Washington, D.C. – Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today criticized California’s attorney general, Bill Lockyer, for continuing to frivolously spend taxpayer money on the Microsoft antitrust case.  Though oral arguments in the government’s expensive and wasteful case have concluded, the taxpayer watchdog group continues to call for an end to tax dollars’ waste on the never-ending, and economically harmful, litigation. 

“Taxpayers are already on the hook in this case for at least $35 million at the federal and state level.  California taxpayers alone have paid $1,392,100.00 for their state government to pursue this case,” CAGW President Thomas A Schatz said. “One would think that with the worsening energy crisis and a local economy which thrived on a free-market technology environment, the elected officials leading the charge would realize how wasteful and damaging their participation in the Microsoft case really is.”

Last year, Microsoft had gone as far as to sign a draft settlement agreement in the case.  But the hard line demands of the state attorneys general broke down the negotiations and led to the current protracted litigation.  One of the lead attorney generals in the case was California Attorney General Bill Lockyer, who seems committed to pursuing this matter to the bitter end.  There is speculation that if the case were to end in this latest round, Attorney General Lockyer would join other state attorneys general to continue to fight the case into the distant future.

“Before consumers and taxpayers suffer further damage to their pocketbooks and portfolios, the state attorneys general should reconsider their win-at-any-cost strategy,” Schatz added.  “It will apparently take a demonstration of public outrage over the damage this lawsuit has caused to consumers, taxpayers, investors, and the economy for the state attorneys general to know when it’s time to settle.  CAGW will continue to mobilize taxpayers throughout the nation to demand and end to this wasteful litigation.”

CAGW is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization with more than a million members and supporters, dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse in government.

TOM SCHATZ IS AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEWS ON THE MICROSOFT CASE