July 12, 2009 03:43 AM UTC

Governor helping companies get business in this tough economy

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• by: DavidThi808

( – promoted by ClubTwitty)

from the Denver Post

Gov. Bill Ritter turned down a $75-an-hour offer from the Colorado attorney general’s office to handle legal matters regarding the disbursement of federal stimulus funds, instead hiring his former law partners for up to six times that cost.

This is good to see. Without this kind of targeted stimulus funding attorneys at Hogan & Hartson might have had a reduction in pay. And that would have hurt the little people, their housekeepers, gardners, strippers, etc.

And it’s not like this was a sweetheart deal or anything like that.

A few weeks later, Ritter hired Hogan & Hartson through a no-bid contract.

…

Although the firm is working at a discount, lawyers receive either $290 or $450 an hour, depending on who is working on the case.

See, they are working almost at minimum wage for this deal. I worry they might not be able to keep the lights on. Because when billing a corporate client those rates shoot up to $291 – $451. (Actually I don’t know what they go up to but I pay for top corporate legal talent at times and $450 is in the ballpark of what everyone else pays.)

And while this might look questionable, sole-source contract to the highest bidder where Ritter used to work there, we don’t need to worry because we have full transparency.

The March contract between the firm and the governor’s office is vague. A letter attached to the contract says Hogan & Hartson will represent the governor’s office in analyzing the recovery act and help ensure that the state “receive and distribute its full share” of the funds.

Other documents that may shed more light on the work the firm is doing for taxpayers were withheld by the governor’s office on the grounds of “attorney-client privilege.”

And the client in this case is the State not the Gov so we need to keep this info from us to protect us, the client. I get it!!!

And when Ritter, rather than wasting time and money on putting it out for bid, where law firms that are not politically connected would waste his time with lower priced bids, he just went straight to the firm he knows best.

Ok sarcasm off. This is total bullshit. Every law firm that is qualified to do this work has been screwed over. And this is not hiring someone to represent Ritter, it’s hiring someone to represent the state. Using this logic, if Ritter directly gets a company to build a highway he can just hand it to whichever buddy of his he wants to.

And going single source, to the highest bidder, who is very closely connected to the official handing it out, is questionable at best. One can have pure intentions and their decision remains colored by what they know of the people they hire.