District 7

For the last few weeks, all anyone talks about is the stimulus package being finalized by Congress to help jump start our economy: “What’s in it?” “How much will we get for roads and bridges?” “What about the schools?” “Can we get the money right away?”  and “It will save our budget!”

I have had an opportunity to review the package passed by Congress and signed by the president, and I am delighted that money will be coming from Washington to help some of Maine’s most critical needs. There is money for construction projects, money for schools, money for public health, and money for innovation.  Roughly 15,000 jobs are expected to be created here in Maine as a result of the federal stimulus package. But I am concerned that there is a missing piece in this amazing national restoration project: the judicial system.

In Maine, our courthouses are crumbling, our judges are overworked and the publicly paid defenders of the indigent are underpaid. Our clerks’ offices are so understaffed that our bailiffs are doubling as clerks in the courtrooms and we have had to close some of the courts for a few hours every week just to let them catch up with their work. Is this the way justice is supposed to operate?

The Maine court system is significantly behind their counterparts across the nation in regards to technology. Maine remains a paper-based system. In order to bring our system up to par with the federal court system, it would take an infusion of roughly $8 million, funds we were hoping to receive from the federal stimulus package.  An upgraded system would allow for electronic filing of documents and public access of dockets right online. Individuals representing themselves in court matters, without a lawyer, would have greater access to the documents they desperately need to mount their own defense.

Security in our courthouses is of grave concern. We are using federal castoffs for metal detectors and they are not staffed at proper levels to meet the necessary safety needs. In 2007 alone, more than 7,000 knives and lethal objects were stopped at the doors of Maine courthouses. Many of our courthouses are found within 100-year-old buildings, with walls literally crumbling. In one Maine courthouse, raw sewage was found leaking from the pipes. Among New England states, we have the fewest courthouses per square mile and the fewest judges per capita. 

Salaries for Maine judges are the lowest in New England and among the lowest in the country. A recent report from the Judicial Compensation Commission has recommended for the second year in a row that the salaries of judges be raised to keep them from falling further behind their colleagues across the country.

2008 brought about a dramatic increase in filings in Maine’s courts, putting a significant strain on the already understaffed system. From 2007 to 2008 there was a 46.5 percent increase in foreclosure fillings, 30 percent increase in civil cases, 20 percent increase in child protective cases, a 9.2 percent increase in mental health cases, and a 3.6 percent increase in eviction cases. Despite these increases, the judicial branch has been operating at a 10 percent vacancy rate. Courthouses have had to cut back hours to allow clerks time to catch up on paperwork. In our area, every Wednesday afternoon, the window at the Portland District Court is closed to the public. Justice denied, or at least delayed.

This picture seems to be all gloom and doom, but it is reality, and it will only continue to get worse if we are not able to make the necessary investments now.  I hope that our leaders remember the judicial branch, and provide the necessary funds to get us to where we need to be.