Tollway Body to Review Fees Paid to Law Firm

Orange County’s two transportation corridor agencies decided Thursday to review hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees paid to a politically influential firm whose billings have already drawn most of the agencies’ legal budget for the fiscal year ending in June, officials said Thursday.

The San Joaquin Hills and Eastern/Foothill Transportation Corridor Agencies, which oversee plans for building three tollways in south Orange County, created a special two-member committee to review billings from the law firm of Nossaman, Guthner Knox & Elliott for the past 6 months and possibly longer, board members said. The committee consists of Mission Viejo Councilman Robert A. Curtis and Anaheim Councilman Thomas Daly.

Supervisor Thomas F. Riley, along with other TCA board members, last week criticized a request by the agencies’ staff to add more than $200,000 to this year’s budget for legal fees, already set at $640,000--most of which has been paid to the Nossaman firm. Riley recently had sought--but was unable to obtain from the agencies’ staff--an itemized accounting of money paid to the law firm, which is based in San Francisco.

“I was concerned that we were over budget and was unhappy with the level of information provided to us,” Riley said.

Earlier this week, Riley said that he does not believe there has been any wrongdoing but that he wants “everything out in the open” because “that’s the best way to serve the greatest number of people of Orange County.”

The request for an increase for legal fees was on Thursday’s TCA meeting agenda, but the agencies’ boards took no action.

TCA Executive Director John Meyer said Thursday that Riley has suggested it might be cheaper to hire an attorney to serve as in-house counsel. Meyer said he intends to look into that alternative and report back to board members soon.

But he strongly defended the legal fees that have been billed by the Nossaman firm so far. “We had six complicated pieces of legislation during these 2 1/2 years, and I don’t think we would have been successful without the services provided by this law firm,” he said.

“I have rejected some invoices when I thought the number of hours billed was unrealistic,” Meyer said. “There have been situations where adjustments were made.”

From 1985--when the agencies were formed--to June of last year, they have paid $922,469 in legal fees. A small amount of that went to the Costa Mesa-based firm of Rutan & Tucker.

Most of the non-lobbying portion of the legal bills involved the environmental impact report for the San Joaquin Hills tollway. That EIR is being redone to answer more than 200 questions and objections filed by the city of Laguna Beach and other opponents of the project.

Jim Erickson, the attorney who handles TCA matters for the Nossaman firm, could not be reached for comment after Thursday’s meeting.

In the past 2 1/2 years ending last June 30, the law firm--which handles both legal services and political lobbying for the agencies in Sacramento--has been paid more than $900,000, according to figures supplied by Donna Stubbs, the agencies’ public affairs director.

According to public records filed in Sacramento, the law firm received $376,000 during 1987 and 1988 just for lobbying in Sacramento. The firm’s partners include former legislators John T. Knox, John Foran and William T. Bagley.

Bagley is also a member of the state Transportation Commission and has abstained on Orange County toll road matters because of the law firm’s income from the corridor agencies.

Riley, Daly and other board members said Thursday that they have never received information about how the lobbying money was spent.

The lobbying fees paid to the law firm exceed those paid by the Orange County Transportation Commission and the Board of Supervisors for represention in Washington and Sacramento combined.

But the law firm has successfully lobbied for passage of several bills helpful to the TCA, including the laws that have designated the planned toll roads as state highways.

Also Thursday, the TCA board members voted to hold discussions with Meyer and others, including the news media, about improving communication.