Interlude 15. Disbarring the State Bar

In an astonishing but deserved worsening of fortunes for the California State Bar, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed the State Bar appropriations measure. (See http://tinyurl.com/yla9zlo.) Without funding the State Bar is dead, one of the most favorable potential outcomes. Schwarzenegger vaguely demanded reforms, his motives no doubt predominantly fiscal, but Schwarzenegger should be held to his commitment. Since no serious reforms will be forthcoming, Schwarzenegger should axe the State Bar, which is so broken it does much more harm than good.

The veto confirms that the political establishment repudiated Drexel's extremism by removing him, and it continues to punish this arrogant, out-of-control police agency. The themes Schwarzenegger sounded show that critics' attacks have gained foothold in public-opinion's mainstream. Schwarzenegger mainly objected that the State Bar has not proven itself above reproach, most blatantly in the Sharon Elyce Pearl case, where a clerk embezzled 6.75-hundred-thousand dollars over eight years while the State Bar recklessly disregarded its duty to secure entrusted funds. Publicizing the Office of Chief Trial Counsel's statutory responsibility for the embezzled funds, kanBARoo court uniquely argued that the case exposed the State Bar's ethical hypocrisy.