Washington, D.C. — The more than 11,500 members and supporters of Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) in Massachusetts joined the 4,000 members and supporters of CAGW in West Virginia to express their outrage over their states’ attorneys general continuing the Microsoft anti-trust litigation.

“Last year the federal government, along with 16 other states and the District of Columbia, reached a court approved settlement with Microsoft,” CAGW President Tom Schatz said.  “However, after spending millions of dollars on the case, the attorneys general of only two states, Massachusetts and West Virginia, decided that the settlement was not good enough and are still seeking stricter penalties.”

Both states appeared yesterday attempting to convince a federal appeals court to send the settlement agreement back to the lower court for more stringent sanctions.  While Microsoft has been abiding by the terms of the agreement, attorneys for the two states claim that it does little to restore competition and was flawed.

"The federal government and nine states pursued this case for five years and finally reached a court approved settlement,” Schatz said.  "District Court Judge Kollar-Kotelly made it quite clear in her decision that the additional remedies nine other states and the District of Columbia were seeking were too harsh.  Now, two states still disagree.  It is time to bring closure to this issue, and allow the technology sector to move on to new, innovative products and services."

In January 2002, CAGW filed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests with the nine states and the District of Columbia that were pursuing the case at the time to determine the costs of the litigation.  In response, a letter from Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly's office stated that a search would be conducted of related records and CAGW would later be notified of the results.  To date, CAGW has not received such information.  However, when announcing that Massachusetts would appeal the settlement last November, Mr. Reilly stated that the state would seek reimbursement from Microsoft for more than $700,000 in expenses on the case. 

In response to the January 2002 request, West Virginia sent a letter dated February 27 from Attorney General Darrell McGraw's office stating that the state had contributed $26,295.44 to a collective cost sharing pool among all the participating states.  The state also had $1,589.34 in travel related costs. 

“Upon the approval of the settlement in November, Microsoft agreed to pay up to $25 million in legal fees for the settling states, and establish a $3.6 million fund for enforcement,” Schatz continued.  “By continuing the litigation, West Virginia and Massachusetts could be jeopardizing their share of the money.”

In fiscal 2003, Massachusetts is facing a budget deficit of $250 million and West Virginia is short $30 million.  West Virginia is already considering tax increases to cover the gaps, while Massachusetts is likely to follow suit.

“The taxpayers of West Virginia and Massachusetts deserve better,” Schatz concluded.  “It is absurd for these states to second guess the district court's decision and risk more taxpayer money.  In an era of larger concerns, especially those relating to homeland security, it is time for Attorneys General McGraw and Reilly to move on and reallocate the resources they are devoting to this case.”

Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, mismanagement and abuse in government.