Pubdate: Wed, 06 Feb 2002 Source: Greenville News (SC) Copyright: 2002 The Greenville News Contact: http://greenvillenews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/877 HIGHLY PAID JUDGE Paying a drug court judge $110,000 a year is unfair, especially during a crisis. Political connections have a way of rearing their ugly heads in South Carolina, but they seem all the more unseemly during tight budget times. Our state is in the midst of one of the leanest budget periods in recent times, and many state workers have gotten pink slips or furloughs. In steps Sen. John Land, the Democrat from Clarendon and Sumter counties, to help a former legal secretary and law partner become the state's only judge to earn a salary for running a drug court full time. Bobbie Reaves is pulling down $110,000 a year as a drug court judge, putting her salary at the same level as circuit court judges who handle criminal and civil cases. Drug courts are a great idea. A small percentage of highly motivated lawbreakers benefit from the frequent supervision and external motivation found in these courtroom environments. Judge Reaves has had five graduates from her program, according to a Greenville News story by Tim Smith. And she's monitoring another 15 to 20 cases. But for this, a salary equal to a full-time circuit court judge? The outrageous salary is made all the worse by this: Judge Reaves' drug-court judge colleagues volunteer their time. And even worse by this: The state Solicitors Association had made a common-sense recommendation on dividing $1 million among all the counties in South Carolina. The group's advice was ignored after Sen. Land urged the hefty salary for his old friend. Solicitor Walter Bailey, president of the Solicitors Association, quit over the inequitable funding made even more indefensible at a time when state budget shortfalls are hurting prosecutors across the state. This is an issue for lawmakers looking to trim budgets even more this year and bring some much-needed credibility to state government. The state budget and the state's image suffer because of foul-smelling examples such as this one. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom