CAGW Releases Ninth 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 ninth 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.

"We have now completed testimony in this trial, and after more than two months it is clear that taxpayers are going to end up with a rather hefty legal bill," CAGW President Tom Schatz said.  "People want to see the end of this litigation.  The only ones who are interested in continuing the trial, aside from Microsoft's competitors, are the remaining state attorneys general."

Microsoft wrapped up its case at the end of last week, bringing to an end more than two months of testimony on both sides.  Closing arguments are scheduled for June 19^th, after a day of legal filings on June 10^th.  Meanwhile, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly heard motions this week to dismiss the case, along with testimony of experts discussing how the possible remedies could be enforced.

"We are finally at the latter stages of this trial," stated Schatz.  "However, we still do not know how much money the states have spent on this litigation.  There are five weeks left of motions and filings before closing arguments are made, and then who knows how long until the judge makes her ruling.  Meanwhile, it will be the taxpayers that are covering the costs associated with this trial."

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 $1,330,000.  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 remaining states can better use the resources that are tied up in this case on issues related to their deficits.  Instead of raising taxes and cutting important programs they should analyze their own policies to determine where they can save money," concluded Schatz.  "The federal government and nine other states have already settled the case, and so too should the remaining states."

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