Judge Greer Doesn’t Sit Quietly on the Bench : Lawyers and Colleagues Say His Political Activism Is Likely to Blaze a Trail

Traditionally, judges have left the unseemly business of pressure politics to, well, politicians.

Judges do not stump for ballot measures. Judges do not make grand announcements from the bench about the woeful condition of their calendars. Judges do not orchestrate a press conference to push for funds for courts and jails.

Then there’s Judge Michael I. Greer.

The presiding judge of the San Diego County Superior Court has done all of those things in recent months. His current campaign, aimed at convincing the city of San Diego to help fund courts and jails, has evolved into a very public spat between Greer and Mayor Maureen O’Connor.

“I’m shocked that a woman can take the responsible position that she’s taken and, having that position, want to be a ribbon cutter,” Greer said in a recent interview.

Likely to Leave a Mark

Greer’s activism is likely to leave a mark on the post of presiding judge in the future, local lawyers and judges say.

“We needed someone to take an aggressive public stance about what a disaster we’re facing in the courts,” said Assistant Presiding Judge Judith McConnell, in line to be the next presiding judge. “The time for judges to sit back quietly, tending their business without informing the public, is over.”

“I think anyone who is the presiding judge of this court is going to be active in keeping the public informed and in working with the public,” McConnell said.

“The only way to convince politicians who have some influence is to jump on the political bandwagon and lobby each and every one of them,” said Marc Adelman, current president of the San Diego County Bar Assn. “This is going on now with Judge Greer and will be ongoing after his turn.”

Before Greer, presiding judges were content to administer the court without going public about problems, said Edward B. Huntington, last year’s president of the county Bar.

“His predecessors have been political only within the small arena of the courthouse,” Huntington said. “All of them had to have a great deal of skill in lobbying and politicking with their peers. Mickey has gone out to a larger arena, going to the Board (of Supervisors), the sheriff and now the City Council.

“I don’t know whether we all have an accurate reading as to whether the venture was wise in regard to the City Council,” Huntington said. “But I don’t blame him for going out there.”

Ethical rules for judges prohibit “political activity inappropriate to . . . judicial office.” In essence, the rules bar a judge from partisan politics but allow “measures to improve the law, the legal system or administration of justice.”

Last November, Greer appeared with other judges at a press conference shortly before Election Day to urge a yes vote on a local ballot measure to raise the spending limit on county government. The measure would enable the county to use state funds available through a trial-court funding bill.

The news conference was the first ever called to show support for a ballot measure by the entire county bench, Greer said at the event. The measure passed.

In February, Greer announced from the bench that all new civil trials would be postponed because of an overwhelming backlog of criminal cases. Three weeks later, Gov. George Deukmejian named seven San Diego men to the Superior Court bench, and civil trials resumed. Officials from the governor’s office maintained that the move was not a response to pleas for help from the county.

Then there is Greer’s current quest: help from the city for the county courts and jails. It led to the press conference last Monday in Greer’s courtroom at the downtown courthouse--and to the jousting with O’Connor.

“Oh, yeah, right now I’m openly political on this thing,” he said, referring to events with O’Connor.

Not Looking to Ascend

San Diego lawyers and judges point out, however, that Greer’s politicking is not designed to benefit him personally. He’s not out just to keep his job, they say.

Nor, they say, is he pouting for a larger salary, the current favorite lobbying game of many federal judges.

Nor is he looking to ascend to the state appellate bench. “Absolutely not,” said his daughter, Keri Katz, 28, a deputy city attorney. “This kind of work, where you make people mad at you, is not what you want to do if you want to get to the appellate court.”

Nor, finally, is he in it just because he likes to see his name in print. “I’ve never heard a hint of any self-aggrandizement,” said Justice Richard D. Hoffman of the state’s 4th District Court of Appeal downtown and a former member of the San Diego Superior Court.

Greer said his motivation is really very simple. “The goal that’s driving me now is I really do worship the law, and I think we’re losing it. I think we’re losing the system.”

Greer is a “passionate believer in our system of jurisprudence and a passionate believer in making it work,” said James R. Mills, chairman of the Metropolitan Transit Development Board, which runs the San Diego Trolley.

Talk Turns to Courts

“I have breakfast with him from time to time,” said Mills, the former president pro tem of the state Senate who was instrumental in Greer’s 1977 appointment to the bench. “We might talk for five minutes about world affairs or baseball or something else, but it’s not very long before it’s court procedures and the need for change and the need for facilities and so forth.”

Greer’s relationship with Mills goes back nearly 30 years. The two met shortly after Greer graduated from UCLA’s School of Law, and it was with Mills that Greer learned politics.

Greer was active in Mills’ various campaigns. He worked with Mills when Mills was active in other campaigns--for instance, when Mills was San Diego County chairman for Robert Kennedy’s 1968 presidential campaign.

Originally from Detroit, Greer moved to Los Angeles and then, in 1962, to San Diego. For the next 15 years he was in private practice. Then came the call to the bench.

The annual critique he passed out to lawyers who appeared before him revealed he was a “pretty even-tempered, mild-mannered judge,” he said.

But things have changed since Greer was made presiding judge, a post he has held since January, 1988, and will relinquish at the end of this year.

“You can’t run this job unless you are a real tough guy,” Greer said.

Closely Watched Project

By far the central event during Greer’s term has been the “fast-track” system, a program designed to speedily resolve civil cases, a pilot project closely watched by the rest of the state.

The program pushes San Diego Superior Court judges to conclude 90% of civil cases filed after January, 1987, within 12 months. The court’s most recent statistics, as of last Tuesday, indicates that it is meeting the 90% goal--but at 24 months.

“We couldn’t do as well as we thought we could do, but we sure did two years better than we used to do,” Greer said, referring to the time it used to take to get a case to trial, often more than four years.

The program initially upset local lawyers. “A lot of us at first felt a lot different about fast-track than we do now,” said Adelman, the Bar president. “But we’ve adjusted because we can see that it can get cases through the system so much quicker.”

The project also has fueled Greer’s interest in court management, an interest he said he likely will pursue in seven years when he’s eligible for retirement at 62. He must stand for re-election in 1990, and said he plans to do so.

In some sense, fast-track is the force behind the current spat with O’Connor.

‘There’s No Money’

Unless the criminal courts are under control, Greer can’t manage fast-track the way he wants. O’Connor’s press secretary, Paul Downey, said the mayor “is well aware of the situation. She is aware that our criminal justice system is overburdened. No one is disputing that claim. So I guess I’m unclear what Judge Greer’s point is.”

The primary point, Greer said, is that “there’s no money, there’s no facilities, there’s no courtrooms and we’re overrun by crime.”

The courts were at “breakdown” even before the city’s recent decision to add more than 100 officers, he said at the press conference. Felony filings rose 28% in 1988 from 1987, to 11,988.

Since most of those arrests, 51% in 1988, were concentrated in San Diego and had to be tried in the downtown courts, it would be sensible for city and county officials to discuss solutions that include funds from both sources, Greer said. Six other leading county law enforcement officials at the conference agreed.

Greer’s other point was that he couldn’t get O’Connor to talk to him about it. The mayor did not respond to a request from The Times for an interview.

Greer wrote O’Connor and each of the City Council members on June 22, after the city opted to fund more officers, suggesting that the money would be better spent on courts and jails. He invited her to talk about it.

Mayor’s Response

O’Connor didn’t respond until last Monday, the day of the press conference, in a letter of her own. In it she reminded Greer that the city had asked the state for $34 million and the federal government for $69 million in help.

O’Connor so far has been unable even to arrange a meeting with Deukmejian since her late-May request for the $34 million.

As for Greer’s press conference, O’Connor said last Monday that perhaps he and the six other county officials should hold a press conference in Sacramento and invite Deukmejian.

“It would be most helpful,” she said. “I would appreciate the assistance.”

“That’s childish,” Greer said. “She knows that. I don’t know why she does it.”

Said Downey: “The point she’s making with a comment like that is that maybe they’re pulling out their shotguns and pulling at the city when maybe there’s another target (the state or federal governments) they ought to be going over.”

Nine Courtrooms Downtown

At the heart of Greer’s request for money from O’Connor is the supervisors’ June 27 decision directing the chief administrative officer to proceed with lease negotiations for nine courtrooms downtown and a financing plan that includes money from the city.

With those courtrooms as well as various others in outlying areas, “we can function,” Greer said.

The City Council and county supervisors have set a joint meeting for Aug. 3 to discuss, among other matters, jail and court facilities.

“I think the . . . city will cooperate with the county to a certain degree, enough for the county to fulfill getting those nine courtrooms, that we’ll have those courtrooms by April or May . . . and that we’ll be able to do our jobs,” Greer said. “But I think that if we hadn’t done all of this, I don’t think that would happen.”