Walter Mack letter to Judge Berman

Walter Mack

I presume that Your Honor is aware of the Court’s Review Officer’s October 31, 2012 Decision which discharges Jim Zazzali and Walter Mack and their team from responsibility for and administration of the District Council of Carpenters Trial Committee. I received yesterday the Review Officer’s Fifth Report to this Court which references our termination and appends the Decision as Exhibit 8 to the Report.

I write not to seek reinstatement into my position as Chairman of the Trial Committee nor to continue the work of the administrators termed ‘The Minders’. The conduct shown me recently by the highest leadership of the District Council and its representatives dismays me but is not beyond my experience.

Jim Zazzali and I have completed our final cases, written or uttered our last opinions, and dispatched, for the most part, our many files to the District Council. Because former Chief Justice Zazzali is traveling and participating in an on-going legal proceeding, he will be submitting his own letter to the Court promptly. I do believe that he and I fundamentally agree on my assertions herein, but he certainly will speak for himself on these subjects.

Rather, I write to seek the Court’s Order that this letter be appended to the Review Officer’s Decision, or the Review Officer’s Fifth Report, removing Mr. Zazzali and myself because of my strong view that it is unfair, unbalanced and prepared without any meaningful input from us. Most unfair in our view is the implication that our services were manipulated in order to enhance our renumeration.

Let me be clear that every billing statement, case file, docket sheet, trial transcript, piece of correspondence, written opinion or any other written or electronically prepared, stored or transmitted communication emanating from us or relating to our administration of the Trial Committee is available to Your Honor should the Court wish to inquire about any of the subjects discussed in the Review Officer’s October 31, 2012 Decision.

For the record, I am proud of our service to the Trial Committee, do not regret a single action or decision made in implementation of the Trial Committee process and its execution, and am proud that we firmly established the independence of the Trial Committee and its dedication to just and fair procedures and results. I can state without fear of contradiction or subsequent circumstances that no organization within or without the District Council will be able to replicate as fine a judicial procedural system of accountability, efficiency and responsiveness as The Minders - Elizabeth Kuriyama, Marilee Loeffler, Susan Swan and supervisor Karla MacKesson - delivered to the District Council over the last 27 months.
Letter to Judge Berman