U.S. Rep. Weller reports legal bills amid questions about ethics

31 Jan 2008 // Rep. Jerry Weller spent $172,517 in legal fees soon after a citizen watchdog group branded him as one of Congress' "most corrupt" members, according to his latest campaign finance report.

Weller, R-Ill., used campaign cash to pay Wiley Rein LLP, a Washington-based law firm, Federal Election Commission filings show.

His first payment of $140,893.05 was made on Oct. 2, just two weeks after Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics issued a report detailing numerous alleged ethical problems and possible violations of federal law. He has not been charged with any wrongdoing.

Weller and his spokesman Andy Fuller did not immediately respond Tuesday to phone messages left at their Washington and Illinois offices.

Jan Witold Baran, a partner in the law firm who has represented Weller before the FEC in past years, declined comment or to say whether Weller remained a client.

"We don't comment on our clients' matters," he said.

The $172,000 in legal fees paid in one quarter far surpasses what Weller has spent on attorneys in any other quarter over the years.

For the entire period between Jan. 1, 2005, and Sept. 30, 2007, his campaign fund paid just under $110,000, with its highest single payment about $25,000.

Weller, 50, announced on Sept. 21 that he would not seek an eighth term. His spokesman said at the time the retirement decision had nothing to do with the questioning of Weller's ethics.

The Chicago Tribune recently published a report that suggested Weller had not properly reported real estate dealings in Nicaragua, where the congressman owns property.

The newspaper also said Weller's wife, an influential senator in Guatemala and daughter of a former Guatemalan dictator, formed a nonprofit in Illinois with close associates or family members that raised questions about the congressman's omission of his wife's assets from his financial disclosure filings.

Weller has claimed he is exempt from disclosing his wife's finances because he does not know anything about them.