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考研英语报刊文章阅读及剖析(9) Bush spent $8 million, but hasn t settled with his lawyers Few lawyers did more to help George W. Bush become president than Barry Richard. As Bush s quarterback in the Florida courts during last fall s bruising recount, the white-maned Tallahassee, Fla., litigator became a familiar figure to TV audiences. He got the GOP equivalent of rock-star treatment when he came to Washington last January for Bush s Inauguration. At one ball, recalls law partner Fred Baggett, a heavyset Texas woman lifted Richard off the floor and planted a big kiss on his cheek, exclaiming, I love you for giving us our president! But Richard has discovered that the Bushies gratitude has its limits. More than four months after the U.S. Supreme Court ended the 2000 election, he and his firm, Greenberg Traurig, are still owed more than $800,000 in legal fees. The firm, which sent 39 lawyers and 13 paralegals into court battles all over the state, is one of a dozen that have so far been stiffed. The estimated total tab: more than $2 million. The situation, NEWSWEEK has learned, has gotten increasingly sticky. While lawyers complain privately about foot dragging , Bush advisers are griping about astronomical bills--including one from a litigator who charged for more than 24 hours of work in a single day. What you ve got here is a bunch of rich lawyers bellyaching, says one former Bush campaign official. Yet these guys got huge in-kind contributions to their reputations out of this. | 
