ST. LOUIS COUNTY (KMOX) - Embattled St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger says taxpayers won't be asked to pay for his defense lawyer dealing with the federal probe his office is facing.
Stenger spoke to KMOX after appearing in public Wednesday morning, making his first comments since a federal grand jury issued a subpoena, asking for Stenger's call history, texts and emails with current and former county employees regarding all county contracts.
Stenger was asked - who will pay for Scott Rosenblum, the high-profile defense attorney Stenger has hired, according to media reports.
"That sort of thing would never be paid by taxpayers," Stenger said, "but I'm not going to confirm that right now."
"Can you confirm that taxpayers won't be sent a legal bill for Rosenblum?" KMOX asked.
"Oh, certainly not, nothing like that," Stenger said.
Stenger was asked several other questions in the two-minute interview, including:
**What can you say to voters who trust your brand - to assure them you've done nothing unlawful?
**How do you keep the two worlds of campaign money and taxpayer-funded contracts separate?
**You originally campaigned as a reformer who was going to "clean up Dodge." What happened?
**Why aren't you saying this is an outrage, they've got the wrong man, I'm innocent?
But the answer was virtually the same for all questions. Stenger told us several times:
"What I'm able to say at this point is that the county was served a subpoena, and we intend to fully cooperate with that subpoena and provide any information that's sought," Stenger said.
Stenger spoke with KMOX after a meeting of the East-West Gateway Council of Governments, a gathering of local mayors and county executives.
During the meeting, Stenger appeared unruffled by whatever legal problems may be looming. He participated in the group discussion and asked several questions with a clear, strong voice.