Rich

Former Newark Mayor Sharpe James (D) who has been indicted on various corruption charges, claims that he can't pay his lawyer bills.

Raymond M. Brown, of Greenbaum, Rowe, Smith & Davis LLP, represented James in court in July after the former mayor was indicted on corruption charges alleging he bilked the city for thousands of dollars in personal travel and vacations, including one to test drive a Rolls Royce, and steered lucrative city land deals to associates.

But Brown filed a motion to U.S. District Judge William Martini today asking for his firm to be removed from the case.

"Sharpe James has advised me...that his personal funds will not be able to meet the projected budget for the hiring of this law firm," Brown wrote in an affidavit to the court. "Continued discussions of this matter have the capacity to erode the lawyer-client relationship and to interfere with providing effective assistance of counsel."

That's a curious thing, considering that he's quite well to do with various pensions and bank accounts at his disposal. Indeed, he's got an annual pension of about $125,000 and had a million dollar nest egg, from which he withdrew about half. Not all of that money can be used in this matter, but it would appear that he has the assets, but not the willpower to actually use his own money for his legal defense. Further, if he wins the case, he would be reimbursed by the City for his defense since it stems from his time in office. This may be the first sign that things are not going well for James and his lawyers are seeing the mess pile up around them. Knowing that your co-counsel is also facing trouble over this case isn't making Brown's job any easier.

Indeed, that's the more interesting development - federal prosecutors are trying to knock James' other lawyer from the case:

Brown's motion comes as federal prosecutors seek to knock James' other lawyer, prominent criminal trial attorney Thomas Ashley, out of the case. Prosecutors argue that Ashley has a conflict because he represented two other people who could become witnesses in the trial when they appeared before the grand jury. They also said Ashley himself could become a witness in the case because James visited Ashley in Martha's Vineyard in August 2003 during one of the many personal vacations James allegedly billed to the city.

Ashley had another attorney, Alan Zegas, respond with a motion on his behalf, accusing the government of sinking to "unthinkable depths" by tarnishing Ashley's ethics to block James from having the counsel of his choice.

Martini will hear arguments on the motions Wednesday morning in federal district court in Newark.

The legal woes for James are mounting, and having a legal team in flux doesn't make it any easier.

Oh, and no where in this article does it mention James' political affiliation. I'll give you a clue - he's a Democrat.