Although this story regards TYC, it should concern those of you who are subjected to hearings through DADS. A jury in Travis County has found that an ALJ whistleblower was unlawfully terminated after he participated in investigations uncovering wrongdoing by other ALJ’s in his department.
It appears that ALJ’s employed by TYC were pressured to render particular decisions. Moreover, in one case an ALJ COACHED a police officer in how to “manipulate testimony to insure a youth would have his parole revoked.”
This is outrageous but predictable. The idea that a Hearings Officer employed by one of the parties to a dispute will be insulated enough to always act independently is a utopian fantasy.
To that end, I have written the following Open Records Request to DADS:
Dear Ms. McCaslin,
Please consider this a request under the Texas Open Records Act, Chapter 552 of the Government Code, as well as Article I, Sec. 8 of the Texas Constitution, the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, the common law of the State of Texas and any statute providing for public access to government information:
I request that I be sent copies of the following documents as concerns the Administrative Law Judges and Hearings Officers employed by DADS. These documents concern all safeguards to prevent ex parte communications between ALJ’s and Hearings Officers and DAD’s attorneys regarding anything other than scheduling and administrative issues, as well as safeguards to prevent ex parte conversations between ALJ’s, Hearings Officers and witnesses for DADS such as is described in this news article concerning TYC. To that end, I request the following documents:
1. Any and all documents reflecting conversations, trainings, policies, internal memorandum or other writings concerning the issues of ex parte conversations as described in the second paragraph of this request.
2. Any and all documents reflecting conversations, trainings, policies, internal memorandum or other writings concerning protections to whistleblowers for reporting illegal or unethical ex parte conversations between Hearings Officers, ALJ’s and DADS attorneys and/or DADS’ witnesses.
3. Any and all documents that concern guidelines, policies and trainings for ALJ’s, Hearings Officers and their staff regarding ex parte conversations with DADS attorneys.
It would be acceptable to me to receive this information on CD or electronically. If you have any questions about the nature or scope of this request, please call me at the phone number listed below. If you determine that all or some portion of the information requested is excerpted from required disclosure, I request that you provide me with the portions of the requested information that are public and reasonably servable from that which you believe is excepted. If any records are in active use or in storage, please certify this fact in writing and set a date and hour within a reasonable time when the records will be available, as required by section 552.221 of the Act.
If you determine that all or some portion of the information requested is excerpted from required disclosure under a particular exception, I request that you advise me as to which exceptions you believe apply. If you rely on previous determination, please advise me of the applicable court decision or Attorney General’s opinion. If there is no such determination, please advise me of the request for such an opinion, as required under section 552. 301 of the Act, and provide a dated copy of your letter. I call your attention to Section 522.353 of the Act, which provides penalties for a failure to release public records.
I am prepared to pay reasonable costs for copying, within the guidelines set by sections 552.261, 552.262, 552.263,5 522.267, 522.268, and 522.269. It would also be acceptable to receive all documents in digital form.
I appreciate your attention to this and expect to hear from your office within ten days.
