Quinn Emanuel was instrumental in clarifying the New York State Constitution to allow Governor David Paterson the power to appoint a Lieutenant Governor — the post now being filled by Richard Ravitch. The firm would like $1 million for its counsel.
For those of you not steeped in the murky underworld of New York state politics, here’s a quick recap. Then-Governor Eliot Spitzer banged a prostitute. Lieutenant Governor David Paterson ascended to the top spot, and longtime Republican leader Joseph Bruno became acting Lieutenant Governor. That didn’t last long as the Democrats took control of the state senate by a slim majority, and Bruno resigned under the cloud of scandal (Bruno has since been convicted on charges of corruption). The New York State Senate exploded when two Democrats — Pedro Espada Jr and Hiram Monserrate — switched sides to join the Republicans and their new leader, Dean Skelos. At the time, Monserrate was facing charges of slashing his girlfriend’s face after spying another man’s business card in her purse. He was later convicted of misdemeanor assault, but cleared of the felony charges. In any event, Monserrat changed his mind and went back to the Dems, leaving the state senate deadlocked with 31 democrats and 30 republicans plus Pedro Espada. Espada was elevated to president of the Senate (turncoats gotta eat) and claimed that as president of the Senate he was acting Lieutenant Governor. Alright guys, I’m not gonna lie to you. This is gonna get kinda weird: Espada claimed he should have two votes.
In New York, Concrete jungle where dreams are made of, There’s nothing you can’t do,
Now you’re in New York, These streets will make you feel brand new, Big lights will inspire you,
Lets hear it for New York, New York, New York
Paterson announced he would be appointing a Lieutenant Governor. And that’s where Quinn Emanuel steps into this morass of prostitute banging corrupt girlfriend beaters.
Paterson proposed Richard Ravitch as an “honest broker” type of Lieutenant Governor that could bridge the partisan divide. But it wasn’t entirely clear that Paterson had the authority to appoint a Lieutenant Governor. As Toby Ziegler might say, executive authority is an area of the law where you want to have as much ambiguity as possible.
So Paterson hired the fine lawyers at Quinn Emanuel to resolve the Constitutional question:
After setbacks at the Supreme Court and Appellate Division, the Quinn Emanuel team convinced the Court of Appeals that Mr. Paterson was within his powers to appoint Mr. Ravitch to the lieutenant governor’s job that Mr. Paterson vacated when he became governor in March 2008 (NYLJ, Sept. 23).
Now, Quinn wants to be paid. But Quinn Emanuel is offering New York State a major discount for helping the state work through its (honestly pathetic) gap in constitutional clarity:
Mr. Paterson’s spokesman Peter Kaufman said Friday that the request for the $1 million payment by the governor’s chief counsel, Peter Kiernan, was filed with the state comptroller’s office on behalf of Quinn Emanuel and its attorneys Kathleen M. Sullivan, Faith E. Gay and Robert Juman. In it, Mr. Kiernan said that Quinn Emanuel had “unique experience, expertise and capacity” to handle the complex case and the constitutional questions involved in it. The request does not detail the hours worked by individual lawyers or others, but said 23 “professionals” worked “around the clock” between July 7 and Sept. 22 to meet court deadlines and prepare the litigation, Mr. Kiernan said. …
Ms. Sullivan, in a letter to Mr. Kiernan accompanying the firm’s request, said the $1 million payment represented a flat fee agreement between the firm and the governor’s office. “The flat fee…represents a substantial discount from the fees normally charged by our firm,” Ms. Sullivan wrote. “We greatly appreciate the opportunity to serve the Governor and his Counsel in this matter.”
I can’t imagine the summer fire drill attorneys at Quinn went through to get this done, but I’m sure it was worth more than $1 million. At least it would have been in a normal economy.
Still, some feel Paterson shouldn’t have spent so much on fancy outside counsel:
A spokesman for Senate Republican Minority Leader Dean Skelos, R-Rockville Centre, criticized Mr. Paterson’s arrangement with Quinn Emanuel. “The governor employs an army of well-paid lawyers, yet he had to outsource his legal counsel on this case and waste $1 million taxpayer dollars,” spokesman Mark Hansen said Friday. “He clearly has his priorities all wrong.”
Mr. Skelos, who challenged Mr. Paterson’s appointment of Mr. Ravitch in court, used Republican Senate staff attorneys David L. Lewis and John Ciampoli (NYLJ, July 24). Mr. Hansen said neither Mr. Lewis, who makes $100,723 in the Senate, nor Mr. Ciampoli, who makes $62,262, received additional compensation for litigating the case.
To paraphrase a certain Quinn Emanuel partner: if the Republicans has hired Quinn Emanuel, Paterson would have lost his case. But the Republicans didn’t hire Quinn Emanuel, they went with somebody else. So it was incumbent upon Quinn Emanuel to kick their ass in court. It is really that simple.
Honestly, $1 million sounds like a huge discount for litigating a state constitutional crisis in real time. Remember the state senate was essentially refusing to show up for work until this thing was resolved.
It’s not Quinn’s fault that the New York State government can’t get its head of its ass. If taxpayers want to bitch about it, they should consider showing up on Election Day and voting the whole, ineffective lot of them out of office. In the meantime, show Quinn the money.
Quinn Emanuel Requests $1 Million for Ravitch Case [New York Law Journal]
F1rst
Yes, lets here it for New York.
Typo:
“To paraphrase a certain Quinn Emanuel partner: if the Republicans HAS hired Quinn Emanuel, Paterson would have lost his case.”
I know an associate who worked on this. It was a crazy fire drill.
The only person qualified to make this money back for the people of New York at the hourly rate which would be required (especially given what has to be the limited power to actually do things as a Lt. Gov.) is Ashley Dupree. With her hourly rate, she could make this a winning proposition.
Unless Ashley Dupree was appointed as Lt. Gov., and then whored out for the benefit of the people of the state, the people of New York are getting screwed. Cheer up tax payers- you know what it feels like to be Eliot Spitzer- minus the rim jobs.
Josh Lyman didn’t say that – it was Toby.
Getting rim jobs is positively cromulent.
Who can’t get its head of its ass now?
Elie, get the burrito of your mouth, and CHECK YOU FUCKING WORK.
Good post, Elie.
I can’t tell if people who post compliments are being sarcastic., but I’m not being sarcastic: This was a well written recap of the situation, and conveyed the craziness that is New York politics. Nice.
Now will you tell us how many Facebook friends your second, secret profile has?
CHECK YOU WEST WING REFERENCES!
put ya lighters in the air for the big city. isn’t this post about albany?
Second to ridicule fat elie for incorrect spelling of “here”
WALRUS!
……
snarfle…..snarfle….snarfle…..munch…..munch….munch
……..
WALRUS!
Getting rim jobs is positively cromulent.
Getting crom jobs is positively rimulent.
“Concrete jungle where dreams are made of” – worst grammar EVER! Made of what? When I hear that song on my car radio and belt it at the top of my lungs, I sing it the way it should have been written: “Concrete jungle where dreams are made.” Period. Unless Alicia is saying “concrete jungle where dreams are made UP”? Now that at least makes grammatical sense.
Lets here it for elie
18
Given the last two posts, I would say that “concrete jungle where dreams are made UP” makes practical sense. But I could give a damn about the grammatical argument you want to make.
You had me until the last sentence. Unfortunately this state is broken and both parties are complicit.
As much as I want to trash MysTTTal for something, this actually was a decent article. You may now have pie, cake and ice cream Elie…
Someone help me – I’m looking for something about Quinn…
Quinn stays…
Quinn lingers….
Quinn waits…
I just can’t quite get it. Help?
23- don’t make me say it
Blind people.
24=23
How much does anyone bet nearly all of those “professionals” were summer associates?
26, CHECK YOU BASELESS ACCUSATIONS
Quinn’s over rated?
Yeah, 26 – this is a different guy.
And 24, I just can’t come up with it…it’s on the tip of my tongue…
It’s “Quinn _ _ _ _ _ _ _”
Help?
- 23
Of course this is Toby. Not only does this sound like Toby moreso than Josh, Josh is lying on a table while C.J. and Nancy are trying to figure out the answer to Danny’s question.
My bad. Terrible job by me. Fixing now.
–Elie
CHECK YOUSELF BEFORE YOU WRECK YOUSELF
It’s Monday afternoon. Where is “My Job is Murder,” by Susanna Dokupil?
Elie:
As long as you are fixing things, please fix this sentence:
“It’s not Quinn’s fault that the New York State government can’t get its head of its ass.”
HTH
DOOKAPILE
I’ll just leave that there.
30, in this case, QUINN REFRAINS
36 -
Too many letters. 30 only had 7 spaces and “refrains” has 8 letters. Try again.
ELIE – Do you even proofread before you hit the submit button? His last name is spelled “Monserrate,” not “Monserrat.” You even linked to a Wikipedia page with the correct spelling! Good lord.
Aisha Keys can suck my left tusk.
Elie, please don’t blame me for this problem, it’s not my fault. Well, okay, I started a chain reaction by banging that prostitute, true. But Paterson didn’t have to spend $1 million on outside lawyers.
OCEANS RISE
MOUNTAINS FALL
MYSTTTAL LACKS BRAINS
41
But QUINN REMAINS
No reference to Kathleen Sullivan and SCOTUS prospects? Clearly not a Lat post…
William and Lee is a joke of school, and doens’t deserve to be ranked higher than eminently better law schools such as UC Davis, Hastings, Iowa, Wisconsin, Indiana or Ohio State. That is a fact!