Government watchdogs have called for an audit of money Utah officials spent to explore a potential lawsuit to take control of Federal lands.
As of June, the Davillier Law Group has had $912,306 in expenditures approved by the Legislature, with nearly $400,000 alone going to prepare a legal brief. Campaign for Accountability Executive Director Anne Weismann said that those costs are not in line with the contract between the firm and the state government.
“When we found out the invoices for this project were available online, we looked at them,” Weismann said. “It was pretty apparent once we looked at the contracts that the commission entered into with law firms and with public relations firms that these invoices were way out of whack with what the contracts called for.”
The contract states that the firm is required to charge flights at coach class rates and to bill only standard type and size hotel rooms. Weismann said that problems found in the invoices are rampant.
“The contracts say you can’t fly first class; they charged first class tickets. The contracts say you have to stay in standard accommodations; they charged for luxurious accommodations. They charged for weekends when they’re doing no work. Lawyers are doing things like helping the Heritage Foundation make a movie and they charged their legal rate,” she said. “The impression I walked away with was that these firms are using this $2 million as basically a slush fund.”
Orem Republican state Rep. Keven Stratton announced that an internal review into the use of allocated funds is underway.
