Lawsuit pro bono?

Officially, the suit was brought by former Mayor Evlyn Wilcox and was prosecuted by Gresham Savage Nolan & Tilden, a Riverside based law firm that has done work for the city over the years.
Unofficially, speculation has long swirled that Wilcox was doing the bidding of City Attorney James F. Penman, her longtime friend and ally.
Both deny any collusion in bringing the legal attack against Turner and Milligan, both Penman enemies. A judge ruled in late August that both Turner and Milligan had to alter their candidate statements, giving Penman at least a partial victory.
Now, the question grows louder as to who paid for the legal services rendered by the premiere law firm. Wilcox has been less than forthcoming. She said last week she didn't yet have a bill, so couldn't say how much she'd pay. When contacted again on Monday, Sept. 10, Wilcox was more evasive. This is what she said, verbatim: "I don't know, we've been a longstanding client of this company ... this is not something that is in your purview or the general public's because this is between a client and an attorney. I'm not worried about this, about the cost, so I don't think anybody else should be. I would say I would not consider having the city attorney pay for the process that we went through."
Reporter question: Was there no charge? Evlyn: "That has probably not been clarified. Call the attorney that represented me, call Mr. Nolan."

There it is. The reporter called the law firm on Monday immediately after the Wilcox conversation. Called again Tuesday at 1:20 p.m. Still no response.
The question here is one of ethics and interest. This is only solid if Wilcox paid full-price for legal representation. If the firm worked for free, or had any sort of exchange agreed to, there is a serious problem here. The firm has worked for the city, so if they are doing the city and city attorney a favor, this would clearly be a case of government officials using their elected power to trample their competition.
No one has said that is what is happening, but until Wilcox or the firm comes clean about how these services were paid for, real transparency will not be possible.
We'll keep you posted.