Tuesday, August 08, 2000
Snowden opponent quits post on panel
By Dan Horn
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Judge Robert Taylor resigned from Hamilton County's probation committee Monday, just two weeks after he helped oust the head of the probation department.
The municipal court judge did not give a reason for his decision in the brief resignation letter he sent to court officials.
The judge had served on the committee, which oversees municipal court probation officers, along with four other municipal court judges.
Judge Taylor's wife, Lisa, works as a probation officer, but court officials would not say whether that connection had anything to do with the judge's decision to resign.
The judge could not be reached for comment.
Judge Taylor was one of several judges who criticized former Chief Probation Officer Michael Snowden before the chief quit on July 28.
Mr. Snowden said he thinks it was a conflict of interest for the judge to serve on the probation committee while he was married to a probation officer.
“I think it is” a conflict, Mr. Snowden said Monday. “But that's something he's got to deal with.”
The dispute between Mr. Snowden and some of the judges began in June when a dozen probation officers marched into a judges' meeting to complain about their boss.
The officers said Mr. Snowden, who was hired by the judges 18 months ago, was ruining the probation department with dramatic changes to the organization.
Mr. Snowden said he was hired to make the changes, which included closer monitoring of work hours, background checks on employees and computerization of the office.
But some officers and judges complained that the pace of change was too fast, and that Mr. Snowden's efforts to improve efficiency were actually making the officers less effective.
Judge Taylor played a key role in the dispute when he pressed Mr. Snowden about rumors that he had no college degree. When the judges asked to see his diplomas, Judge Taylor went a step further by asking to see Mr. Snowden's transcripts, too.
Mr. Snowden, a former Cincinnati police chief, said in his resignation letter that Judge Taylor wanted the transcripts because diplomas “can be forged.”
Mr. Snowden holds a bachelor's and associate's degree from the University of Cincinnati. He stapled copies of those degrees to his resignation letter before quitting 10 days ago.
Court Administrator Mike Walton, who now is acting chief of the probation department, said Judge Taylor formally resigned from the committee Monday.
He would not comment when asked whether the judge quit because of a possible conflict of interest.
Mr. Walton said another municipal court judge would be chosen to replace Judge Taylor on the committee.
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