Ga. resolves DA funding emergency
By JARED PUTNAM Union Sentinel Editor

Georgia's District Attorneys and staffs avoided furloughs, after Governor Sonny Perdue issued an Executive Order transferring funds from the Department of Revenue to cover the payroll costs of state-funded District Attorneys until the Fiscal Year 2008 budget takes effect on July 1, 2007. The Governor's Order was entered in response to Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears's declaration of a judicial emergency, which allows the Governor to transfer funds from outside agencies to cover the costs of District Attorneys.

The order averted a potentially significant personnel shortage in the Union County District Attorney's office, which already operates with a small staff. "The shortfall that was created by the impass over the '07 budget was going to cause four attorneys and one investigator to be furloghed for six days," Enotah Judicial Circuit District Attorney Stan Gunter said. He added that while he is lucky to have circuit paid employees that could take up some of the slack, having more than one third of his most senior staff laid off during that time would have made it very difficult for the office to keep up with the number of cases coming in.

"These are my most experienced attorneys who handle the most complicated cases," Gunter said. "It would have been very difficult to continue forward with the court's business without those people working." Gunter said he believed that most of the staff would have continued working no matter what, due to the importance of the jobs they do.

"District Attorneys and their staffs are the workhorses of our state's judicial system," Governor Perdue said. "The Executive Order I issued today will allow them to continue to service the state and not slow the pace of justice for Georgia residents. I appreciate the consideration that the Chief Justice has granted to the District Attorneys' needs."

"I believe this course of action was the best resolution to a funding crisis that threatened to considerably cripple our criminal justice system," said Justice Leah Ward Sears. "This exercise of power is not without limits, however, and is reserved for only the most extraordinary circumstances. I am pleased that the Governor and I were able to work together to resolve this matter."