Attorney Fees
Al Franken Outspends Opponent on Legal Fees by 6-1
Posted Feb 11, 2009 8:02 AM CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
The legal battle over an election recount waged by former Saturday Night Live comedian Al Franken has cost him $660,000 in legal fees, six times the amount spent by his opponent for the U.S. Senate.
Franken is represented by Perkins Coie and Fredrikson & Byron, the Am Law Daily reports. The legal fees were reported to the Federal Election Commission.
Norm Coleman has spent $105,000 on legal fees paid to Knaak and Kantrud and Dorsey & Whitney, the story says.
Franken and Coleman are visiting Washington, D.C., this week as the election contest “plods on” before a three-judge state panel, according to the Washington Post’s blog The Fix.
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Comments
Jason
Feb 11, 2009 8:11 AM CST
It’s not their money so they don’t care. It comes out of their campaign chest. This is why I don’t give money to campaigns.
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J.D.
Feb 11, 2009 9:15 AM CST
The democrat party truly is the party of the wealthy.
But this is the way they win elections; not by the ballot but by spending enough in the courts. The left is just unhappy they weren’t able to get away with stealing the Bush v. Gore election through the courts.
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Tim
Feb 11, 2009 10:45 AM CST
Think of the bright side. This is keeping a couple more lawyers with a job this year at these firms. You bill where you can get the hours.
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Michael
Feb 11, 2009 12:12 PM CST
Do the math on fees and number of likely hours worked and we find that Coleman’s lawyers are either working at a deep discount or waiting to bill after litigation is over. It’s the Republican vs the Democratic way of doing things: one pays as they consume—posting the costs and dealing with them—while the other borrows, hiding the cost.
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sue
Feb 11, 2009 2:24 PM CST
Michael.
No some firms don’t have a partner and 6 first years reviewing the same document. I have seen bills from some firms where at least 5 attorneys worked on the project that 1 could have done the job on. Most firms bill associates to review the work a partner does.
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B. McLeod
Feb 11, 2009 3:54 PM CST
I remember when Al Franken was funny.
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Matthew
Feb 11, 2009 11:14 PM CST
Dear J.D.,
Bush stole the election in 2000. All you have to do is READ to figure that one out.
Love,
Matthew
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Jason
Feb 12, 2009 8:11 AM CST
Obama stole the election in 2008 from Hillary.
or was it the media who handed the rookie the election on a silver plater without vetting the guy. Journalisim does not exist in America anymore. Anything you read in the paper is just an opinion piece one way or the other.
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J.D.
Feb 12, 2009 9:02 AM CST
Dear Matthew,
Gore was the first one to involve the judiciary; he had the hope that state policies would be overridden by people in black robes who are almost entirely unaccountable to the people. Like Franken, he tried winning an election through lawsuits. All you have to do is THINK to figure that out.
Cheers.
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BobT
Feb 12, 2009 11:12 AM CST
What incredible comment stupidity on these threads!
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associate
Feb 12, 2009 12:35 PM CST
Read? Read what?
Like Jason said, there is no such thing as Journalism anymore. It’s just opinion pieces with “news” written at the top.
The only real source of “news” these days is accounting records. Well, what the people in power keeps records on or don’t destroy in anticipation anyway.
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Sue
Feb 12, 2009 2:01 PM CST
accounting records are cooked and don’t show the real numbers…if u think what is in a financial is real ur kidding urself
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T K Nagano
Feb 20, 2009 10:23 PM CST
The Republican National Committee has transferred $250,000 to the Minnesota GOP to help pay legal fees in Norm Coleman’s ongoing recount battle against Al Franken for the Minnesota Senate seat. As of 2/20/09
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