QUOTE
Burns may use campaign funds to pay for lawyer
By JENNIFER MCKEE
Gazette State Bureau
HELENA -- Sen. Conrad Burns said Wednesday he hasn't decided how he will pay for a white-collar criminal defense lawyer he has hired.
Burns told the Gazette State Bureau on Wednesday he's unsure what fund sources would be used to pay Ralph Caccia, a Washington, D.C., lawyer specializing in white-collar criminal defense and congressional investigations, among other things, according to Caccia's Web site.
The Legal Times first reported Monday that Burns had hired Caccia.
Jason Klindt, a Burns spokesman, told the Associated Press on Tuesday that Burns had hired Caccia to "review the facts" in the Jack Abramoff matter. Klindt said Wednesday that Burns has hired Caccia's firm as his personal lawyer but may choose to have his re-election campaign pay the bill "due to the partisan nature of it," referring to Democrats' attempts to link Burns to Abramoff.
"That's one of the things you do back here in circumstances such as this," Burns said Wednesday of hiring a lawyer. "It's nice to have another set of eyes and ears."
Abramoff is a one-time powerful lobbyist who pleaded guilty earlier this year to federal corruption charges and is now cooperating with a Justice Department influence-peddling investigation involving members of Congress.
Burns received close to $150,000 in campaign donations from Abramoff, his associates and clients. He pledged in December to refund the donations after the Abramoff story made headlines and became cannon fodder for Democrats in Burns' 2006 re-election campaign.
Democrats have attacked Burns for being part of what they call a culture of corruption.
The Justice Department has never said which members of Congress are part of the investigation, and Klindt said Wednesday neither the senator nor his lawyer has been contacted by the agency.
Democrats said the fact that Burns has hired a criminal defense attorney shows he is more involved in the Abramoff investigation than he has let on previously.
"If Burns really believed he'd done nothing wrong and this was all 'just politics,' he wouldn't have one of the best white-collar crime lawyers money can buy," said Matt McKenna, a spokesman for the Montana Democratic Party.
Jack King, a spokesman for the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers in Washington, D.C., said Burns is merely being prudent.
"In this day and age, it would be insane for any potential witness in a high-profile federal investigation to not have an experienced criminal defense lawyer," King said.
"High-profile federal investigations take on lives of their own. Everybody has to get a lawyer these days. Everybody -- whether they're a senator or a staffer."
Caccia has worked in other major federal investigations.
In the late 1990s, he represented a friend of former White House intern Monica Lewinsky who was called to testify in the perjury investigation of President Clinton.
Shawn Vasell, a former Burns aide who left Burns' office to work for Abramoff, has also hired a criminal defense lawyer, according to the publication the Legal Times.
Vasell, now an in-house lobbyist for Hewlett-Packard in Washington, D.C., worked for Abramoff until 2002, when he took a job in Billings as Burns' statewide director. After almost a year, Vasell left and returned to lobbying for Abramoff.
By JENNIFER MCKEE
Gazette State Bureau
HELENA -- Sen. Conrad Burns said Wednesday he hasn't decided how he will pay for a white-collar criminal defense lawyer he has hired.
Burns told the Gazette State Bureau on Wednesday he's unsure what fund sources would be used to pay Ralph Caccia, a Washington, D.C., lawyer specializing in white-collar criminal defense and congressional investigations, among other things, according to Caccia's Web site.
The Legal Times first reported Monday that Burns had hired Caccia.
Jason Klindt, a Burns spokesman, told the Associated Press on Tuesday that Burns had hired Caccia to "review the facts" in the Jack Abramoff matter. Klindt said Wednesday that Burns has hired Caccia's firm as his personal lawyer but may choose to have his re-election campaign pay the bill "due to the partisan nature of it," referring to Democrats' attempts to link Burns to Abramoff.
"That's one of the things you do back here in circumstances such as this," Burns said Wednesday of hiring a lawyer. "It's nice to have another set of eyes and ears."
Abramoff is a one-time powerful lobbyist who pleaded guilty earlier this year to federal corruption charges and is now cooperating with a Justice Department influence-peddling investigation involving members of Congress.
Burns received close to $150,000 in campaign donations from Abramoff, his associates and clients. He pledged in December to refund the donations after the Abramoff story made headlines and became cannon fodder for Democrats in Burns' 2006 re-election campaign.
Democrats have attacked Burns for being part of what they call a culture of corruption.
The Justice Department has never said which members of Congress are part of the investigation, and Klindt said Wednesday neither the senator nor his lawyer has been contacted by the agency.
Democrats said the fact that Burns has hired a criminal defense attorney shows he is more involved in the Abramoff investigation than he has let on previously.
"If Burns really believed he'd done nothing wrong and this was all 'just politics,' he wouldn't have one of the best white-collar crime lawyers money can buy," said Matt McKenna, a spokesman for the Montana Democratic Party.
Jack King, a spokesman for the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers in Washington, D.C., said Burns is merely being prudent.
"In this day and age, it would be insane for any potential witness in a high-profile federal investigation to not have an experienced criminal defense lawyer," King said.
"High-profile federal investigations take on lives of their own. Everybody has to get a lawyer these days. Everybody -- whether they're a senator or a staffer."
Caccia has worked in other major federal investigations.
In the late 1990s, he represented a friend of former White House intern Monica Lewinsky who was called to testify in the perjury investigation of President Clinton.
Shawn Vasell, a former Burns aide who left Burns' office to work for Abramoff, has also hired a criminal defense lawyer, according to the publication the Legal Times.
Vasell, now an in-house lobbyist for Hewlett-Packard in Washington, D.C., worked for Abramoff until 2002, when he took a job in Billings as Burns' statewide director. After almost a year, Vasell left and returned to lobbying for Abramoff.