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Sunday, October 22, 2006

Ind. Gov't. - Chicago lawyers are billing East Chicago at a rate of $580 per hour

"E.C. legal spending hits outrageous level" is the title of an editorial today in the Gary Post-Tribune. Some quotes:

It's apparent that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree when it comes to East Chicago city government.
Excessive spending -- particularly in lucrative contracts to those close to the city -- was a problem under the administration of former Mayor Robert Pastrick.

Now it seems that Mayor George Pabey is out to show the city that he doesn't have to take a back seat to Pastrick when it comes to spending taxpayer money.

The administration is spending an outrageous amount of money to defend lawsuits brought by people who were terminated when Pabey took over the helm.

In the first five months of this year, the Chicago law firm of Morgan, Lewis and Bockius has billed the city $1.4 million in preparing cases to defend those lawsuits.

Particularly troubling is that some of the lawyers working those cases are billing East Chicago at a rate of $580 per hour. The people of East Chicago ought to be wondering why the administration agreed to pay such an outlandish figure. And the people ought to be asking why the people were fired and why the city hasn't kept its vow to reduce its legal budget.

The fact is, the people were fired and, if history is any indication, many of them will end up winning their lawsuits, extracting judgments from the city.

The people of East Chicago ought to be asking why the city didn't hire local attorneys -- who charge considerably less than $580 an hour -- to defend the lawsuits. There is an excellent stable of attorneys in Lake County.

This editorial follows on a story earlier this week in the Munster (NW Indiana) Times (ILB entry here).

Posted by Marcia Oddi on October 22, 2006 08:56 AM
Posted to Indiana Government