR BEFORE DECEMBER 31 OF EACH YEAR THAT MANDATORY ASSESSMENT MONIES ARE ACCEPTED, SHALL MAKE AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC A LIST OF ALL OF THE
EXPENDITURES THAT WERE MADE WITH THE MANDATORY ASSESSMENT MONIES AND
PROVIDE FOR AN INDEPENDENT AUDIT OF THE EXPENDITURES TO ENSURE THAT ALL
EXPENDITURES WERE IN FURTHERANCE OF THE REGULATORY FUNCTIONS LISTED IN
SUBSECTION B OF THIS SECTION. ANY PERSON MAY REQUEST TO EXAMINE OR BE
FURNISHED COPIES, PRINTOUTS OR PHOTOGRAPHS OF ANY RECORD DURING REGULAR OFFICE HOURS OR MAY REQUEST THAT THE STATE BAR OF ARIZONA MAIL TO THE PERSON A COPY OF ANY RECORD NOT OTHERWISE AVAILABLE ON THE STATE BAR'S WEBSITE. THE STATE BAR OF ARIZONA MAY REQUIRE ANY PERSON REQUESTING A COPY OF ANY RECORD TO PAY IN ADVANCE FOR ANY COPYING AND POSTAGE CHARGES. THE STATE BAR OF ARIZONA SHALL PROMPTLY FURNISH, AND MAY CHARGE A FEE FOR, THE COPIES, PRINTOUTS OR PHOTOGRAPHS. IF REQUESTED, THE STATE BAR OF ARIZONA SHALL FURNISH AN INDEX OF RECORDS OR CATEGORIES OF RECORDS THAT HAVE BEEN WITHHELD AND THE REASONS THE RECORDS OR CATEGORIES OF RECORDS HAVE BEEN WITHHELD FROM THE REQUESTING PERSON. THE STATE BAR OF ARIZONA MAY NOT INCLUDE IN THE INDEX INFORMATION THAT IS EXPRESSLY PRIVILEGED OR CONFIDENTIAL BY LAW. ANY PERSON WHO HAS REQUESTED TO EXAMINE OR COPY RECORDS PURSUANT TO THIS SUBSECTION AND WHO HAS BEEN DENIED ACCESS TO OR THE RIGHT TO EXAMINE OR COPY SUCH RECORDS MAY APPEAL THE DENIAL THROUGH A SPECIAL ACTION IN THE SUPERIOR COURT PURSUANT TO THE RULES OF PROCEDURE FOR SPECIAL ACTIONS AGAINST A PUBLIC BODY. THE COURT MAY AWARD ATTORNEY FEES AND OTHER LEGAL COSTS THAT ARE REASONABLY INCURRED IN ANY ACTION UNDER THIS SUBSECTION IF THE PERSON SEEKING RECORDS SUBSTANTIALLY PREVAILS. THIS SUBSECTION DOES NOT LIMIT THE RIGHTS OF ANY PARTY TO RECOVER ATTORNEY FEES, EXPENSES AND DOUBLE DAMAGES PURSUANT TO SECTION 12-349. A PERSON WHO IS WRONGFULLY DENIED ACCESS TO RECORDS PURSUANT TO THIS SUBSECTION HAS A CAUSE OF ACTION AGAINST THE STATE BAR OF ARIZONA FOR ANY DAMAGES RESULTING FROM THE DENIAL.

F. FOR THE PURPOSES OF THIS SECTION, "RECORD" MEANS ANY RECORD OR OTHER MATTER IN THE CUSTODY OF THE STATE BAR OF ARIZONA RELATED TO MANDATORY ASSESSMENT MONIES THAT ARE COLLECTED BY THE SUPREME COURT AND THAT ARE ACCEPTED BY THE STATE BAR OF ARIZONA.

_________________________________________________________
With your mandatory monies, the State Bar of Arizona will again employ lobbyists and deploy its well-paid executives to fiercely oppose this legislation. Last session, we made significant progress. But this is a long term battle against entrenched, vested interests.

We are ready to carry the fight with even more vigor this session. Join us!



___________________________________________________________________________
For more information about our work, visit: http://workingforabetterbar.org/


Biased media incorrectly reported that former DES director was 'stockpiling' guns

Although the left-wing Arizona Republic won't fairly cover this story, other news outlets in the Valley are getting the other side out. Here, wrongly fired DES director Tim Jeffries explains that he had merely replaced the existing contracted armed guards with in-house security, because it would be less expensive and improve the quality. DES already had armed guards at 35 locations around the state, because its offices are located in poor, high-crime areas. Can't let the facts get in the way of fake news to make conservatives look bad!

Read the article at CBS5


Thursday, January 19, 2017

ABC15 - Former DES chief Tim Jeffries breaks silence about employee firings and politics

Wrongly fired DES chief Tim Jeffries tells his side of the story to ABC15 in this video interview. He did what the governor told him to do - unlike most agency heads - eliminated 2 percent of the agency by firing several hundred employees who were stealing and doing other unethical things. Since his firing, the state has said it is hiring back 40 of those employees. Tim says he knows a handful of them and it is the wrong thing to do.

It was a "manufactured crisis" that led up to his firing, done in a Machiavellian way, pushed by the dishonest Arizona Republic, which has an agenda against Christians and conservatives. The Department of Administration knew exactly what he was doing and approved of all of the firings! Thousands of DES employees support him. He's heard from over 1,000 sympathetic DES employees since he was fired.

This is no way near over yet. Tim will eventually be vindicated, and hopefully some heads will roll at the Repugnant over the worst yellow journalism I think I've ever seen. Tim was a top reformer in state government like this state has never seen before - and the remaining honest and ethical employees will back him up.

Click here to watch the video and read the article at ABC15
I originally wrote about the wrongful firing here

Stay tuned, tomorrow I will post his interview with CBS4AZ, which refutes the bogus accusation that he was "stockpiling" guns at DES.

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Former DES Director Tim Jeffries exposes anti-Catholicism, bad players

DITAT DEUS
Timothy Jeffries, KM
Former Director, Arizona DES

The MANUFACTURED CRISIS in FALL 2016

The two months of unrelenting hyper-negative press was a MANUFACTURED CRISIS designed to bleed me publicly and kill me politically. It was rooted in lies, half-truths, hyperbole and sensationalism. It was fueled by animosity, deceit, ambition, cunning, self-focus and self- aggrandizement. It was Machiavellian play at its most devious and calculating.

The Arizona Republic, particularly Craig Harris and Laurie Roberts, authored the MANUFACTURED CRISIS with direct support from former Senator Leah-Landrum Taylor, who led community engagement for me at DES. The MANUFACTURED CRISIS was maliciously accelerated and ultimately finalized by Elizabeth Thorsen, the State HR chief, with strong support and conniving involvement from Kirk Adams, the Governor’s Chief of Staff.

Why the HATE from these people?
Harris and Roberts are anti-Catholic, anti-conservative, anti-business and pro-status quo. They are hard-wired to dislike, if not hate, a guy like. My devout Christianity, love for First Amendment freedoms, passionate focus on accountability, and joyful insistence that DES be excellent are totally foreign to them in an agency director. NET-NET: they won, Arizona lost!!

Taylor is extremely ambitious, breathtakingly cunning and willing to slash and burn anyone who thwarts and/or opposes her. Unbeknownst to me, she wanted to oust me shortly after her arrival at DES. Taylor was hell-bent on securing my position even though I rescued her from the Arizona Department of Education and blessed her with (her) dream job” in the community.

Thorsen is a classic state bureaucrat. She is self-serving and duplicitous. She desperately wanted to cover up ADOA HR Division’s high level of involvement and regular support of the 475 exits at DES in an urgent multi-week effort to save her job and prove herself a HR heroine to Chief Henry Darwin.

Adams is a Machiavellian power player. He asked me to resign on Thursday, October 20th, and he finally vanquished me the day before Thanksgiving. He thrives on being the Governor’s savior.

What did I (aka Director J.) accomplish in 633 days?
  •   Joyfully transformed broken, calcified, suffering 43 year old agency deemed irreparable
  •   Increased DES Colleague Survey Score by 300%, and led all large state agencies by 2x to 2.5x thereby raising the overall state score 39% from 1.8:1 to 2.5:1
  •   Issued first-ever and second-ever performance merit payments to DES colleagues in 2015 and 2016
  •   Created agency-wide programs to provide tuition reimbursement for colleagues and bonus
    stipends for those who are bilingual to better serve clients
  •   Visited all 140 DES sites in Arizona, and all 24 state-owned group homes (164 different sites)
  •   Hosted over 500 colleague meetings, roundtable and town halls over 633 high energy dayspage1image24776
      Tripled the number of colleague donors to 1,165 to the 2015 State Employee Charitable Campaign (SECC) to benefit an array of state-designated charities, and led all state agencies
  •   Doubled the amount of charitable donations from DES colleagues to $178,000 in 2015
  •   Engaged over 400 community partners and non-profit organizations throughout Arizona
  •   Held unprecedented 1:1 meetings with 59 of 60 members of the Arizona House of Representatives
  •   Held unprecedented 1:1 meetings with 30 of 30 members of the Arizona State Senate
  •   Engaged senior tribal leadership with every one of the 22 Tribal Nations in Arizona
  •   Ramped up security at 16 largest DES offices housing approximately 72% of DES colleagues in urgent response to the San Bernardino Massacre at a California social services center for special citizens with developmental and intellectual disabilities
  •   Orchestrated the opening of several new DES multi-service centers and DES mobile outreach units throughout state to improve environments for colleagues and engagement with clients
  •   Staggered DES Service Center operating hours to better serve clients AND colleagues
  •   Banned DES colleagues yelling client names in service centers to facilitate respect and dignity
  •   Launched and vigorously led the “DES Colleague Freedom Initiative,” and successfully slashed as follows:
o Archaic DES policies by 51%
o Cumbersome DES procedures by 49% o Outdated DES forms by 31%
  •   Revamped DES Vision, Mission, Values, Goals, Priorities, Measurements and Outreach
  •   Transformed and changed over 90% of the DES Executive Leadership Team (ELT)
  •   Per the Governors direction, upgraded 6.2% of the DES colleague workforce (with goal of 10%) via various personnel moves and transitions impacting 475 employees (with goal of 770)
  •   Partnered with relevant law enforcement agencies to arrest 7 former DES employees for various offenses in an effort to root out fraud and corruption
  •   Per the Governors direction, reduced DES workforce by at least 2% (approx. 150 positions)
  •   Prepared and initiated actionable plan to reduce DES workforce by an additional 3% in
    2016/2017 and another 5% by December 2018 with intent to reduce DES employee count by
    approx. 770 employees to save $40 million annually and $200 million over 5 years
  •   Ranked #1 in America for establishing paternity for children in Arizona in 2015 and 2016
  •   Ranked #1 in America for in-home care of individuals with developmental and intellectual
    disabilities in 2015 and 2016
  •   Reduced case backlog in Adult Protective Services (APS) cases by over 60% via a highly successful optimization initiative designed to position our APS caseworkers to better engage, serve and protect our clients at risk of abuse and neglect
  •   Partnered with relevant law enforcement agencies to make 14 arrests for fraud and other offenses
  •   Launched “Project Quantum Leap” to retire 103 legacy custom IT systems in 24 months with a nation-leading unified Salesforce platform to revolutionize DES and ultimately social services throughout America; projected savings to exceed $200 million over 5 years 

Saturday, January 14, 2017

More on the shameful yellow journalism of Arizona Republic reporter Craig Harris regarding Tim Jeffries

Arizona Daily Independent has a great follow-up article to its first piece on the wrongful firing of Tim Jeffries as head of DES. In it, the paper names the Republic's Craig Harris as primarily responsible for getting him fired with his yellow journalism. I have also previously reported on the corrupt reporting. Here are some excerpts - 

I was somewhat amazed to hear that the staff at the Arizona Daily Independent received an irate, better yet belligerent phone call the other day from Mr. Craig Harris, the senior investigative reporter at the Arizona Republic, referred to by many as the Arizona Repugnant.  Given the confidence, better yet arrogance, of this wannabe muckraker in the Republic of Maricopa, it amused us, albeit darkly amused us, that the fellow with more ink than most Arizonans was so breathtakingly defensive about his seemingly endless “reporting” on Mr. Timothy Jeffries, the former colleague/client-loving Director of the Arizona Department of Economic Security (DES), affectionately known by several thousand supportive DES employees as “Director J.” (Arizona’s Poor Lost When Jeffries Was Axed)
The memorable phone call leads us to believe Mr. Harris is not nearly as confident in his shoddy, superficial, one-sided, mean-spirited “investigative reporting” about Mr. Jeffries as he surely wants the Pulitzer Prize Committee to believe.  In fact, we wonder aloud if he thinks our humble truth-telling blog has finally unmasked him for the devious and deceitful charlatan that he was in subjecting the God-loving patriot “Director J.” to an unceremonious and unjust death by a thousand scurrilous paper cuts.  His impressive, unprofessional and petulant rant reminds us of the great Shakespeare scene in Hamlet.  You know the one…
One of the comments left after the article - 
Craig Harris has done a serious disservice to the poor of Arizona, but then what does he care? His singular objective was to take a good man, a change agent, who worked diligently to move the culture of a “me” oriented agency, and give it a soul that focused outwardly on the poorest among us. I spoke several time with Tim and each time the conversation was about others, not himself. It was about topics like employees at the agency who were stealing from the poor when they game the system, or people who look down on the less fortunate as though they themselves were superior. His objective was to “drain the swamp” of DES, ridding it of bullies, bad actors, arrogance and people who stole from the poor.
Harris has caught the attention of many, and has spurned some to ask about standing up a school of investigative journalism to combat the lack of journalist integrity, to raise the bar high enough so that pathetic excuses for writers such as he have no place to go. Director J will be missed, but he will. It disappear. Some fortunate organization will get a passionate, servant leader when they hire Tim Jeffries and I will be glad for them both.

Friday, January 6, 2017

Wrongly prosecuted Rick Renzi out of prison, appealing massive prosecutor corruption in March with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals



Wrongly imprisoned former Arizona Congressman Rick Renzi was released out of a halfway house today. Oral arguments for his appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will be in March. I can't wait. With Alex Kozinsky on the court, one of the strongest denouncers of corrupt prosecutors withholding exculpatory evidence, Renzi is finally going to be vindicated. He's going to have a HUGE lawsuit against the crooked prosecutor and detectives, and I also hope he presses criminal charges against them. I'll be right there covering it all with articles. This is the WORST case of a legally targeted prosecution of a Republican politician I have ever encountered, as a former prosecutor with the Maricopa County Attorney's Office and a former Arizona Assistant Attorney General. I will not stop writing about this horrific case until he is exonerated.