This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

If we think $14 million is reasonable for the cost of the federal lands-transfer lawsuit, why should we question a $69 lunch from one lawyer?

A watchdog group called the Campaign for Accountability has been looking at expense reports coming in to the state's Commission for the Stewardship of Public Lands, the panel of legislators overseeing the lawsuit.

And what they found is high-priced, out-of-state lawyers doing their thing: first-class flights and the finest hotels and restaurants, all apparently expensed to the state. One guy showed up at the Alta Club on Saturday for his Tuesday meeting, and his meals included the $69 lunch, $21 of which was the bar tab. Record keeping is unclear whether that bar tab included alcohol, which is not a reimbursable expense under Utah law. Here's betting he wasn't washing down his meal with Shirley Temples.

The lawyers could empty out the Grand America minibars every time they're in town, and it still wouldn't be the biggest waste in this endeavor. Their lavish expenses will never top even $1 million of that $14 million.

The state has already allocated the first $4.5 million, and at least $900,000 has already been spent. A good chunk of it is going to pollsters, lobbyists and public relations companies, with the lawyers billing at their $500-per-hour rate just to meet with the lobbyists and to give Wall Street Journal interviews set up by the PR folks.

Why would lawyers filing a lawsuit need lobbyists and PR firms? If this highly questionable case is to actually succeed, it will have to go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and win on legal merits. So are we thinking the lobbyists are going to be useful in convincing Ruth Bader Ginsburg?

Of course not. Utah's political leaders have pinned their hopes (and our cash) on the transfer, but the people they've hired have a much simpler pursuit: stretching it out. The lobbyists and PR campaigns are intended to keep the funding coming, even if the lawsuit loses in lower courts. We literally are paying people to convince us to keep paying them.

The Commission for the Stewardship of Public Lands is bipartisan, but only the Republicans have been allowed to see all the information. The Democrats have been cut out on the grounds they would leak the legal strategy. And now the well-fed lawyer is declining to answer questions about his expenses, saying he can't speak without permission of the panel. We're not just bankrolling him. We're also providing his cover.

There is no secret strategy. The state has hired people who want to ride the pony as far as it will go. And right now, that pony is in full gallop.