[Vision2020] Idahoans to Pay for GOP Lawsuit

Fri Apr 8 06:00:07 PDT 2011

Yes sir, those Tea Party folks are sure looking out for our best interests!
Gut education -- but make sure the lawyers get paid! In the future "member
of the Tea Party" will be synonymous with "sucker."

On Fri, Apr 8, 2011 at 5:54 AM, Tom Hansen <thansen at moscow.com> wrote:

> Courtesy of today's (April 8, 2011) Spokesman-Review.
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------
>
> Public to pay for GOP suit
> Lawmakers vote $100,000 to pay attorney fees
>
> BOISE – Idaho lawmakers rushed through a bill to pay $100,000 to the Idaho
> Republican Party – to which 81 percent of them belong – in the final days
> of this year’s legislative session, to cover the party’s attorney fees in
> its successful primary election lawsuit against the state.
>
> Though it’s not uncommon for prevailing parties to get their legal fees
> paid in a federal civil rights case, what’s unusual is how the Idaho GOP
> set up its fee arrangement with its attorney – a rare “contingent fee”
> deal in which only the taxpayers would have to pay, not the party,
> regardless of the outcome.
>
> “It was not something they had to do,” said John Strait, a law professor
> at Seattle University School of Law and an expert on federal court
> litigation. “The Republicans decided they would rather have him paid out
> of taxpayer money, and they set it up that way.”
>
> Idaho Republican Party Chairman Norm Semanko declined repeated requests
> for comment on why the party chose that route. The party’s executive
> director, Jonathan Parker, said, “It’s my understanding that it’s standard
> operating procedure for court cases like this.” He said Semanko had
> nothing to say beyond that.
>
> The oddity drew plenty of opposition as the bill careened through the
> House and Senate, with not only every legislative Democrat but but also
> nine GOP House members and three Republican senators opposing the payment.
>
> “I have to point out, we’re paying $100,000 for the Republican Party to
> sue the Republican Legislature, defended by the Republican secretary of
> state, in order to close primaries in Idaho – I just think this is so bad
> it’s comical,” said Sen. Elliot Werk, D-Boise.
>
> Sen. Shawn Keough, R-Sandpoint, who voted against the bill, said, “They
> weren’t forced to submit that bill … and I found it insulting that they
> did that. I don’t believe it’s appropriate that the taxpayers pay that
> money.”
>
> Keough noted that when the party held its convention in Sandpoint in 2008,
> a majority of the attendees voted against closing the GOP primary. But
> then the party’s central committee moved forward anyway, and sued the
> state; party rules now require the GOP primary in Idaho to be closed to
> anyone other than registered party members.
>
> Because Idaho’s never had party registration, that’s forcing a re-do of
> the state’s entire primary election system; GOP-backed legislation now
> awaiting the governor’s signature would force all Idahoans to publicly
> declare their party preference for the first time.
>
> Keough said, “I remain disturbed that even while in essence shutting out
> the public, they asked the public to pay for it.”
>
> The Idaho GOP’s lawyer, Christ Troupis of Eagle, who didn’t return a call
> for comment Thursday, filed an affidavit with the federal court stating
> that he’s represented the party on a “contingent fee” basis in the case
> since 2008. “My fee agreement with the Idaho Republican Party and Chairman
> Norm Semanko was for a contingent fee, comprised of whatever sum was
> awarded by this Court in the event that the Plaintiffs were successful in
> prosecuting their claims in this action,” he wrote.
>
> In the affidavit, he said his total fees and costs came to $143,880. The
> state negotiated and got that lowered to $100,000 in a settlement, and the
> two sides filed a stipulation with the court agreeing to the figure. On
> Tuesday, after the $100,000 payment bill already had passed the Senate,
> U.S. District Judge Lynn Winmill issued an order granting the stipulation.
>
> Jeffry Finer, a Spokane attorney with 26 years of federal civil rights
> litigation experience, said, “Judges typically award fees in civil rights
> cases.”
>
> “The losing side could really be rational and say … negotiate these fees
> and get ’em paid, we don’t want to go to court – the judge could hit us
> even worse,” he said. “And while we fight, the meter’s running.”
>
> Finer called the settlement over the amount “impressive,” saying, “Getting
> almost a third of it knocked off ain’t bad,” and said the fees aren’t
> extraordinarily high for the type of litigation involved.
>
> Contingent fee arrangements, however, are rare in civil rights cases like
> this one, which challenged a state law, rather than seeking money damages.
> They’re more typical in cases in which someone is suing for cash damages –
> the lawyer takes a gamble that he’ll win the case, and get paid only a
> percentage of those winnings, typically anywhere from 25 to 45 percent.
>
> Strait called the arrangement “unusual in that type of case.”
>
> He said, “In terms of whether they’re entitled to it, the statute says
> that they are.” But, he said, they “didn’t have to ask for it.”
>
> House Minority Leader John Rusche, D-Lewiston, said, “As a citizen I just
> am really upset by this – paying the Republican Party to sue the state of
> Idaho to make it more difficult for citizens to vote in the primary. Just
> listen to what we’re doing. … The plaintiffs did not have to request money
> from the state coffers, the Republican Party chose to. … I think that’s
> just unconscionable.”
>
> The bill, SB 1202, is now awaiting action by GOP Idaho Gov. Butch Otter.
>
> -------------------
>
> Senate Bill 1202
>
> Status
> http://www.legislature.idaho.gov/legislation/2011/S1202.htm
>
> Text
> http://www.legislature.idaho.gov/legislation/2011/S1202.pdf
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------
>
> Seeya round town, Moscow.
>
> Tom Hansen
> Moscow, Idaho
>
> "The Pessimist complains about the wind, the Optimist expects it to
> changeand the Realist adjusts his sails."
>
>  - Unknown
>
>
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