Controller: Mayor Must Still Pay In Public Defender Funding Fight

It's really amazing to see Avalos once again get played by Gavin Newsom. What is the point of electing a progressive if they just capitulate to the Mayor? I guess all Avalos really knows how to do is listen to his own voice. Shows once again why inexperienced people should not be elected, and most certainly shouldn't be made budget committee chair when they are still on training wheels!

@Greg:where is the Avalos/Newsom angle in this story because it's not described well in Chris' filing. The problem here is that the U.S. Constitution guarantees indigent defendants the right to a public defender, regardless of whether a given community can afford it or not (i.e., the U.S. Constitution mandates the attorney, but it provides no method of how a city or state should pay for it). In some communities, private lawyers literally survive on court-appointed public defense appointments (in federal courts, the hourly rate is about $75 per hour; not bad). Adachi's not persuading anyone with his numbers or his logic. Time for a re-think.