Mass. House speaker names lawyer to review costs associated with probe of former speaker
By APThursday, December 31, 2009
Mass. House speaker names lawyer to review costs
BOSTON — Massachusetts House Speaker Robert DeLeo has named an attorney to review $378,000 in legal bills the House incurred during the investigation of former speaker Salvatore DiMasi.
DeLeo on Wednesday said Daniel Crane, former president of the Massachusetts Bar Association, would perform an independent review of the House’s contract with the law firm Gargiulo/Rudnick.
DeLeo said the House routinely hires outside counsel to perform complex discovery outside the scope of in-house attorneys.
Earlier this month four state representatives brought all work in the House to a halt to demand a fuller accounting of the money.
Last week federal prosecutors rejected DeLeo’s claims that detailing how the money was spent could jeopardize their corruption probe against DiMasi.
