Lawyers in Ellis County are being polled right now: 36% of the one-vote-per-IP-address population that has participated on The ECO Poll rates our lawyers in a not-so-nice way (see the right-hand sidebar).
The big issue of last year’s GOP primary between Judge Gene Knize and Dan Altman centered a lot on this indigent defense wheel list. Knize has now served as 40th District court judge for 20 years.
Here’s a partial list of Ellis County lawyers from the last fiscal year – and how much Ellis County taxpayers are paying them ($565,000 budget; $27,270.25 was in the available balance at the end of the year):
Note: Only seven attorneys are listed of a list of about 10-15; if readers would like the full report, that can be provided for purchase. However, here are attorneys on the indigent defense wheel from the last fiscal year: 10/01/06 — 9/27/07
Attorneys’ hometowns are in parentheses
Mark Griffith (Waxahachie) – $72,503.90
Vance Hinds (Waxahachie) – $36,425
Cindy Ermatinger (Midlothian) – $55,195
Kent McGuire (Waxahachie) – $24,600
Todd Phillippi (Midlothian) – $43,090
Danny Freisner (Waxahachie) – $42,560
Mary Lou Shipley (Waxahachie) – $37,891.44
Dan Altman (Midlothian) – $0
Freisner is the president of the Ellis County Bar Association.
Shipley is the former county attorney.
McGuire’s wife is a former county judge. They vacation with Knize every once in a while in Alaska.
Ermatinger ran for the county court at law No. 2 position in 2002, finishing third in a five-way race.
Phillippi ran as a Libertarian for state Supreme Court last year.
Altman was thrown in there for humor purposes.
