These costs should be illegal

Since 2011, Idaho has spent $10 million a year on private legal counsel. That's in addition to the budget for the Idaho Attorney General, which in the current year is $21.4 million for its 120 attorneys and 70 additional support staff.

In Kootenai County the numbers are substantially lower, but as today's front-page story shows, the pipeline between taxpayers, staff attorneys and contract attorneys is a thick one.

Idaho and taxing entities within Kootenai County have brought some of this on themselves. Idaho taxpayers footed the $400,000 bill that was recently paid to the attorneys who successfully overturned the state's gay marriage ban in October. Yes, that was last October, just before state and national elections. And that $400,000 doesn't include the cost of Idaho legal staff time backing the ban.

While the state is grappling with its multi-million dollar annual legal headache, Kootenai County residents just learned this week that a former county employee - an attorney - is suing the county for allegedly breaking a confidentiality agreement. Some say he's suing the county for complying with the state's public records laws, but that's for a judge or jury to decide. At issue is a $315,000 settlement the employee received after being fired in 2011 and then suing the county for wrongful termination, age discrimination and so on.

Certain legal expenses are not only unavoidable, but absolutely essential. Our system of governance - of protecting people's rights - depends upon a thorough, competent mechanism for resolving disputes. But the dispensation of justice can't have an unlimited cost. And that leads us to consider what each of us can do to keep the legal scales as close to balanced as possible without breaking the public bank.

First, remember that the bank is you. When you sue a public entity, what you're really doing, Mr. or Mrs. Taxpayer, is suing your neighbors, your co-workers and everyone else within that taxing arena. When you "win," the taxpaying public loses.

Keep in mind, too, that the public officials who select from various legal options are in most cases getting paid to spend your money. Unless the decision makers are volunteers, public officials who decide payoff amounts and how aggressively to defend or prosecute a case are tapping resources that you, the taxpayer, provided. Certainly they chipped in a little too, because they also pay taxes. But the general citizenry foots the vast majority of the big legal bill.

In many cases there are better, less costly resolutions. Professional mediation is one, but accurate analysis followed by simple, respectful communication early in a process can save huge sums further down the line. Going to court should be a last resort. Maybe someday, when taxpayers demand diligence and wisdom from their elected and appointed officials, it will be.