Won't pay more legal fees, 3 told
10:26 AM 10/03/02
Dee J. Hall Wisconsin State Journal
indentThe Legislature is refusing to pay more than $13,000 worth of legal bills for two Democratic staffers and a state senator cited in the caucus scandal.
indentPat Fuller, acting chief clerk of the Assembly, said he won't pay any more legal fees for Tanya Bjork and Raghu Devaguptapu, former employees of the Assembly Democratic Caucus who later worked for Sen. Brian Burke, D-Milwaukee. The two were accused along Burke in June with illegal fund-raising, campaigning and withholding or altering documents while working at Burke's Capitol office.
indentSenate Chief Clerk Don Schneider also stopped paying for legal representation for Burke, who was charged in June with 18 criminal counts, including falsifying expense reports. Schneider said the Senate Organization Committee authorized payments only related to the investigation, not for defending someone against charges.
indentBurke, Bjork and Devaguptapu are the first and so far only targets implicated by prosecutors in the secret John Doe investigation, which has been going on for 16 months.
indentFuller said Bjork and Devaguptapu can apply for reimbursement of their legal bills if they're exonerated. But in the meantime, "We're not going to be throwing money out the window," Fuller said.
indentHe added that he's researching whether the Assembly can recoup legal payments for anyone convicted in the scandal. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Chvala, D-Madison, has said the Senate would attempt to recover legal fees from anyone convicted in the case.
indentSo far, 64 legislative staffers and five lawmakers have submitted legal bills. In the Assembly, $467,170 has been shelled out by taxpayers for legal representation of individual staffers and lawmakers, and in the Senate, the total is now $123,754. Those figures don't include legal fees for lawsuits and other actions related to the John Doe investigation.
indentIn June, Bjork was charged with two misdemeanor counts of soliciting campaign contributions on state property and fraudulently manipulating information subpoenaed by investigators. By then, she had racked up $24,129 in legal bills. Fuller is refusing to pay another $3,623 that came in after June.
indentTaxpayers also have paid $5,157 in legal bills for Devaguptapu, who faces fines for five counts of allegedly soliciting campaign contributions at the Capitol. Fuller is refusing to pay another $10,129 in legal fees for Devaguptapu.
indentThe Senate set a cap of $10,000 in legal bills for lawmakers and staffers caught up in the investigation. By the time he was charged, Burke had racked up $9,497 in bills, just short of the maximum allowed. A bill of roughly $300 submitted after Burke was charged was turned away, the Senate chief clerk's office said.