I’ve been laughing ever since I got a tip from Murray Newman that Gary Polland had let Jared Woodfill roll up on his gravy train over at the Harris County Courthouse. We all know that Jared has been having some financial problems, no secret about that, but to see him dipping into the gravy is beyond hilarious. Check this out:
Be sure and click on that to get the, ahem, big picture. Not a bad gig if you can get it.
These small government, fiscally conservative leaders of the Harris County Republican Party crack me up.
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Tom Zakes says
First of all, by way of full disclosure, I have known Jared Woodfill’s family for over 30 years. I consider him a friend, and have supported him in each of his races for party chair.
Secondly, I have also handled court appointed cases for which I have been paid by Harris County. These cases do not make a majority of my income, nor of my practice.
I checked my list of political contributions on the Texas Ethics Commission website, and it shows a total of less than $1000 in campaign contributions since 2001. I know I have given more, but most of my contributions are under $50, so they don’t register on many candidates reports.
One of the requirements of the county is to provide attorneys to indigent parents in CPS termination cases. Just like contractors who build roads for the county or vendors who sell paper clips, appointed lawyers get paid for their work.
Looking at the payments made, it appears that some of them are for multiple settings on the same case. This is in keeping with the schedule for payments set by the judges, and applies to all family courts in Harris County. These are capped at $400 per day for trial appearances and $225 for non-trial appearances. Although $8,000 may have been paid in one month, this could well cover vouchers for work done several months earlier. It appears that some of them are also for out of court work, which is paid at a rate of $75 – 100 per hour. These are well below the going rate for an attorney with 18 years of experience.
To my knowledge, Gary Polland has never held public office, nor does he appoint lawyers on cases. To say he “let” someone get on the gravy train is as laughable as saying that the rooster let the sun come up.