DeKalb judge spent $25,000 on travel

By Megan Matteucci

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A DeKalb County judge spent nearly $25,000 in county money traveling to conferences in Jamaica, Panama and the Virgin Islands over three years.

A joint investigation by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and WSB-TV found State Court Judge Barbara Mobley spent 84 days in a three-year period -- 2007 to 2009 -- out of the office at training and conferences. This does not include sick and vacation time.

Records show Mobley spent more than double each of DeKalb’s six other State Court judges on travel expenses. Combined, the seven judges spent about $64,767 on travel from 2007 to 2009.

“I need training. I’ve only been on the bench five years. I don’t understand why it’s an issue,” Mobley told the AJC.

After questions from the AJC on Tuesday, DeKalb County is now looking at freezing all travel.

The County Commission's budget committee, which is looking at layoffs, said it was shocked when the AJC told members about the judge's travel expenditures. The committee asked the assistant finance director to return with figures on how much savings could be found in travel.

"That's something we need to analyze," Commissioner Elaine Boyer said. "Maybe we could keep libraries open if we cut out conferences, at least limit travel to Georgia. I thought travel was cut out awhile ago."

A freeze on travel would need the commission's approval.

Mobley’s bills include five days at an International Association of Women Judges conference in Panama City, Panama, and five days at the National Bar Association’s conference in St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, according to county records.

While Mobley did fly coach to all of the conferences, she charged 10 phone calls in Panama and a mini-bar expense.

The most costly trip -- $2,643 -- was last year when she spent four days at a National Judicial conference in Seattle. Records show that single trip was more than State Court Judge Johnny Panos spent in three years on travel.

The State Court handles civil cases, in addition to misdemeanors.

Mobley insists all of the trips were necessary and provided training that she could not get elsewhere, including an elder abuse class in Fort Lauderdale and a domestic violence class in San Francisco.

“I have stayed within my budget,” Mobley said Monday. “I know what my training needs were. I can’t tell you what other judges’ needs are.”

Mobley said the training budget fluctuates each year, and she did not have those numbers available. A county spokeswoman also could not provide the judges' travel budgets.

Mobley registered to attend a National Bar conference in Hawaii this year, but backed out because of budget concerns.

DeKalb commissioners have spent the past five months struggling to cut expenses, including slashing $50 million from the budget in February. That's in addition to the $8.7 million they are now looking to find.

DeKalb court officials have complained to commissioners that they cannot operate with the budget cuts, including losing four State Court employees who are taking early retirement this week. Court officials have argued the cuts could mean a large backlog in cases and victims waiting two to three years for a trial.

Prosecutors said there already is a backlog and that it sometimes is difficult to get on the calendar in Mobley’s court, one of two family violence courts in DeKalb.

Records from the solicitor general's office, which prosecutes misdemeanor cases, show Mobley has 212 pending cases from 2010, 200 cases pending from 2009 and another 20-30 that are even older. By comparison, Chief State Court Judge Edward Carriere has 131 pending cases from 2010 and 48 cases pending from 2009. His oldest case is from August 2009, the solicitor general's office said.

Despite the pending cases, Mobley said her travel hasn’t interfered at all.

“I have not been away from the office at a rate that has not been able to be justified,” she said. “The benefit to the taxpayers is that I am better prepared. I am a better judge.”

Each of the seven State Court judges set their own travel budgets, which are approved by the commission as part of the final budget. The budgets are different depending on their travel needs, which are based on their experience and specialty, Carriere said.

“You’re dealing with elected officials who know their own needs. You expect them to be fiscally responsible,” he said.

Carriere spent $9,379 on travel from 2007 to 2009. He said the only island he’s visited since coming on the bench in 1998 was a conference on Jekyll Island on Georgia’s coast. Mobley also attended that conference.

State records show the Georgia Supreme Court justices spend between $1,000 and $7,000 a year on travel. Chief Supreme Court Justice Carol Hunstein spent $2,976 in 2009 and $7,993 in 2008. A spokeswoman for the court said the justices have cut back to comply with state restrictions.

Georgia requires judges to get 24 hours of training every two years. Two of those hours must be focused on ethics, said Rich Reaves, director of the University of Georgia’s Institute of Continuing Judicial Education.

The national conferences that Mobley attended meet those requirements, according to Reaves and the State Bar of Georgia.

However, most of Mobley’s colleagues took classes at the institute’s Athens campus.

“Their [the national] courses are expensive, but I get special training,” said Mobley, who spent 12 years in the state Legislature before being elected judge.

Mobley said the majority of her colleagues have more experience and do not require such rigorous training.

This isn’t the first time Mobley’s expenditures have been scrutinized.

The AJC reported last year that Mobley racked up more than $3,800 in cellphone charges in 2008. This included $220 in roaming fees for the 83 calls she made during the trip to the Virgin Islands. At the time, Mobley told the AJC she wasn’t aware of the extra roaming fees.

Mobley said she taught some classes at the conferences and did not spend time on the beach.

“I don’t vote on where these conferences are,” she said.

A spokeswoman for the National Bar Association, an organization for black lawyers and judges, said the group chooses a tropical location in the winter to lure more attendees.

Reaves said he doesn’t know why Mobley would choose the national conferences over the Georgia classes. “Beats me. One can easily do all of their credits here,” Reaves said. “Our courses are always germane to subject matter.”

In the 2008 fiscal year, the institute provided 1,243 hours of training, according to state records.

The state used to cover most training at UGA’s institute, but this year, the Legislature cut the funding and asked counties to pick up the tab, said Billie Bolton, spokeswoman for the Administrative Office of the Courts of Georgia.

DeKalb State Court judges’ travel costs from 2007-2009

Judge Barbara Mobley: $24,968

Judge Alvin Wong: $11,738

Judge J. Antonio DelCampo: $11,036

Judge Edward Carriere: $9,379

Judge Janis Gordon: $3,849

Judge Wayne Purdom: $2,651

Judge Johnny Panos: $1,146

Some of Mobley’s expenditures:

$2,643 for a National Judicial conference in Seattle in 2009

$2,213 for a National Bar Association conference in the Virgin Islands in 2008

$2,185 for an International Association of Women Judges conference in Panama in 2008

$1,926 for a National Bar Association conference in San Diego in 2009

$1,795 for a National Association of Women Judges conference in Philadelphia in 2007

Source: DeKalb County judges