Former Rep. Mark Foley's (R-Fla.) efforts to turn the page (so to speak) on the scandal that cost him his House seat wasn't cheap. Foley paid his lawyers from Zuckerman Spaeder $206,000 during the first three months of this year, according to an article today by Roll Call's Susan Davis (subscription required).
But Foley is far from alone among members of Congress in running up hefty legal bills. Davis, who gathered numbers from recently released Federal Election Commission filings, notes that former House Speaker Dennis Hastert dropped a cool $70,000 for advice from McKenna Long & Aldridge after facing a congressional ethics investigation into his handling of the Foley matter.
Among the many other good clients of D.C. white collar specialists, according to Roll Call: Rep. Rick Renzi (R-Ariz.), who ran up a $103,000 debt to Patton Boggs (Renzi has been investigated by the Justice Department for a land deal in Arizona); Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-W. Va.), who reported a $20,000 debt to Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd, Evans & Figel (Mollohan has been scrutinized for his role in earmarking federal funds to nonprofits connected to his political allies); and troubled former Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Penn.) who paid $132,000 to five different law firms.
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