Accountability Group Says Utah Lawmakers Spent Lavishly on Public Lands Transfer Case

A nonprofit watchdog group is calling for a full accounting of money spent by the state of Utah on a lawsuit seeking the transfer of federal public lands. The Washington, D.C.-based Campaign for Accountability sent a letter Wednesday to the Utah Commission for the Stewardship of Public Lands, a legislative group that in December voted to move forward with the lawsuit, projected to cost $14 million. The Commission has hired a New Orleans law firm to work on the case. But the Campaign for Accountability, or CFA, which opposes the transfer, says some of the nearly $1 million spent so far is paying for prohibited expenses. CFA charges that invoices from the law firm and from contractors doing PR work include reimbursements for lavish expenditures, even though their contracts authorize billing only for coach airfares, standard hotel rooms, and “reasonable and necessary food”. CFA says the attorneys’ expenses included first-class flights totaling more than $5,700; meals including one dinner for $175; and stays at luxury hotels and a private club. CFA also charges that the attorneys billed their full legal rate even for meetings and other PR work, which is supposed to be charged at a lower rate. CFA tells the commission they are “allowing the appropriated funds to be turned into a slush fund apparently available to any and all” supporting the federal-lands transfer.