One can only suspect that the 90-minute executive session scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 26, by the Des Moines City Council is to take up issues concerning the payment of legal fees demanded by former Mayor Don Wasson and three council members elected in 2001 with tainted campaign funds.

Would the payment by the city of any legal fees at this point be premature?

Although the legal matters have been hanging around for more than three years, there are several recent occurrences which may affect the claims:

(1) The State Attorney General has filed suit in King County Superior Court against the financiers of Wasson's plot to stack the council so that he could be named mayor;

(2) Both the state Attorney General and the state Auditor have filed briefs asking the State Supreme Court to review a lower court decision that exonerated former council member Gary Petersen on charges that he had a conflict of interest in doing business with the City of Des Moines; and

(3) The blurring of several legal actions involved in these cases has led to at least one instance of the attorney representing the former mayor and council members charging Des Moines citizens for legal fees already paid by third parties.

The complexity of the cases and exorbitant fees being demanded should be reason enough for the council to delay settling anything until all legal issues are resolved. With the tightness of the Des Moines budget and severe cutbacks to our police services, we can't afford to shell out hundreds of thousands of dollars until the courts have finally ruled.

Gene Achziger

Des Moines