Interesting to read that former Benton County Judge Dave Bisbee, conservative, tight-fisted Republican, has asked the Quorum Court to pay his attorney Asa Hutchinson — another putative tight-fisted conservative Republican — a whopping $73,000 for defending Bisbee against misdemeanor charges for serial unethical behavior as county judge. Bisbee was acquitted on two charges, but the jury hung on a third.

I’m not sure taxpayers should pay a cent because Bisbee had the bad judgment to hire his company to do public work. But $73,000? I’d be willing to bet that charge for a single misdemeanor trial is more than a public defender in Benton County makes for an entire year of defending hundreds of indigent defendants. What do you think Asa would charge for a felony, particularly if it wasn’t real money, but just taxpayer money?

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