No real shocker, but Los Angeles area DUI defense attorney, Lawrence Taylor, has received a secret memo circulated to the administrative hearing officers in California taking them to task for dismissing administrative hearings against accused drivers. The memo directs them to ignore their independent judgment and rule the way the government wants them to. They are threatened with visits from their supervisors. This is not unique to California, but something I have seen in Kansas DUI administrative hearing proceedings. Hearing officers are sometimes taken to task by the Department of Revenue for dismissing cases and told to change their policies to ensure that drivers get suspended in the future. Or, a hearing officer will wait to make a decision on an issue until the Department of Revenue tells them how they want the hearing officer to rule. While it would seem that a fair and impartial judge of the facts and law would preside over these very important cases, don’t count on it.