The Kevin White sex trial: Taxpayers are on the hook for $100,000 in legal fees so far
August 18, 2009 at 10:14 pm by Kelly CorneliusBy Kelly Cornelius
PoHo contributor & R-LAND activist
Construction might be down but Commissioner Kevin White (D-Shovel-Ready) just keeps 
digging. He is currently in the middle of a trial for a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by a former aide. This article not only describes White’s history but indicates that taxpayers are on the hook for $100,000 of his in legal fees so far, and the article says that was approved by our current commissioners this past June……..WTF? His trial began Aug. 17 and the jury was picked Monday.
After this year’s budget brawl is over you will probably pay more for parks, dog tags, and other services and now you can add this costly lawsuit to the tab. That’s because the county has been named a defendant in the lawsuit, as well, so it is spending tax dollars for legal defense of its own interests, outside of White’s personal legal tab.
White is no stranger to controversy, most recently his involvement with a security contract he lobbied for (against staff recommendations) was questioned. The lawyer representing the security company in question, David Mechanik, recently hosted a fundraiser for White’s upcoming campaign. Uh-huh. As it turns out that same lawyer was also pushing that controversial sprawl project billed as a “multi-modal” center which was pulled at the last minute last week.
This article from the Times shows White’s laundry list — make that dirty laundry list —of other questionable activities. Can we afford Commissioners that cost us more in legal fees than they actually make in a year? You can decide whether to bury this one or not during the next election. Until then it looks like White will keep shoveling.
Unrelated but I had to tell someone………… last week during budget talks White appeared to be lobbying fellow Commissioners regarding a budget item and he cited a white paper recently done by staff. He wanted to make sure his colleagues on the board knew the “white paper” was not named after him. You just can’t make this shit up.
