12/1/11 – Republican state Assembly leaders have refused for over five months to pay a legal bill from an attorney for the Democratic minority leader of that house. Bob Jambois submitted a 15-thousand-dollar bill in June for his services. And according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, he’s still waiting to get paid. Jambois represented Democrat Peter Barca in a lawsuit from the Dane County district attorney. The suit claimed that a legislative panel broke the Open Meeting Law when it endorsed the collective bargaining limits for most public union workers. Barca was the only Democrat at the committee meeting, and he claimed the G-O-P was breaking the public meetings law. But the Supreme Court said Republicans acted legally. And legislative leaders have paid the attorney fees for leaders of both parties in the suit except for Barca. Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald of Horicon said Barca’s legal fees were not paid while the suit was pending, and they were not officially denied until late October. Fitzgerald said he’s looking into the question of whether the Assembly is legally required to pay it. If it doesn’t, Jambois says he’ll go to court to try and get what he’s owed.
