Times Editorials : Quality counts
Posted on Tuesday, October 7, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/Editorial/69879/
Among all the bills leaders of Washington County government may consider asking area representatives in the state Legislature to propose during next year's upcoming session, perhaps one of them should be a request for more assistance in footing the bill for the quality public defenders our justice system so heavily depends on.
Last Tuesday the Washington County Quorum Court Budget Committee of the Whole tabled a request for salary increases for two lawyers in the local Public Defender's Office. JPs H.L. Goodwin Jr. and Tom Lundstrum couldn't see the sense (or, more appropriately, couldn't find the cents) to support an increase for Autumn Tolbert (from $36,000 to $44,000) and Julie Tolleson (from $36,000 to $60,000) any time soon -- or at least so long as 640 other county employees are set to receive a 25-cent cost-of-living raise and a 1.5-percent increase in the merit pay.
Last we heard, the situation is set to be discussed further during a budget committee meeting scheduled for 4:45 p.m. Oct. 14.
It's important to appreciate the awkward position county government finds itself in. True, skeptics will say, if these two lawyers -- who bring much experience, training and smarts to the table -- expect to be paid the big bucks some of their peers are making, they never should have gone into the business of defending folks charged with committing a crime but who cannot afford to pay for a defense. Everyone who knows anyone associated with the public defender's office, though, knows those folks aren't there for the money. They want to provide quality representation to people who cannot afford private lawyers. That's a positive contribution to society.
But the public defender's office needs quality lawyers. One cannot succumb to the sometimes too popular notion that indigent defendants somehow deserve less when the government seeks to take away their liberty. One can feel that way about convicted people, but the core principle of this nation's justice system presumes innocence until one is proven guilty, and everyone deserves a defense when liberty is at stake.
Finances are tight, though. Even a county government as prosperous as ours may not readily have the cash to sign off on significant pay increases for an employee here and there -- regardless of how deserving they may be, and especially when their coworkers aren't getting much in raises.
County government shouldn't say no to Tolbert and Tolleson. They should strive for as much of the request as is manageable.
One day, all of humanity can hope, events such as the Northwest Arkansas Gridiron won't be necessary.
If that day ever came, it would mean political leaders at the national, state and local levels had achieved a sort of political nirvana, able to work out their differences with tact and respect, capable of developing exceptionally smart, common sense proposals to deal with a dwindling number of serious issues, and not worrying one bit about who gets credit for the good work.
So, it's safe to say, the Northwest Arkansas Gridiron Show should be around for years. For political observers who love to laugh at the absurdities of the human endeavor around these parts, that's a good thing.
The 2008 version of the show -- in which local journalists try their hands (and two left feet) at skits that resemble a local "Saturday Night Live" (if viewed with Rabbit Ears) -- is called "It's the Comedy, Stupid." And no, that's not addressed to audience members, because the folks who attend are, without exception, all brilliant. Yeah, yeah, that's it.
The annual event will hit the stage at the Victory Theater in downtown Rogers, where the hours and hours of rehearsals over the last couple of months will culminate in the usual fantastic performance in which the audience will occasionally see evidence that the show wasn't thrown together at the last minute (journalists live by deadlines).
The opportunity to watch the show, which pokes good-natured fun at politicians of all stripes, is also an opportunity to help. Tickets sold benefit scholarship funds of the Northwest Arkansas Society of Professional Journalists, the American Association of University Women and the nonprofit group that runs Rogers Little Theater.
We encourage attendance. A good time will be had by all.