Former DSCC Staffer Hires Top Dollar Defense Attorney
By brennan Posted in User Blogs — Comments (6) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Katie Barge is the former director of research for the DSCC. The Washington Post, quoting sources familiar with the investigation, tell us that Katie Barge is one of the two former staffers that resigned from the committee as a result of the illegal acquisition of Virginia Lt. Gov Michael Steele's credit report.
On September 21, the Post reported an interesting tidbit.
Bill Lawler, an attorney representing Barge, said she had brought the matter to her superiors' attention. "She resigned because she didn't want this episode to negatively reflect on the committee," Lawler said.
Bill Lawler is William Lawler III. He is an attorney at Vinson & Elkins LLP. The V&E bio notes his legal experience.
Represented Governor of New Jersey in broad public corruption, bribery and false statements investigation
That governor would be former New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey. The Bergen Record -- a Jersey paper -- columnist Mike Kelly wrote about McGreevey's troubles on September 28, 2004. He notes that Lawler is a well known white collar criminal defense attorney. Although...
Lawler doesn't come cheap. He charges $420 an hour.
Lawler must be a great attorney. His firm, Vinson & Elkins, also represented former Senator Robert Torricelli of the investigation into the Senator's fundraising methods. V&E seems to do a lot of work for New Jersey Democrats.
Before Senator Schumer was elected as chairman of the DSCC, another New Jersey Senator, Jon Corzine, was heading the organization. Senator Corzine is now running for governoer of the State of New Jersey.
Katie Barge has held a research position for the Edwards Campaign, a supervisory role of research at Media Matters, and in late Februray of this year she was named as Director of Research for the DSCC. I'm not very familiar with the compensation package for a political researcher, but does it fall in the range to afford a $420 an hour defense attorney?
Who would recommend Katie Barge hire William Lawler III to represent her legal interests?
To the interesting follow up discussions between the lawyer, the client, and the payor, involving the law, the ethics and the politics of it all.
That Steele is not the only person whose credit report was "acquired" by the DSCC. And that this activity had approval from someone.
Who?
Seems that it gets lots of business from Democratic politicians in trouble. Not their staff--the pols themselves.
Whose graces would Vinson & Elkins be more interested in staying in? Those of a twentysomething no-grade staffer, or those of the up-and-coming hotshot Senator Schumer?
I wonder if Ms. Barge had a quid pro quo arrangement: Vinson & Elkins take care of getting her out of her tangle with federal law, and she goes mum about anything and everything Team Schumer trained her to do.
Do political figures and operatives under investigation and/or indictment typically hire small town street lawyers?
Whether it's these folks, Sandy Berger or any of the Republican pantheon currently under investigation, I suspect that top flight attorneys are had by all.
Michael Steele is the Lt. Gov of Maryland, not Virginia.