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It seems clear to any outsider that the Luzerne County Office of Public Defender is in crisis mode, and that all involved are at a crossroads. Those responsible for fixing it can point fingers, or do the heavy lifting needed, but the time is now.
Chief Public Defender Steven Greenwald has been warning for months that more money is needed to increase salaries to make sure the office can hire enough attorneys to fulfill legal requirements. In September he announced the office would stop providing representation for non-incarcerated, income-eligible individuals charged with misdemeanors.
Court of Common Pleas President Judge Michael Vough logically insisted action had to be taken. By the end of October, it seemed a stopgap solution was afoot. Greenwald proposed transferring $42,000 in unused salary from his office to the county court, which could use it to pay contracted attorneys to provide some needed legal defense. County Council agreed to the transfer.
This week we learned the plan was grounded by the unionized assistant public defenders, represented by Teamsters Local 401. The union promised a grievance if outside people were hired to do the public defenders’ work.
All of which has led to a Rube Goldberg-like machine explicitly designed to produce failure. Vough said county judges are being forced to expressly “appoint” the public defender’s office to handle hundreds of misdemeanor cases. The public defender’s office, in turn, keeps filing motions to vacate those orders. The judges deny those motions.
If this sounds absurd, there’s a reason: It is.
The most obvious solution is and has always been more funding from Harrisburg to fulfill state-mandates regarding county courts. The state legislature has long shown acute aversion to taking on such problems because it almost certainly means raising state taxes. The better choice, Harrisburg keeps deciding, is to let counties, school districts and municipalities raise their taxes to cover state mandates. For the taxpayer, this is a distinction without a difference.
We believe the framework exists for a durable decision to this county’s problems. It would require swift, concerted action on three fronts by those responsible, and a serious commitment by all to resolve the issues, but it’s doable.
First, Greenwald and the union should already be deep into discussions of forging a Memorandum of Understanding allowing the short-term plan to transfer money and hire outside attorneys. It’s common for unions to use MOUs to fix problems with narrowly-applied solutions that do not set any precedent in future contract negotiations. The union has a valid argument that money meant for union members shouldn’t go to outside help, but there is an urgency about this, increased by the new threat of potential legal action from the American Civil Liberties Union.
Second, the union and county management should take the opportunity of a soon-to-expire public defenders contract to hammer out an agreement that raises salaries to an acceptable level and takes whatever other action is needed to keep the office properly staffed. If all issues can’t be resolved, consider a shorter-term agreement to get through this crisis while the bigger issues are negotiated.
Third, Greenwald should make sure needed funding is included in his office’s information for the county budget under consideration right now. County Council must then either come up with the funding, offer an alternative, or provide a clear public argument as to why the request is being denied and how they will address the risks of lawsuits and grievances.
As noted, it’s a lot of heavy lifting in a matter of weeks, right before the holidays. But not trying is, as always, the surest path to failure.
— Times Leader