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October 17, 2005 Recently in an open records request to the City Attorney we asked for the following information. I want to inspect the documents and records that show the amount of payments from 1992 to the present time from the City of Memphis for legal services or for other services to Mr. Ricky Wilkins and Mr. Robert Spence. This would include but not necessarily be limited to the Lottery, the Convention Center, MLGW bonds or FedEx bonds and other matters. The answer gives great encouragement to struggling young lawyers. The partial answer I received is Spence received $310,912.44 from 4/1/04 to 7/1/05. Ricky Wilkins received $472,703.03 from 9/16/03 to 8/31/05. They are still compiling what was paid to the law firm of Burch, Porter when he worked there. In addition to this, look at what he got on the convention center dispute. Here is a portion of a letter from Sara Hall, the City Attorney. “Beginning July 1, 2004, the City and County entered into a flat monthly legal fee arrangement as to defense of the City in the Cook Convention Center litigation and all payments were made to Less, Getz & Lipman. Under this arrangement, Ricky Wilkins received $30,000 monthly from the flat amount paid to Less, Getz & Lipman for his representation of the City and County in this case.” Do the math. $30,000/month times 12 months equals $360,000/year. What a deal. Mr. Spence was the former City Attorney. Let us not forget that Spence, in his capacity as city attorney, signed off on the FedExForum deal, non-compete clause and all. Wilkins has close ties to the Mayor as his former campaign manager. We have earlier reported on Allan Wade, the attorney for the City Council and his additional private practice. They are all doing very well at the tax payer’s expense. Click here to see what legal services are costing the tax payers and who gets the benefits. Also check out the sweet deal Robert Lipscomb is getting in his dual jobs.  The City Attorney is Sara Hall. She is competent and well qualified. However, she is spending the taxpayer's money in many cases to bring suit against taxpayers. The office budget under Mayor Herenton and the City Council has grown from 30 people in 1991 to 60 in 2005 with the budget increasing from $1,981,530 in 1991 to $5,782,982 in 2005. Working hand in glove with the City Attorney's office is Allan Wade, the Attorney for the City Council who recently got a secret increase in salary from the Mayor. Most taxpayers feel that we have too many lawyers working against our interests. City politicians hide from taxpayers behind your city’s legal department. Sunshine laws dictate that the public’s business should be open to the public. Yet, Memphis City Hall does everything in its power to prevent citizens from getting information to which they are entitled legally, by using the taxpayer-paid city legal department to deny and harass you. • The mayor has decreed that all public requests for information must go through the legal department. Why? Nothing is more legal than the public’s right to information. The legal department should not even be involved. • Concerned Citizens of Memphis (CCM) won its fight against the city legal department for a City Charter Commission. Then city politicians used the legal department and outside attorneys (all of whom are paid by taxes from these same concerned citizens) to fight through chancery court and appellate court to put off the election of the commission members from 2004 until 2007. Why? • One Memphis citizen asked in writing in November to know how much the city had paid in outside legal fees to delay the election. By late January, the city legal department had not provided the information. • After the recent ludicrous raises for city council staff employees, another taxpaying citizen showed up at city hall to obtain a list of city employees, job descriptions and salaries. He was told the request would have to be submitted to the legal department. Why? This is an open matter of public information, not a legal matter. • The mayor was quoted as unhappy that two lawyers in the city legal department now spend their entire time dealing with public requests for information. He wants to lower that cost by reducing the number of requests. Here’s a blinding glimpse of the obvious. Get the legal department out of the issue, and lay off both lawyers. City politicians have delivered the message loud and clear that the city legal department is there to block the public’s right to know. If the legal department doesn’t give information to a citizen, the citizen must then hire a lawyer to sue for the information. The citizen’s lawyer then must fight the city’s lawyers, who the citizen also is paying for. People whose salaries you pay are denying your right to know. What’s up with that? | FIRE AND POLICE NEWS | PARK SERVICES | CITY ATTORNEY'S OFFICE | PUBLIC WORKS | ENGINEERING DIVISION | FINANCE DIVISION | SALARY & BENEFITS | APPOINTED CITY EMPLOYEES | MEMPHIS SCHOOL SYSTEM | RIVERFRONT DEVELOPMENT CORP | INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT BOARD | HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT | MEMPHIS SHELBY COUNTY AIRPORT AUTHORITY | | Return Home | TODAYS NEWS AND MAIL | MEMPHIS CITY GOVERNMENT NEWS | MEMPHIS CITY COUNCIL NEWS | MLG&W NEWS | SHELBY COUNTY GOVERNMENT | CONTACT US | FAQ Page | MEMPHIS BRIDGE | |
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