Three Officials Nearing Limit on Lawyer

SANTA ANA — With their trials still months away, the three elected officials accused of failing to prevent the county’s 1994 plunge into bankruptcy are nearing the $250,000 spending limits on their taxpayer-paid attorney fees, and one is already asking that the limit be doubled to $500,000.

Auditor-Controller Steve E. Lewis has already run up $247,000 in legal bills through the end of March, and has submitted a request for additional funding that will be considered at next Tuesday’s meeting of the Board of Supervisors.

Lewis’ bid for more money comes only a month after the board approved the $250,000 limit on each official’s legal bills and is likely to reignite an emotional debate over the county’s responsibility to pay the legal defense costs of accused officials.

It is also one more indication that taxpayers could end up footing a substantial bill for the misconduct cases, which some estimate will exceed $2 million in defense costs alone. The cases are now mired in pretrial motions, and actual trials aren’t expected to begin until September.

Though the legal costs are mounting, county officials said they are still reviewing the bills and have not actually made any payments to attorneys for Lewis and Supervisors William G. Steiner and Roger R. Stanton.

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The three officials were charged in December with willful misconduct in office. The charges allege failure to oversee the operations of former Treasurer-Tax Collector Robert L. Citron, whose risky investments caused a $1.64-billion loss to a county-run investment pool. If any of the three officials is convicted, the maximum punishment is removal from office.

Some county officials and supervisors have criticized the prosecution as a waste of taxpayer money, noting that Steiner and Stanton have announced they will not seek reelection.

At a hearing last Friday, even Judge John W. Ouderkirk questioned the wisdom of prosecuting Stanton. Even if Stanton is found guilty at the conclusion of a trial in early October, the judge noted, the worst thing he would have to endure would be removal from office three months before the scheduled end of his final four-year term.

Ouderkirk noted that he could better understand the decision to prosecute Stanton “if he had been accused of bribery” or an “underlying crime” that would justify expending “all these resources.”

While all three officials have spent most of the $250,000 set aside for them, Lewis is the closest to exceeding the limit. Mike Green, one of Lewis’ attorneys, said that once bills from April have been tallied, the total charges since December probably will exceed $250,000.

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“There have been 15 separate hearings and a tremendous volume of records to review and analyze,” Green said. “If you asked me [at the time] whether the cap would adequately cover all the fees, I would easily have told you no.”

Steiner and an attorney for Stanton also confirmed that they were approaching the $250,000 limit, but said they weren’t sure when they would actually reach it. A county report said the two supervisors probably would not bump up against the cap for at least another month.

The Board of Supervisors approved the cap during a tense April 9 meeting. Some supervisors favored a more generous limit of $400,000 or $300,000, but Supervisor Marian Bergeson pressed for stricter monitoring and limits on how much the county spends.

In March, the board also agreed to pick up the legal bills of former county Budget Director Ron Rubino, who faces criminal charges related to the bankruptcy. The board established a $300,000 cap for Rubino.

Bergeson said this week that she would consider granting more defense fees for Lewis, Steiner and Stanton, but only after county officials conduct a cost-benefits analysis and determine that additional payments are in the county’s best interests.

“They have to be justified,” she said. “If so, I would presume some kind of additional cap.”

County Chief Executive Officer Jan Mittermeier has recommended that the board increase Lewis’ cap to $500,000. In a report released Wednesday, county officials said it would be difficult to conduct a cost-benefits analysis because all litigation is unique and that financial data from similar cases in unavailable.

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Steiner, who along with Stanton has abstained from voting on items involving the two supervisors’ legal defense, said he will probably cast a vote if Lewis comes before the board for more money.

“I’m going to support a proper defense for Steve Lewis,” Steiner said. “I don’t think it’s wise to stop in the middle of the process. It would amount to a waste of money if you got to this point and couldn’t bring closure to the issue.”

The county has already set some limits on what attorneys can charge. Under the rules, lawyers are paid as much as $295 an hour, which the county maintains is a lower rate than they normally charge. Attorneys are also required to break down their charges to tenths of hours. The county only pays one attorney when more than one attends the same hearing.

The attorneys have already submitted a total of $360,000 in bills that in most cases cover the period December through February. County officials are still evaluating the bills to determine what charges--if any--should be thrown out.

It remains possible that Ouderkirk could dismiss the case against Stanton, thus ending the need for taxpayers to face continuing charges for his defense. Some charges against Steiner and Stanton have already been dismissed.

“All these financial expenditures could end tomorrow if Ouderkirk throws out the case or [Dist. Atty. Michael R.] Capizzi dismisses it in the interest of justice,” Steiner said.