 Martin Oberman, a former Chicago alderman, and four other lawyers
were the winners in a lawsuit that forced a special election last
fall to fill the last 60 days of President Barack Obama's term in
the U.S. Senate. As governor, Quinn was named as a defendant, and
therefore the state was required to pay legal fees after a federal
appeals court ordered the special vote.Quinn's office agreed to a
settlement on the fee with Oberman on Aug. 29, but the invoice to
pay the bill was dated June 30, and the state cut the check Sept.
15, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press through
the Illinois Freedom of Information Act and other state records.
In one email about the bill, a staffer in the governor's office
writes to another that the attorney general, who defended Quinn in
court, was pressing "to get it paid quickly, I'm not sure why." The
governor's budget office then sent the bill to the comptroller, who
paid it two days later.
Both state officials and Oberman dismissed questions about
whether political connections or clout had anything to do with the
expedited payment. Like Oberman, Quinn and Attorney General Lisa
Madigan are Chicago Democrats. Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka, whose
office ultimately pays the bills, is a Republican, but a spokesman
said her staff relies on the governor's priorities in making those
calls.
"Why it was paid when it was paid? I'm not privy to how those
things are figured out," said Oberman, an alderman from 1975 to 1987
and a three-time candidate for state attorney general.
He said he did not make speedy payment a condition of the
settlement and expected to wait some period of time, given the
state's finances.
As of early September, the state owed $5 billion to vendors and
social service agencies it depends on to carry out some of its most
important tasks. Nearly half of the bills were more than a month
overdue, and some stretched back to last year. An AP analysis of
state documents revealed that the intervention of state legislators
or other influential politicians often meant faster payment of bills
in which vendors claimed a hardship.
Kelly Kraft, spokeswoman for the governor's budget office, said
the payment to the attorneys was not the same as paying a bill for
goods or services, even though it came out of the general revenue
fund, the main state checking account that finances the vast
majority of overdue bills.
"We lost the case and were required to pay his attorney fees,"
Kraft said. "As the losing party, it is not unusual to have attorney
fee payments expedited."
But not all payments of the state's legal debts are rushed. State
records analyzed by the AP show that in September, the state owed
$2.9 million to 72 individuals, law firms, unions and insurance
companies for legal awards and settlement fees from the same general
revenue fund, and some of those bills were more than 10 months old.
One of them was to Mark Wetzell of Tampico, who settled a case
against the state for a March 7 traffic accident in northern
Illinois in which a state-operated truck pulled out in front of his
rig. The trucks collided, and Wetzell's flipped and slid down an
embankment.
Wetzell agreed to about $23,500 for medical bills and truck
replacement on July 18 and was told to expect a check in about 100
days. He was paid 73 days later, on Sept. 29, according to state
records.
"When this (accident) happened, everybody knows the shape the
state is in, so I wasn't expecting any fast payment. I was happy to
get what I got," he said.
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In the election case, Oberman and the other attorneys represented
two taxpayers who sued Quinn and then-U.S. Sen. Roland Burris after
Burris was appointed to the seat in 2008 by then-Gov. Rod
Blagojevich. They argued that after a governor fills a Senate
vacancy, the U.S. Constitution requires a timely election to let
voters decide who should represent them, and appellate judges
agreed.
At the polls in November, voters therefore voted twice for the
same seat, choosing Sen. Mark Kirk for a 60-day stint until the
official end of the Obama-Burris term, as well as the standard
six-year term the Republican is now serving.
Oberman and the other lawyers would have gone back to court to
compel Quinn's office to pay their fee if the two sides hadn't
settled. The five lawyers splitting the fee agreed to a discount of
about 25 percent because they didn't have to return to court to
collect, Oberman said.
Some lawyers who regularly litigate against the state in court
were surprised by the speedy payment. One, Springfield attorney Carl
Draper, said judgments he wins against the state wait in line like
everybody else's.
"In my years of experience in litigation with the state, a major
problem is late payment," Draper said. "Even if there is a judgment,
payment comes months or even up to a year late."
A judge ruled with Draper in December that the Executive Ethics
Commission was operating improperly and ordered the state to pay
Draper $9,400 in attorney's fees. State records indicate he got paid
Sept. 19, nine months after the order.
Kraft said the voucher for the election lawsuit payment was
properly dated June 30 -- the last day of the 2011 fiscal year --
because the litigation occurred in that fiscal year. But the
settlement wasn't signed until August, in the 2012 fiscal year, and
without a settlement, the case would have continued with Oberman
back in court.
When asked if the comptroller's office should more closely
scrutinize the checks it writes, Topinka spokesman Brad Hahn said
the governor's office communicates regularly with state vendors, "so
it makes good sense for the comptroller to rely" on the governor's
priorities for accelerated payment.
Natalie Bauer, spokeswoman for Attorney General Lisa Madigan,
said payment decisions are the governor's to make.
"We don't handle the purse strings," Bauer said.
[Associated Press;
By JOHN O'CONNOR, AP political writer]
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.
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