TLDR: In most counties, now is the time to apply to the civil grand jury. Serving on the civil grand jury is an amazingly powerful way to root out government corruption. Even if you can’t serve, you can contact the people who are on the civil grand jury and ask them to utilize their power to root out corruption.
A colleague of mine, Richard Michael of Big Bad Bonds, has come up with a brilliant strategy for “we the people” to take back our constitutional power: restoring the power of civil grand juries.
Each county in California is required, at least once a year, to impanel at least one grand jury. Grand juries, historically, have jurisdiction over criminal matters. In California, however, the Legislature has mandated that the county grand juries must provide oversight over specific civil matters in the county (and cities/unincorporated areas within the counties), as well.
As Richard explained to me, the civil grand jury is incredibly powerful as they have the power to investigate corruption at county/city government agencies. However, the courts and district attorneys have figured out how to control and neutralize this power. Richard is encouraging us to take the power back.
Part of the control/neutralization of civil grand juries is the selection process. Criminal grand juries are formed the same way regular civil juries are formed: you get a notice in the mail telling you to appear on X date and the jurors are chosen from that pool. Civil grand juries, however, require people to apply for the position. This, in and of itself, significantly reduces the pool to people who were already “in the know” about how the system works.
The county counsel, oversight judge and administrators review the applicants and select a pool of people to interview. They make sure they get the “right” people in — people who will do as told by the county counsel without question or pushback.
Constituents who became aware of questionable behavior at government agencies file complaints with the civil grand juries for their respective counties. This is an example of how to file a complaint taken from San Diego County. While specifics vary from county to county, all are similar.
Someone reviews these complaints and then passes them on to the grand juries. So if the gatekeeper does not want a particular matter investigated, the gatekeeper can throw that complaint in the trash and no one will ever know.
The grand jury then reviews the complaints they receive and decides which ones to pursue investigations on. I imagine that in bigger counties, there are probably far more complaints than a single can jury has the time/ability to investigate and that many worthy complaints get pushed aside due to lack of staffing. There is nothing stopping the county from having many grand juries so that there are enough investigators, and the fact that counties only choose to have one grand jury is another sign of trying to sweep corruption under the rug.
Complaints are not required for the grand jury to launch an investigation; the grand jury can also initiate investigations into matters of interest to them. All it takes is one grand juror to bring up a topic, and the supermajority agreeing it is worth investigating. This is the secret to our success. Richard has offered to mentor people to ensure success.
Prong 1 is to Infiltrate; get our own people on the inside to initiate investigations into matters that the county counsel would rather sweep under the rug. Prong 2 is to contact grand jurors to try to persuade them to bring certain matters to the attention of the group for investigation.
Prong 2 is actually not that hard. Who the grand jurors are is public information. In San Diego, the grand jury website lists the members. Figuring out how to contact them and persuade them to look at matters the county counsel doesn’t want looked at is the trick, but it is an attainable goal. The nice thing about Prong 2 is this can be executed at any time. I can start contacting the grand jurors today about matters that warrant investigation; whereas to join the grand jury, I have to apply months ahead of time and cannot launch the investigation until the session I’m accepted to begins.
Prong 1 is challenging. Most of us are incapable of fulfilling the time commitment. Applying and passing the interview process requires advance planning and strategy, and even then, in most counties, the statistical chances of being accepted are not in your favor. But anyone who can get accepted is literally in the belly of the beast wielding more power than anyone on the outside could ever hope to attain. It is certainly worth trying to get accepted.Â
What is the time commitment? Almost all the counties require a full year commitment. In some counties it follows the fiscal year (July 1 – June 30) and in other counties it follows the calendar year (January 1 – December 31). The weekly time commitment varies from county to county.
I have only looked into San Diego and Santa Clara, so those are my two examples. San Diego requires 32 hours per week, 8:00 am – 5:00 pm Monday through Friday. Santa Clara requires 20 – 25 hours a week. The days/hours vary, but will always be between Monday through Friday, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. In Santa Clara, a lot of the work is done online and in-person meetings are only a few times a month. It is an unpaid service; though most counties have a small stipend to reimburse for gas/parking/lunch on days you are required to go in person. Santa Clara’s is $25 per day per in person meeting.
The reality is that most of us cannot commit to these hours (especially without pay). However, if you are capable of meeting this commitment, now is the time to apply in most counties that follow the fiscal year. Santa Clara’s deadline is March 28. Sadly, San Diego’s deadline was in January, so us San Diegans are stuck with Prong 2 for the next grand jury cycle.
Whether you are looking to execute Prong 1 or Prong 2, its wise to get more information about what the laws say regarding civil grand juries so that you are prepared to jump any hurdles thrown at you. Richard is working on creating a blog with more information. I will be happy to put you in touch with him so that he can mentor you on what to say/do to get the best results.
Here are some links to more information:
The Civil Grand Juror’s Association: https://cgja.org
A podcast that Santa Clara County did with six grand jurors explaining what is involved and what to expect with civil grand jury service: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eRe-XadEs0
San Diego County Civil Grand Jury site: https://www.sandiegocounty.gov/grandjury/
San Diego Superior Court information about civil grand juries: https://www.sdcourt.ca.gov/sdcourt/jury2/grandjury#duties
Note: I am not suicidal, I don’t have depression issues, I am a careful driver, I rarely drink alcohol, and I do not use drugs of any kind (not even aspirin). My family lives a wholesome life. If something happens to me or my family that is out of character for us, we were set up by the State of California as revenge for exposing their crimes.
We contend that the selection process is without statutory authority. We also contend that the time demands are the court’s way of saving money, since the process is paid for by the court, except for the daily stipend which is usually paid by the county.
For example, why do grand jurors have to come in to work four to five days a week to perform tasks that are purely ministerial? No grand jury that hears criminal cases does that. They meet when they have decisions to make. It’s all about reducing the pool of potential applicants and control. Since they don’t make minimum wage, they are basically volunteer slaves.
The courts are required by the California Supreme Court to produce demographic reports on applicants on an annual basis. In every county we’ve looked at, the juries are extremely biased to old white men.
It is incredible to think that a county with ten million people has one ‘civil’ grand jury, the same as a county with 2,000 people. If challenged, we suspect the process would be found to be violations of several Bill of Rights protections.
For a process that is assigned to the courts, there is a remarkable lack of statutory and court authority for the entire selection process. We contend that this is intentional in order to gaslight the grand jurors.
The non-public side of this is the private California Grand Jury Association. In all respects, it appears that the organization itself is a group of elitists who lord the stature of having been selected over the general public. Membership in the organization is completely voluntary. Not every county has a chapter and no one knows how many members the organization has. Nevertheless, they give the impression that they are experts.
Taking a look at what the jury ‘investigates’ demonstrates the non-serious nature of the jury. For example, the Orange County jury for 2023-2024 investigates city compliance with SB 1383 (http://refusebucket.blogspot.com/) and the unconstitutional forced slavery of single-family residents via an unlawful rewrite of a statutory definition by CalRecycle during its rule-making process in 2021. The jury in it’s report doesn’t even consider that aspect.