CAGW Releases Fifth Round of Numbers

(Washington, D.C.) - In an ongoing effort to inform taxpayers of the high cost of the continued litigation against Microsoft by nine state attorneys general and the District of Columbia, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today released the fifth of its weekly updates estimating the amount of money being risked by the states at taxpayers' expense.  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.

CAGW's analysis, based on information collected from other leading litigation firms in Washington, reveals that each day in court costs at least $30,000.  The current stage of the trial, which began Monday, March 18, 2002, has now reached its fifth week, amounting to a total of $630,000.  Once pretrial preparation, estimated at $250,000, is factored in the total becomes $880,000.  CAGW has calculated that prior to the current remedy phase of the litigation, the cost of the entire Microsoft trial involving all the states and the Department of Justice is $35 million.

"There is still a long way to go in this trial.  Microsoft has just begun to present their witnesses and the remaining states have already spent nearly a million dollars," CAGW President Tom Schatz said.  "As the people in these nine states and the District of Columbia filed their taxes earlier this week, they are also faced with the additional burden of paying for this trial."

During the past week, Microsoft began calling witnesses to show that the stricter remedies called for by the states will be harmful to both the computer industry and consumers.  Over the course of the next month, Microsoft is expected to call approximately 30 more witnesses to testify on their behalf.  In attendance in the courtroom this week was Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, one of the nine state attorney generals that are continuing the suit against Microsoft.

"Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller was in court again this week, with Iowa taxpayers footing the bill.  We don't know the full cost of his visit, because Iowa and the other remaining states and the District of Columbia have for some reason still failed to publicly disclose how much money they have spent up to this point.  It is only fair to let consumers know the cost of this litigation," continued Schatz.  "I'm sure the money and time spent for Attorney General Miller's trip could be put to better use back in Iowa."

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.  California, which is leading the effort to prolong the litigation, has not revealed any of the current costs it is bearing in this case.

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