Patrick Marley, and Jason Stein

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

MADISON – Republican lawmakers voted behind closed doors Thursday to give a blank check to hire two law firms — one of which routinely bills more than $800 an hour — in a legal battle over redrawing legislative maps.

The move will add to a bill that has already topped $2 million.

One of the firms the lawmakers hired is a high-powered legal operation where former U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement is a partner.

Clement, who has Wisconsin roots, charges more than $1,300 an hour, according to published reports. Legislative aides would not say if Clement will be on the legal team they are assembling.

Republican legislators on two committees approved the plan even though they didn't know how much hiring the firms will cost or even their hourly rates. Those details will be ironed out later, said Myranda Tanck, a spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau).

The plan was approved 5-3 by an Assembly committee and 3-2 by a Senate committee. All Republicans voted for it and all Democrats voted against it.

RELATED: How to contact your Wisconsin legislators

RELATED: More evidence of a skewed GOP map in Wisconsin

Assembly Majority Leader Jim Steineke declined to say why he thought the arrangement was a good deal for taxpayers.

"I’m not going to get into that," he said before hustling away from reporters.

Sen. Rob Cowles (R-Allouez) said cost controls should have been put in place, but he couldn't formally weigh in on the matter because he does not sit on the committees that approved it.

"As somebody who's argued for taxpayers over the years, I'd like to see a limitation," Cowles said.

Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca (D-Kenosha) asked that legislators hold a public meeting to discuss the plan before approving it, but Republicans rejected his suggestion and proceeded with their plan to hire the law firms behind closed doors.

Rep. Rob Brooks (R-Saukville) and Rep. Dan Knodl (R-Germantown) did not give a reason why they didn't want to see the cost of the contract before casting a ballot for it.

"I don’t know that it would be prudent to put a cap on this. I’m going to leave it at that," Knodl said.

Brooks silently walked away from a reporter, refusing to answer additional questions.

Matt Rothschild, executive director of the liberal Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, said: “It’s outrageous that the Republican leadership won’t specify how much of our taxpayer dollars they are willing to waste by challenging the ruling of the federal judges.”

Republicans hired Clement's international firm, Kirkland & Ellis, as well as Bell Giftos St. John. The second firm is based in Madison and the home of former state Deputy Attorney General Kevin St. John, who declined comment.

On average, partners at Kirkland charge $825 an hour, according to a review by the National Law Journal.

Prominent attorneys there such as Clement make even more. Clement specializes in U.S. Supreme Court cases and is handling redistricting cases before the high court from North Carolina and Virginia.

The Democrats who sued over the maps have also retained a well-known attorney to present the case to the Supreme Court. They are using Paul M. Smith, who has argued before the high court 19 times, including twice on major redistricting cases.

Taxpayers are not paying for the work of Smith and other attorneys representing Democratic voters who sued over the maps. But if Democrats ultimately prevail, they likely can get a court order requiring the state to cover their legal costs.

The plan approved Thursday also gives Fitzgerald and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) the power to hire any other firms they deem necessary to work on redistricting. No one else would have any say in how much they're paid.

A panel of three federal judges in the fall found maps Republicans drew in 2011 were so favorable to their party that they violated the voting rights of Democrats. Last month, the judges ordered them to establish new maps by November.

Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel plans to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. The two law firms Republican lawmakers hired would supply friend-of-the-court briefs backing the appeal.

Schimel supports the effort, said a spokesman for the attorney general.

New legislative maps must be drawn every 10 years to account for population shifts. Republicans ran all of state government in 2011 and were able to craft maps that greatly helped them in elections, sparking two rounds of litigation.

When the governor or lawmakers hire attorneys, they often put in place a cap that limits how much they will be paid. But lawmakers decided not to do that.

Already, state taxpayers have spent $2.1 million in legal fees related to redistricting. Those costs were related to drawing the maps and the earlier lawsuit.

In the earlier case, a court redrew the boundaries of two Assembly districts in Milwaukee because the ones Republicans established violated Latinos' voting rights. The court let stand the state's other legislative boundaries.

The state paid $1 million to Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren to help defend the maps in the earlier lawsuit; $443,000 to the plaintiffs for their successful challenge to the Latino districts; $431,000 to Michael Best & Friedrich for its work drawing the maps; $185,000 to Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek for help during an investigation into the failure of the state to turn over documents during that litigation; and $26,000 for the legal fees of a legislative aide who helped draw the maps.

The legislative committees on Thursday voted by ballot, rather than in person.

Neither the Senate Organization Committee nor the Assembly Organization Committee posted notices about those plans on the Legislature's website, as is typically done for committees. The Assembly committee alerted reporters to the meeting on Wednesday, but the only public notice of the Senate committee's plans was posted on a single bulletin board in a little-traveled Capitol hallway.

The Assembly Republicans who approved hiring the law firms were Vos, Steineke, Knodl, Brooks and Speaker Pro Tem Tyler August of Lake Geneva. The Senate Republicans signing off on it were Fitzgerald, Senate President Roger Roth of Appleton and Leah Vukmir of Brookfield.

Contacting legislative leaders

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester), (608) 266-9171, rep.vos@legis.wisconsin.gov

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau), (608) 266-5660, sen.fitzgerald@legis.wisconsin.gov

