One question kept on nagging me in the final days of the Cain Train: How much was the guy spending on a legal defense? While his campaign was sending out fundraising e-mails with titles like “Cain Attacked by Accuser; Will Not Stop His Effort to Renew America,” how much money was he giving to lawyers?
Answer, according to his fourth quarter FEC filings: $316,262.12. Some of that was standard. On November 1, the Cain campaign paided $3,096.50 to Troupis Law Office LLC, and on December 14 it paid that firm another $11,452.40. But this was the law firm handling the campaign’s regular legal work. The big spending started on November 8 with $20,000 to McDermott, Will and Emery, shortly after the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel broke news of possible pre-campaign FEC violations by the Cain organization, and a week after Politico’s reporting on Cain’s old sexual harassment settlements began. On November 14 the campaign handed $25,000 to Blank Rome, LLP, but most of the expenses didn’t go out until after Cain winded down – sorry, suspended – the campaign. On December 14, the campaign paid $44,372.72 to Blank Rome, and $153,937.60 to McDermott, Will and Emery, and on December 28, the campaign paid another $58,402.40 to McDermott, Will and Emery.
