According to The Guardian, Ferguson, Missouri Judge Ronald Brockmeyer owes the U.S. government more than $170,000 in federal taxes. Here's the interesting part. Brockmeyer regularly jailed impoverished defendants who could not pay fines of one or two hundred dollars, and was unveiled this past week by the Department of Justice as the "driving force behind Ferguson's strategy of using its municipal courts to aggressively generate revenues" for the city.
One city council member was told that if Brockmeyer were no longer on the bench that the city would have to consider the revenue effect.
Brockmeyer is also named in the DOJ report as part of a larger group of white Ferguson officials who allegedly wrote off citations for themselves and friends, while punishing residents for similar offenses.
An influential Ferguson city clerk and two city police officers have already been fired for fixing tickets and racist emails. One of the fired officers was linked to an email that suggested Barack Obama would not be in office long because 'what black man holds a steady job for four years?'.
You can read the judges story here.
- Mark
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