Sound Politics: Delicious Irony

June 12, 2008

Delicious Irony

If your political memory in the area dates back to the '80's and '90's you appreciate this wonderful tidbit:

Even before the high-profile Sonics trial starts Monday, the city of Seattle already has racked up more than $1 million in legal bills in its federal lawsuit against the team.
Those fees have been charged by K&L Gates, the private law firm handling most of the work in the city's lawsuit to enforce the Sonics' KeyArena lease. As of May 19 -- the last time the firm billed Seattle City Attorney Tom Carr's office -- the fees had surpassed $1.1 million, city records show.

That money has paid for some of the top attorneys at K&L Gates, including former U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton, who bills $685 an hour -- even with the 10 percent discount the firm granted the city.

Gorton is not expected to appear in court next week, but K&L Gates partner Paul Lawrence ($420 an hour) will be the city's lead trial attorney, delivering opening arguments Monday morning.

Slade Gorton making significant coin thanks to the taxpayers of Seattle.

That's rich, indeed.

Posted by Eric Earling at June 12, 2008 06:46 PM | Email This

Comments

1. Slade used to save major league sports teams for free. The voters of Seattle and King County turned him out so now they will have to pay for his services, big time. I don"t see any effort by the current delegation to keep the Sonics. Win or lose, I hope Slade makes a lot of money.

Posted by: ROCKETMAN on June 12, 2008 07:47 PM

2. Agreed, ROCKETMAN. And with that I hope slimeball NBA Commissioner Stern chokes on his own spittle as he sputters to defend the officiating in obviously rigged NBA playoff games. For years the NBA has reminded me of pro wrestling. It's about time the league, its dirbag owners and commissioner pay the price for their dishonesty.

Posted by: Saltherring on June 13, 2008 07:24 AM

3. I know there can be a lot of Gates firms, but is this one of those firms in the election challenge or the viaduct proposal or the ST/Roads fiasco?

As for Stern, the man protesteth too much on those refs from 2002. If I recall correctly, it was those Sacramento/Laker series that began to turn me off on basketball. The announcers were indeed telling the audience that the league was involved in meetings with the refs before the game.

Posted by: swatter on June 13, 2008 08:28 AM

4. The City would do well to settle the lawsuit in return for a negotiated amount to cancel the Key Arena lease and recover all of it litigation and related expenses. They starting point is $ ten million.

But, that will never happen. Damn the risks. Stick it to the taxpayers no matter regardless of the outcome.

Posted by: Paddy on June 13, 2008 10:36 AM

5. I third the comments of saltherring & swatter. Stern is in deep doo-doo. Probably the most telling blow is the former ref's claim that they were supposed to give special breaks to the mega-stars like Jordan. Anyone who watches the NBA knows that has been the case for years. That opens the door to make the other allegations believable.

This is a huge boost to the Save-our-Sonics people, since Stern now has a bigger battle on his hands. I still don't know how they plan to solve the stadium problem, though.

Posted by: russell garrard on June 13, 2008 08:36 PM

6. Can we please just privatize sports?

I think there ought to be a separation of sport and state.

If any pro team asks state or local government for a handout, they should be told to take a hike.

They should build their own stadia, and fund them through ticket and ad sales.

Corporate welfare makes capitalism look bad.

I say we get the sports owners off the dole.

We should sell Key arena, and get the government and the taxpayers out of the bread and circuses business.

Posted by: Bruce Guthrie on June 16, 2008 12:20 PM