Lewis Seeking $200,000 More for Legal Fees

County supervisors, some of whom are becoming increasingly skeptical of bankruptcy-related prosecutions, today will consider Auditor-Controller Steve E. Lewis’s request that they increase his defense fund from $300,000 to $500,000.

The request comes four days after a mistrial was declared in the first criminal trial to stem from the $1.64-billion bankruptcy, with jurors voting 9 to 3 in favor of acquitting former county Budget Director Ronald S. Rubino on two felony counts.

The outcome has prompted some supervisors to question Dist. Atty. Michael R. Capizzi’s decision to retry Rubino and caused them to consider spending even more taxpayer dollars to defend officials facing bankruptcy-related charges.

“I have been reluctant to subscribe to the growing sentiment that the district attorney is overzealously prosecuting these cases, because the decision to prosecute is clearly a decision of the D.A.,” Supervisor Don Saltarelli said. “But given the circumstances we have seen recently, it looks a lot less like prosecution of defendants and more like persecution of the taxpayers. We need to quantify the costs of this versus the public benefits, especially in cases that are not criminal.”

The Board of Supervisors already has allocated $500,000 for Rubino’s defense, and a total of $800,000 to defend Lewis, Supervisor William G. Steiner and Board Chairman Roger R. Stanton, who face civil accusations for failing to prevent the 1994 bankruptcy. If convicted, the three officials could be removed from office.

The board originally allocated $250,000 for Lewis’ legal costs. In May, he asked to have that doubled to $500,000, but reluctant supervisors would only grant a $50,000 increase.

Attorneys for Lewis said his legal bills already have exceeded $400,000 and are approaching the half-million-dollar mark.

Supervisors are divided on the issue.

“He has a right to an adequate defense, and I am going to support increasing the cap to $500,000,” Steiner said.

But Supervisor Marian Bergeson said she opposed the increase, noting that some of Lewis’ auditing duties have been transferred to the new internal audits manager, a position created since the bankruptcy.

“I think $300,000 is adequate,” she said. “Under the circumstances, that is all I can support.”

But Bergeson, Saltarelli and other supervisors said they would consider providing more defense funds to Rubino if he is retried.

“With the strong showing of the jury for acquittal, we need to reexamine his legal defense funding,” said Bergeson, who in July indicated that $500,000 is the most she would grant Rubino. “The circumstances have changed. We need to consider each of these cases on an individual basis.”

Steiner said he is already prepared to provide additional defense funds to Rubino.

“I have no intention of abandoning Ron Rubino,” he said. “If he had lost, I would not have supported funding for an appeal. But he basically won. The district attorney’s office didn’t prove its case.”

Rubino has yet to make a formal request for additional funding. He has tried to keep his legal costs down by doing research work himself and using a network of volunteers to do investigative and paralegal work. Nonetheless, Rubino’s attorneys have estimated that the total costs of the first trial could exceed $1 million.

Steiner and Stanton have not asked for increases in their $250,000 spending caps. A state appeals court is expected to rule within the next month on a request by the supervisors to throw out their cases.

Capizzi said last week that Stanton’s case might not go to trial before the veteran supervisor leaves office in December.