Potential legal fees mount as court cases proliferate
Senate standoff paying off for lawyers
Published: July 09, 2009, 12:30 am
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ALBANY—At least some folks are doing all right with the gridlock-ridden State Senate.
Lawyers are making as much as $750 per hour for representing the various sides in the half-dozen lawsuits filed so far in the fight between Republicans and Democrats for control of the chamber since the June 8 coup.
While in Albany, lawmakers get $160 per diem for lodging and meals. That does not include travel — often by plane in the case of some Buffaloarea lawmakers — to and from Albany, or the unknown thousands of dollars staffers based outside Albany are raking up in expenses in their time in the Capitol while the impasse drags on well into its fourth week.
Among lawyers, Richard Emery, a Manhattan lawyer with offices in Rockefeller Plaza, is the top earner. He is also a member of the state’s Commission on Public Integrity, and his job includes overseeing the vast lobbying industry that seeks to influence lawmakers. The Senate Democrats are paying him $750 per hour. He has yet to submit a bill for all his legal work in various courtrooms in recent weeks.
Andrew Celli, a partner in Emery’s law firm and a member of the state ethics agency, makes $525 per hour, according to Austin Shafran, a spokesman for Sen. Malcolm A. Smith, the Queens Democrat who still claims the title of Senate president and majority leader despite the coup.
Richard Conboy, an Albany lawyer, makes $250 per hour.
Brooklyn-based Martin Connor, the Senate’s Democratic leader until he was ousted in a leadership fight that led to putting then-Sen. David A. Paterson in the position, also works for the Senate Democrats. He has not submitted any bills, and Shafran did not know how much he is making per hour. Connor has stood on the Senate podium at several key moments during recent Senate sessions.
Who will foot the bills, Shafran said, remains uncertain.
Taxpayers typically cover the Senate’s legal expenses.
But some sources have suggested the Democrats — to avoid further public outrage from what all sides say has been an embarrassing dispute — might dip into their campaign funds to pay the legal tabs.
Senate Republicans said their legal work in the various lawsuits is being handled inhouse by several part-time lawyers.
State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli, who this week launched his own legal effort in the dispute, also is using inhouse lawyers.
Like the Senate Democrats, Paterson, as governor, is using a combination of staff and outside counsel.
The private firm Gleason Dunn Walsh & O’Shea of Albany represents him in court.
But a contract between the firm and the governor’s office— listed on the state comptroller’s Web site — shows a deal was signed July 1 for $49,500.
If that contract covers the firm’s Senate work or some other legal duties remained unknown.
Some of the warring parties had contacted Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo, seeking representation by his office in the various lawsuits. But a source close to Cuomo said he had to decline, citing conflict-of-interest reasons, because, as the state’s chief lawyer, he represents all the factions.
tprecious@buffnews.com
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