Monday, May 31, 1999
Wish list asks for $11.7M
Defender system would be improved
BY SUSAN VELA
The Cincinnati Enquirer
A statewide task force committed to improving Kentucky's public defender system has finalized a wish list that will be presented to Gov. Paul Patton and the 2000 General Assembly.
An annual budget increase of 50 percent to $33.9 million — or $11.7 million more — for the Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy is at the top.
The boost could mean the state agency overseeing indigent defense eventually could offer higher salaries and lower caseloads to public defenders and perhaps, with these improvements, attract and maintain a high-quality staff of attorneys.
State Rep. Arnold Simpson, D-Covington, practices law and agrees the agency needs more money.
But, as a legislator, he doesn't know whether the 2000 General Assembly can afford the proposed increase, which would total $11.7 million.
“I really don't know,” he said. “The problem with government is always trying to find adequate funding.”
Rep. Royce Adams, a Dry Ridge Democrat and member of the House budget committee, also said it's too soon to tell whether state legislators will be able to approve the request.
Meanwhile, the task force that has been drumming up ideas to improve the state public defender system will spend the next months working with state legislators in an effort to convince them that more money is needed for the state public advocacy department.
The agency employs 170 full-time and 90 part-time pub lic defenders, who represent impoverished clients facing a wide range of charges, from drunken-driving to capital murder.
Starting salary is $23,388 and the average workload is about 480 cases a year.
Public defenders leave the state agency at an annual rate of 14 percent, and 52 percent of staff lawyers have less than 3 years' public defender experi ence.
The task force has been working at improving these figures since earlier this year and is comprised of about 20 lawyers, legislators, law professors, judges and justices from throughout the state.
The 12-item list of recommendations will be placed before legislators in 2000.
“I agree with what they're recommending,” said John De laney, who is one of eight public defenders in Kenton County. “Many of us have been saying the exact same thing for years.”
But he has doubts that legislators will approve the $11.7 million annual budget increase request.
“I'll believe it when I see it,” he said.
The vote of legislators, he said, will hinge on how they view public defenders: as those who protect the rights of poor people or as those who try to keep criminals out of jail.
Robert W. Carran, a Covington lawyer and Blue Ribbon Group member, has faith the General Assembly will approve the request for $11.7 million.
He noted that the task force carries a lot of weight with members such as state Rep. Kathy Stein, D-Lexington; state Sen. David Williams, R-Burkesville; and Kentucky Supreme Court Chief Justice Joseph Lambert.
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