Does George Smith at the Texas Bar know the US Congress has His Number?

The State Bar of Texas' do nothing attitude toward unethical District Attorneys and their employees has reached such a zenith that it has become a topic of national discussion before the US Congress. But first some background. The State Bar of Texas licenses attorneys. It also has the job of enforcing the Code of Professional Responsibility, or rather ethics. Mr. George Smith is an attorney employee at the State Bar who is supposed to review grievances filed against Texas attorneys for possible action and even file his own grievances against unethical lawyers. This is what the Texas taxpayers pay him to do. His office is in San Antonio, Texas, the office that covers the El Paso District. Smith's supervisor is another attorney named Mr. James Ayler. All attorneys in Texas, including Mr. Smith and Mr. Ayler, are obligated to report any attorney who has violated the canons of ethics. You should also know that attorneys are mandated to pay for and take ethics courses every year in order to maintain their licenses. It is BIG money business for the Bar. We can take these courses live at seminars or take them online. These classes teach things like identifying and avoiding conflicts of interests. We then have to send proof that we have taken the classes to the State Bar which employs all kinds of people to make sure we have paid our money and complied. My thoughts on all of this are the obvious. Anyone who doesn't possess a knowledge of right from wrong by the time he or she is a licensed attorney, ain't going to learn in a one hour ethics class. It is simply too late.

We all have watched my opponent, Jaime Esparza, over the years, act in ways that one would think would be clearly prohibited by the rules of ethics, i.e. the Nancy Hollebeke case, over 100,000 DIMS cases, the Mark Bittikas case, the Tony Soto/Dean Kinder case, the Brandon Moon case, the Albert Ocegueda case, etc., etc., etc. Many of these cases have received state and nationwide attention. The question becomes, where is the State Bar of Texas? Why have Mr. Smith and Mr. Ayler, who are obligated to move against an unethical attorney, remained so silent? What in fact do they do all day long? By their own admission, which I found shocking, they have no criminal experience and yet they review grievances filed against attorneys who practice CRIMINAL LAW. Did you know that the State Bar has given Jaime Esparza permission to teach ethics classes to his employees? That's right, Esparza teaches continuing legal education ethics with the full sanction of the Texas State Bar. I called the State Bar and asked, "What is the process for getting permission to teach ethics? How do you know that the person teaching is in fact ethical?" The person answered, "I don't know. Good question." What do you think of them apples? Comforting isn't it?

I bring this up because it has long been my observation that the State Bar of Texas and its attorneys seem to be deaf, dumb, blind and totally and wilfully oblivious to what is going on around them on the part of prosecutors and I have previously written a blog about this. The State Bar of Texas and its employees' "alleged" willingness to allow outrageous, ethical violations on the part of prosecutors to go unchecked is now a matter of national discourse. Less than a week ago, on Tuesday, July 31, 2007, the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Foreign Affairs held hearings on the Ramos/Compean convictions. During those hearings, Congessional members of the Committee and witnesses specifically discussed the Do Nothing attitude on the part of the employees at the State Bar of Texas regarding prosecutors. It was remarkable and should be deeply embarassing for the Texas Bar.

Congressman Poe, stated/asked Texas attorney David Botsford (witness), "If Michael Nifong had been in Texas nothing would have happened to him." Botsford replied, "That's a fair statement." (Remember, Michael Nifong was the North Carolina District Attorney who was recently stripped of his license to practice law and publicly pilloried by the NC Bar for his despicable, abusive behavior in the Duke/Lacrosse players case. Nifong engaged in conduct we have seen Jaime Esparza engage in. See my earlier blog on Nifong.) Congressman Paul also went on to say, in paraphrase, that "Prosecutors in Texas can go wild..." and remain unchecked by the State Bar. There was talk about how over a hundred people in Texas have been released after serving time on wrongful convictions that were overturned (See Brandon Moon case) and that nothing has happened to the prosecutors in any of those cases. The discussion regarding the State Bar of Texas went on for a quite a bit of time. You can watch it for yourself at www.internationalrelations.house.gov. After clicking there, scroll to testimony/transcripts. Then go to the Ramos/Compean section and click on the video. Fast forward to hour two where you will hear all of this.

What you will learn after watching the video is that Mr. Smith and Mr. Ayler and their cohort attorneys at the State Bar of Texas can try and hide behind the anonymity of the monolithic Texas State Bar seal, but we see them. The cat is out of the bag. We know their names and where they work and that it has been business as usual around here for way too long and too many people have been hurt. When individuals testifying before Congress take the time to talk about the lawyer employees at the State Bar of Texas allowing Texas prosecutors to "run wild," who do Mr. Ayler and Mr. Smith think these statements apply to? And if they don't think this description applies to them, who do they think Botsford and Paul are talking about? And if they don't think these comments apply to them, why not? What actions have Smith and Ayler taken that they can cite to prove that they don't fall into the category of State Bar employees who let "Texas prosecutors run wild?" I for one would really like to know. Wouldn't you?

One day some Court is going to order the release of State Bar records and the Public is going to find out exactly what information Mr. Smith and Mr. Ayler and all the others have been sitting on for years. And one day, some wrongfuly convicted person will SUE the State Bar and every one of its lazy, scared, incompetent, dishonest and stupid employees for knowingly allowing an unethical prosecutor to go unchecked and for wilfully and wrongfully failing to protect him, for failing to protect the Public, for failing to uphold the law and for failing to perform their duties and SHUT THEM DOWN and put them clean out of business in the process. They think it can't happen. It can.