City Council President finally speaks on Angela Stokes city paid legal bills

CLEVELAND, OH (WOIO) - As we enter the ninth week of hearings into former Judge Angela Stokes effort to win her law license back dragged on this week, Cleveland 19 reported $900,000 has been spent by the city for Stokes lawyers. Not a dime of the money got City Council approval to be spent.

When asked, Council President Kevin Kelley responded by saying "Should it cost this much, unlikely. Do we need to look at this a lot closer and
we need to kind of keep the lid on this one."

Kelley says the city has never seen a case like this.

It appears for several reasons Stokes has the city over a barrel.

Law director Barbara Langhenry ruled the following: that the city was responsible for Stokes defense. That the city didn't have qualified counsel to handle the case, so outside counsel was hired.

But why does Stokes get to pick her lawyers, some hired, fired, then rehired?

Council is hamstrung. "We don't have to legislatively approve this or we can't legislatively stop this at this point but trust me when I tell you we're looking very closely at it," stated Kelley.

At this weeks disciplinary panel hearing lawyers and the judge were comparing future hearing dates well into 2016.

Something not lost on Kelley, "I'm painfully aware of that."

As a lawyer Kelley knows that in most cases the company not the individual in question picks the defense counsel noting. "What might this cost if this was a private case and there was a private insurance company that was scrutinizing these bills, then I think it would be a different situation."

A final question: Stokes defense is over, she lost her case when the highest court in Ohio ruled she shouldn't have a law license.

Should the fight to get it back be on taxpayer's backs?

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