Lawmakers Give Back to the Legal CommunityRecently, House lawmakers filed their third quarter campaign disclosure reports — and you know what that means! It’s time for another round-up of how much lawmakers have dropped on lawyers to defend themselves from investigation.
Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA), with nearly $1 million in total fees dating back to last year, remains the undisputed House champion, but Rep. Don Young (R-AK) is charging hard.
Here’s our list of legal spending habits for the past three months, as well as an estimate of how much each lawmaker has spent in campaign funds to date and to which firms:
Rep. Don Young (R-AK): $183,785
So far, Young has spent $447,000 on the law firms Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld and Tobin O’Connor Ewing & Richard (the vast majority of which is spent on Akin Gump). He’s under investigation for his relationship with Bill Allen, former CEO of oil-services firm.
Rep. Rick Renzi (R-AZ): $111,042
Renzi has paid around $148,000 to law firms Patton Boggs LLP and Steptoe & Johnson LLP (primarily on Patton Boggs). Renzi remains under investigation by the FBI for pushing legislation that would advantage political supporters and former business partners. His house was raided by the FBI this past April. Renzi has announced that he will not seek another term.
Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-WV): $55,000
Mollohan has spent $78,000 on the law firm Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd, Evans & Figel. He has been under federal scrutiny since last May for earmarking funds for organizations connected to him.
Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA): $26,982
Lewis has spent over $987,000 on the law firms Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and Williams & Jensen. He is being investigated for earmarks that he provided to campaign contributors, as well as his role in the Duke Cunningham scandal.
Rep. Dennis Hastert (R-IL): $17,627
The former House speaker has spent $436,000 thus far on the law firm McKenna Long & Aldridge. He was investigated by the House ethics committee for his role in preventing the Foley scandal from coming to light.
Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA): $4,807
Since April of 2006, Doolittle’s campaign committee has spent $130,000 on the law firm Wiley, Rein & Felding. He is under investigation for his ties to Jack Abramoff. Doolittle’s wife was sporadically employed by Abramoff, and the FBI raided the couple’s Virginia home, where her office was located. She continues to be paid for fundraising work, even as Doolittle’s campaign account falters. This past quarter, she was paid another $45,000 – and the campaign still owes her $31,471 with only $38,000 in total funds remaining.
Ex-Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL): $150,752
Foley has spent $843,000 thus far on the law firm Zuckerman Spaeder, LLP. He was being investigated by the FBI and Florida state authorities for inappropriate actions and communications last year involving his underage House pages, though recent reports have suggested that the Florida investigation is “almost done.”
Update: For those thinking that we overlooked mucked-up reps like William Jefferson (D-LA) and Tom Feeney (R-FL), both have opened a defense fund to cover legal fees and are not paying them with campaign money.
Adrianne Jeffries contributed research to this post.