Lawmakers eye legal tab; lawyers want more

Nassau lawmakers on Monday will take up $150,000 in contracts for two law firms involved in the county's recent redistricting case -- although the attorneys say they're owed thousands of dollars more.

Each contract is for $75,000. But lawyers for each firm said their fees are more than twice that amount, which would bring the legal tab close to $400,000.

One contract is for the law firm of Peter Bee, who represented Republican lawmakers in the case; the other is for the firm of Steven Schlesinger, who represented the county legislature's Democratic minority.

Schlesinger said Friday that he had just sent the county a $186,000 bill for the work done by his firm, Jaspan Schlesinger of Garden City. Bee, who was reached out of town and did not have a copy of the bill with him, said the bill for his firm, Bee Ready Fishbein Hatter & Donovan of Mineola, "is comparable."

Democrats filed suit in May after Republican lawmakers who control the legislature redrew the boundaries of the 19 legislative districts for this November's elections.

Democrats said Republicans violated provisions in the county charter that call for public hearings and a bipartisan redistricting commission before a new map is adopted, putting off the use of new boundaries until 2013. The state Court of Appeals ruled that the new lines could not take effect this year.

County Attorney John Ciampoli said the $75,000 cost for each firm was an estimate. The contracts will be amended when final bills arrive, he said.

Presiding Officer Peter Schmitt (R-Massapequa) declined to comment. But Minority Leader Diane Yatauro (D-Glen Cove) said the redistricting was just one of several "costly, unwise and wasteful" moves by Republicans, including a failed legal fight against a state takeover of Nassau's finances and a failed referendum to renovate the Coliseum.

"County taxpayers should never have had to pay for this lawsuit," she said.