Childress Sworn to Secrecy? CPS Resignation REEKS of internal warfare.

The evidence becomes overwhelming for a clear and sharp dispute behind the scenes leading up to the Charles Childress resignation. A more detailed article appeared today in the San Angelo Standard-Times:

"I cannot say a word about it," Childress said when reached at his Austin home Friday. "There is nothing I can say that wouldn't be out of line."

Wowsers. This sounds like it really got heated. Nothing he could say? Not even "This is best for me and my family" like Gary Banks said? "I think I'll go back to teaching?" Nope. There's NOTHING he could say that wouldn't be out of line. This more clearly seems to be the emotional residue of a forced resignation. Normally when someone says things like that one of two things are true, or both. Childress is still so angry over the affair that he can't trust himself to speak of it for fear of losing his composure and/or the dispute would be so damaging to one or both of the parties in the dispute that an agreement was signed not to speak of it.

"Banks, who sent the letter Sept. 5 and left the agency early this month, could not be reached for comment Friday."

Yeah right, "No comment."

"The attorneys join a growing list of officials associated with the April raid who have since left their jobs. Cary Cockerell, commissioner of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services - of which CPS is a part - retired Aug. 31 for personal reasons, while Texas Ranger Lt. Barry Caver, who commanded the April raid, left law enforcement in June to pursue a better-paying oil-industry job.

None of the officials has cited the FLDS case as a reason for leaving. In Cockerell's case, CPS officials said specifically the case was not a factor in his decision.

Childress, a former University of Texas law professor who worked for CPS in the late 1990s, was brought back to help coordinate the massive case, which involved 439 children and 26 adults initially believed to be children."

Folks, this is war. This is an agency lurching out of control without direction. If you have any doubts, read on.

"The loss of essentially the two lead attorneys in the case likely will bring another CPS lawyer to the fore - perhaps Jeff Schmidt, who has represented CPS during some hearings.

'There is a group of attorneys out there' at CPS' San Angelo offices, said agency spokesman Patrick Crimmins. 'He (Childress) was just acting as lead attorney. We're just trying to figure out their roles and responsibilities.' "

CPS doesn't know WHO is going to take over. By the way, who would want the job? It's a greased rail to unemployment and disgrace. This wasn't planned IMHO. Someone threatened Childress without knowing how he'd respond and he quit or some issue came to light that someone had to take the blame for and Childress got the nod. Something happened that scattered the pieces on the chess board and they're in full scramble mode.

Once again, a rule of politics is that you don't make your constituency (your co workers in a bureaucracy) LOOK bad. This LOOKS bad, so it IS BAD. You don't DO it unless something profound happens because it looks that way and everyone will think it is for some earth shattering reason. Planned resignations take place with the outgoing head giving plenty of time and citing "good reasons" and praising their peers. Tom Brady doesn't quit the Patriots during the introduction of the starting line up in the Super Bowl. It's DESTRUCTIVE. It's not what a career "team player" does. Bureaucrats are CONSUMATE team players. They don't survive unless they are.

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A Glimpse into the CPS Boardroom Crisis

More trickles out about the resignation of Charles Childress in this article;

"It is with great regret that I hereby tender my resignation as staff attorney for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, effective Nov. 1, 2008, or at whatever earlier date may be most convenient and least disruptive to the operations of the agency," Charles Childress wrote in a resignation letter obtained by the Deseret News.

The "Great Regret" part is diplomatic, but indicates dispute. This dispute is hinted at later by Mr. Childress. The part where he indicates that he will leave November 1st or whatever date is convenient? This says the disagreement was sudden and sharp. Unlike his immediate subordinate Gary Banks, who found work and resigned Mr. Childress has no soft landing.

Something happened that made Mr. Childress or the State of Texas change their minds about each other. In Charles case it would have most likely have been the result of being blindsided and his resignation is a polite way of saying "I was fired, on the spot." In this case he is being given the time to find another job. Whether or not his replacement shows up quickly, we can determine if this was sudden and surprising for Texas. If Childress stays well past November 1st, it was a surprise for Texas as well.

"I anticipate that we will have resolved all but a handful of pending cases through cooperative agreements with the parents, resulting in dismissal of the department's suits by early November," he wrote.

This hints broadly at the subject matter of the dispute. The writing is on the wall to reduce the number of FLDS child custody cases to perhaps less than five. The language indicates that the cases are going to be plural in nature, but the number will be very small.

"The remaining cases may end up going to trial next year. Three cases involving children either placed back in foster care or returned to their parents under family service plans will be up for dismissal in February 2009."

This aludes to the number of cases. It seems it will be three.

"The dismissal date for all other cases is April 13, 2009, although there is an argument that could be made against applying this deadline," Childress wrote.

Someone advocated that the cases be continued. Judging from the speed of the dismissals and the revelation of the "handful" estimate by Mr. Childress, it would seem Mr. Childress is likely to have fallen on the side of just letting those cases go.

I am speculating here but it is sound speculation for someone as far on the outside as I am. If this is truly the case, I again repeat that Charles Childress may turn out to be, in the final analysis, a great hero for the FLDS, having stood up to Texas who seems intent on prosecuting a much larger number of cases.

You can imagine a meeting that goes like this:

"You're dismissing nearly ALL the cases Charles, WHAT'S UP?!?!"

"You have maybe three cases."

"That's unacceptable!"

"You have maybe three cases, this is what you hired me to do."

"You find MORE!"

"I can't."

(Phone Rings, Governor Perry is calling on his cell phone)

"Pack your kit and git Chuck."

All should pay attention to this politicized prosecution. It is the very essense of what persecution is all about. The FLDS have become a political football. The fortunes of Texas depend on finding more than just a couple of Child Abuse cases than in the end may cost more than $20,000,000.00 apiece. For this reason it no longer matters what is right or what is wrong to the elected officials like Governor Perry. They need a lot of cape mounts on their den wall to justify what was done. Sorry FLDS, nothing personal. It's just politics. I hope you understand. Take one for the team willya?

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The Other Resignation at CPS and Confirmation of Turmoil (AKA "Reorganization")

If you needed confirmation of the internal fight going on at CPS, look no further than this story;

The Deseret News - "Texas Child Protective Services officials also are not commenting on why (Charles) Childress is leaving, but said they are in the process of reorganizing their legal team based in San Angelo, Texas, right now.

Childress is not the only lawyer who worked the FLDS child custody case to resign recently. Gary Banks, who was the lead counsel when the 439 children were taken into state custody immediately following the raid, resigned Oct. 3 to take a position with a Texas law firm."

The powerful and connected do not stay unemployed. They are offered safety nets even before they leave one job, even in disgrace. Politics is like that. Who needs a "Golden Parachute" when what you will be offered instead is lifetime security? But I digress. That is a discussion for both the Economic Pharisee and the Political Pharisee (both me, of course).

The key here is that whoever is ultimately pulling the strings in the whole CPS/FLDS/YFZ fiasco, it has been determined from the top that the handling of the custody cases is a disaster. Since this is politics, the disaster part is determined by how it makes those at the top look. Charles Childress had NOTHING to do with the raid taking place, but still falls on the sword. Preceding him was Gary Banks, who WAS lead counsel at the time of the raid.

Clearly the RESULT is important to those at the top. Gary is made responsible, but taken care of. It will be interesting to see how things go for Charles Childress. There are some days when you wish illegal wiretapping wasn't. I'd love to be able to speak to the mouse in the corner in those conference rooms.

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