CAGW Releases Tenth Round of Numbers - Californians Out $7 Million 

(Washington, D.C.) - Over the last 10 weeks Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) has been informing taxpayers of the high cost of the continued litigation against Microsoft by nine state attorneys general and the District of Columbia.   Today, CAGW released its weekly update estimating the amount of money being risked by the states at taxpayers' expense.  Since both parties have concluded their testimony, the next round of numbers will be released following closing arguments on June 19^th.  The total amount spent can be tracked through a spending meter located on CAGW's website, www.cagw.org.  At the conclusion of the trial, on behalf of the taxpayers in the nine states and D.C., CAGW will present an invoice to the attorneys general for the final cost.

"Finally, after two and a half months of testimony and arguments, this phase of the trial is over," CAGW President Tom Schatz said.  "Maybe now taxpayers will find out exactly how costly continuing this trial really was.  From the beginning, the only ones who were interested in continuing the trial, aside from Microsoft's competitors, were the remaining state attorneys general."

CAGW has repeatedly asked for information regarding the states' expenditures in the case by filing Freedom of Information Act requests with the attorneys general, most recently in January 2002.  The states have either denied the requests or provided incomplete responses.  As a result of the lack of response from the states CAGW estimated the cost of the trial based on information collected from other leading litigation firms in Washington.  The analysis reveals that each day in court costs at least $30,000.  Once pretrial preparation, estimated at $250,000, is factored in the total cost by the end of this week will be $1,390,000. 

The state of California, facing a budget deficit of $23.6 billion, recently admitted that it was footing the bill for most of the states’ ongoing litigation activities.  The Office of the Attorney General for the State of California recently sent a letter to CAGW claiming that they have spent more than $6.9 million, not including attorney hours, on the case to date in fiscal year 2001-2002, far exceeding CAGW's estimates.  The letter also notes the amount of money spent by the state dating back to Fiscal year 1997-1998.  However, this does not match up with the expenditures the state claimed to the U.S. District Court in 2000.

"This is an extraordinary amount of money to be risking when your state budget is facing such a major shortfall," stated Schatz.  "Surely this money could have been better used.  These states, including California, are now even considering tax increases in an effort to break even."

"There is one month left of motions and filings before closing arguments are made, and then who knows how long until the judge makes a ruling.  Meanwhile, it will be the taxpayers that are covering the costs associated with this trial," concluded Schatz.  "The federal government and nine other states have already settled the case, and so too should the remaining states.  It is time to put the money and resources devoted to this case to where they are really needed."

Citizens Against Government Waste is the nation's largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.