So what do you figure the New York Times and all those other advocates of campaign finance reform are thinking as they sit silent over the $6.1 billion settlement a federal judge approved last week in the case brought against Worldcom by the New York retirement fund led by the New York state comptroller, Alan Hevesi? Two law firms that represented the retirement fund in that case, along with persons and committees affiliated with the firms, donated $121,800 to Mr. Hevesi’s campaign. One of the firms actually held a fundraiser for Mr. Hevesi in its Philadelphia office. An aide to Mr. Hevesi signed a retainer agreement with the firms setting a fee for their work in the Worldcom case and stipulating that the fee “is presumptively fair, adequate and reasonable.”

That fee, approved last week by Judge Denise Cote of the Southern District of New York, may have not been great news for New Yorkers, who as taxpayers are ultimately on the hook for pension fund shortfalls. But it certainly was good news for the lawyers who’d given the campaign donations to Mr. Hevesi. The judge approved as part of the settlement a staggering $188 million in legal fees, and about $11 million for legal expenses. Add this to the $141.5 million already granted in November 2004, and it adds up to an enormous $340.5 million that the lawyers involved in the case netted.

Judge Cote said the lawyers had done fine work. Still, given that these are small law firms, the fee amounts to a huge payday for a few lawyers who are supposed to be working for the state of New York.

Judge Cote let New Yorkers down by failing to mark this connection when approving the lawyer’s fees. But we believe ordinary New Yorkers who look at the facts in this case will understand. When state government lawyers are paid a $340 million legal fee after donating $120,800 to the campaign of the state official who sets the fee, it’s the sort of thing that you’d expect the state comptroller to be investigating, rather than perpetrating.