Blog Stage Four

This past weekend in San Antonio, one of the columnists by the name of Gloria Padilla is pointing her fingers at County Clerk Gerry Rickhoff as the least popular man in that city, for now. He has decided to practically reinvent the way the court system is ran in their area. Ms. Gloria sees Rickhoff as someone who has taken the opportunity to change a flawed system, and has also managed to tick everyone off in the process. I really actually like this guy. He had brought in the IRS and requested that the "books" be looked at. He does not believe people are really working what they are getting paid, and even skimming off the top whenever possible. There is a portion in there about our judges not reporting every dime they receive when conducting marriage ceremonies even! When the judges complain that it is not the best way to run a business, he only replies that this is no business. Things he has opted to change are keeping an accurate account of the hours associates work, and rotating count clerks every four months. They have the honor system when it comes to payroll, and he believes it is prone to fraud. The best part about this whole fiasco in my opinion, is that no one can do anything about it! He has complete control over his employees and the judges and other clerks can threaten to sue among other things, yet they will still have to follow suit. He is only responsible to the voters electing him. If I was approving multimillion dollar payroll, I would want to make sure it was accurate too. I believe that Gloria Padilla is really only talking to anyone that will listen. I think that in this time drastic change is needed and it may seem like a steep price for those judges to really have to keep themselves accountable, but I think it is worth it. Great story, I love to hear people break away from the ordinary.