MADISON – Attorney General Josh Kaul has declined to represent Gov. Tony Evers in a suit over lame-duck laws, citing a conflict of interest in the case because one of the laws in question curbed the power of Kaul’s Department of Justice.
Instead, taxpayers will fund representation from a private firm.
Madison-based Pines Bach, which was selected last week by Evers, will be paid $275 an hour, according to a copy of the contract released Monday under the state’s open records law. The cost is capped at $50,000.
Republican lawmakers will also bill taxpayers for their own private attorneys in the lame-duck fight.
The hiring of private attorneys at taxpayer expense comes as legal costs mount in other cases. GOP lawmakers recently agreed to pay the Chicago firm Bartlit Beck up to $840,000 to represent them in a lawsuit over legislative maps they drew in 2011.
