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Finally, oil spill money on way

<b>First Posted:</b> 2/21/2008<br><br>By Steve Mocarsky smocarsky@www.timesleader.comStaff Writer 
HAZLETON &amp;ndash; City officials on Wednesday released to the  the identities of donors to the city&amp;rsquo;s Illegal Immigration Relief Act Legal Defense Fund, but there appears to be discrepancy of more than $100,000 in the financial records.

The newspaper sued the city in Luzerne County Court in December 2006 after the city refused to open the fund records.
Mayor Lou Barletta set up the fund to accept donations to cover costs associated with defending a federal civil rights lawsuit numerous plaintiffs filed against the city&amp;rsquo;s Illegal Immigration Relief Act.
The city previously released the amounts donated to the fund and the cities from which each donation was sent but refused to release the names of donors.
The city and the newspaper on Feb. 11 reached a settlement in which the city agreed to release the names and addresses of donors, as well as records related to expenditures. The newspaper agreed not to publish bank account or Social Security numbers of donors.
An initial review of the check register for the fund, which the city provided on Wednesday, showed that the city deposited about $412,000 into the account between July 2006 and the present.
However, two lists of individual donations received amounted to just more than $300,000.
No records were provided that would explain how the additional $112,000 ended up in the account.
City administrator Sam Monticello previously referred a reporter to city solicitor Chris Slusser to handle future requests and questions concerning the fund. He did not return a written message left at his office.
Slusser said he couldn&amp;rsquo;t account for the discrepancy and would contact Monticello regarding the matter.
According to the check register, the fund balance as of Jan. 31 was $246,974.76.
Major expenditures included approximately $115,000 to attorney Kris Kobach, the lead attorney for the city in the federal lawsuit, and approximately $23,000 to Slusser for his work on the ordinance.
The city also used the fund to pay a $10,000 insurance deductible related to the federal lawsuit and a $5,713 deductible related to the newspaper&amp;rsquo;s lawsuit.

City releases donor list to newspaper