ditto for park strategies contracts with all piblic entities in the state of new york
Lawyers billed taxpayers $850 an hour to defend de Blasio
MORE ON:
BILL DE BLASIO
The right way to get minorities into NYC's top high schools
Homeowners, politicians blast de Blasio over property taxes
Top prosecutor says safe injection sites come at 'expense of public safety'
De Blasio administration clears massive contract backlog with homeless services vendors
The outside criminal-defense lawyers who represented Mayor de Blasio during a yearlong federal investigation — and billed the city as much as $850 an hour — tried to keep their $2.6 million deal secret.
As part of the agreement with the city Law Department signed last month, Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel requested that “this agreement and all bills and other documents be considered confidential and held by the city as exempt from disclosure under New York’s Freedom of Information Law.”
The firm also asked to be informed of any FOIL requests so it could “pursue any available remedies.”
The Law Department didn’t remove that clause when it signed the contract on May 24, even though experts say it clearly violates the law.
“How ridiculous . . . This is a hot-shot law firm and they should know that,” said Robert Freeman, director of the state Committee on Open Government.
He also criticized the Law Department for not yanking the illegal provision from the final contract.
“Why leave it in there when it is known or could be known that that element of the contract is contrary to law?” said Freeman.
Law Department officials didn’t respond when asked why the provision was allowed to remain, and said they don’t plan to provide any bills submitted by the law firm because of confidentiality protections.
The agency had previously denied a FOIL request for the contract filed by The Post on June 5 — nearly two weeks after the contract was signed — by claiming it couldn’t locate any pertinent records.
A Law Department spokesman said the agency has a longstanding policy of only providing contracts that have been registered with the Comptroller’s office.
Comptroller Scott Stringer’s office provided the contract on Friday, in response to a FOIL request, even though the document is still not registered.
It shows that the $850-per-hour rate applied to partners at the criminal-defense and lobbying firm.
The deal also allowed firm associates to bill at $500 per hour, paralegals to charge $250 per hour, and other clerical staff to charge $175 an hour.
The contract was signed by the city on May 24 — more than two years after the law firm was hired, on April 11, 2016.
The legal help came in response to a probe by the Manhattan US Attorney’s Office of the mayor’s fundraising, including allegations of special treatment for donors.
The probe and a separate investigation of the mayor’s fundraising by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office were closed in March 2017 without any charges filed.
De Blasio insisted from the get-go that he’d pay for his own legal bills, but reversed course in June 2017 and shifted $2.6 million of his tab over to taxpayers.
No comments:
Post a Comment