Attorney Gen'l AG

=bak 919see RAGAteam red team blue

AG as stepping stone to higher office, eg tom corbett; easy bones going after drugs, ecoterrorists; see also tim griffin (rove)

includes local DA as well as state Sec of State (in some states AG enforces election laws); oddly 2 raga AG are ex-congressmen?

See RAGA gopalso team red and blue, CPP, RICO GW
<div></div><div>new <a rel="nofollow" title="Read more" target="blank" href="https://act.pfaw.org/go/82077?t=3&akid=14136%2E2556770%2EItnD0W">York AG Orders Jim Bakker to ‘Cease and Desist’ Making Misleading Claims That His Silver Solution Kills the Coronavirus</a></div>More...<div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></div></div>=<a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/01/a-hyperconservative-state-attorney-general-wants-unprecedented-control-over-local-prosecutions/">https://www.alternet.org/2020/01/a-hyperconservative-state-attorney-general-wants-unprecedented-control-over-local-prosecutions/</a>no lnx
A hyperconservative state attorney general wants unprecedented control over local prosecutions
Written by Filter January 31, 2020by Rory Fleming
One might think Indiana has better things to do than police marijuana. According to US News and World Reports rankings, the state has the third-worst environmental quality, the 11th worst healthcare system, and the 14th worst roads and highways in the US. Until 2019, more people had been moving away from the state than moving to it for years.
But that’s not the way Republican Attorney General Curtis Hill sees things. He is supporting a bill introduced by Indiana State Senator Mike Young that would permit the AG to take over cases from county prosecutors when he believes there is a general declination policy for a certain charge—even when it’s a case of “don’t ask, don’t tell.”
The legislation is reportedly a reaction to new Marion County (Indianapolis) Prosecutor Ryan Mears’ declaration that he will no longer prosecute marijuana possession cases. Such a sweeping law would be the first in the nation, with prior attempts to rein in prosecutors being limited to specific cases and counties (like Philadelphia’s gun cases).
According to AG Hill’s spokeswoman Parvani Stover, his support is a result of a more general reaction to announced non-prosecution policies by chief local prosecutors around the country, like Rachael Rollins in Boston and Chesa Boudin in San Francisco. National pushback against reform prosecutors has recently been embodied by US Attorney General William Barr’s new presidential criminal justice commission and its woeful composition.
The Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Association (IPAA) is one of the most conservative in the nation, and that says a lot. It published a shocking letter back in 2017, declaring “ both medicinal and recreational marijuana legalization are wrong for Indiana” and that medical marijuana is, in their profoundly non-medical opinions, “not medicine.”
But even the IPAA is not standing for this attack on its legal mandate to utilize prosecutorial discretion, according to WIBC reporter Eric Berman. In an argument at the Indiana Senate’s Corrections and Criminal Law Committee hearing on January 28, the IPAA described discretion as “essential” to carrying out its duties. In this instance, the IPAA seems to be prioritizing principle over its political persuasions.
In contrast, after Aramis Ayala, the chief prosecutor of Orlando, Florida, announced in 2017 that she would never seek the death penalty, the Florida Prosecuting Attorneys Association (FPAA) showed its willingness to get decidedly wishy-washy regarding uses of prosecutorial discretion that its members happen to dislike. (In fact, the association’s chief lobbyist Buddy Jacobs, who narrowly avoided white collar crime convictions twice, was so desperate to swiftly decry Ayala’s move that he plagiarized a private defense attorney’s blog in writing a friend-of-the-court brief to the Florida Supreme Court on the issue.)
People who keep track of legislative assaults on prosecutorial discretion should not be surprised if Indiana’s bill passes anyway, however. Attorney General Hill remains an influential and hyperconservative presence in Indiana’s state government (despite being credibly accused of sexually assaulting several women at the height of the #MeToo movement). The bill passed the aforementioned Committee by a 6-3 vote, with only one Republican joining the Democrats in dissent.
If the bill does indeed become law, law professors and criminal justice scholars ought to track how the Attorney General uses this newfound power. Giving the AG the ability to snatch cases away from local court systems on the mere suspicion of a non-declination policy, especially given the dearth of charging decision data from virtually every single county prosecutor office nationwide, would be a worrying departure.
<ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; background-color: rgb(241, 242, 243);"><li class="hidden-xs" style="text-align: left; box-sizing: border-box; list-style-type: none; padding: 0px 0px 23px; line-height: 1.33;"><a data-ga-action="Home Headlines: Headline" href="https://www.democracynow.org/2019/9/10/headlines/attorneys_general_from_48_us_territories_launch_antitrust_probe_into_google" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; border: 0px;">Attorneys General from 48 U.S. Territories Launch Antitrust Probe into Google</a></li></ul><div>=</div><div><h2 class="entry-title" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.1em 0px 0.25em; line-height: 1; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://boingboing.net/2019/09/06/dina-srinivasan-triumphant.html" rel="bookmark" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">10 bipartisan Attorneys General launch antitrust investigation against Facebook</a></h2><div class="entry-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: " libre="Libre" baskerville="Baskerville" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">Attorneys General from Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, and the District of Columbia, led by New York Attorney General Letitia James, have initiated an antitrust investigation into Facebook, seeking to determine whether the company "endangered consumer data, reduced the quality of consumers’ choices, or increased the price of advertising." <a href="https://boingboing.net/2019/09/06/dina-srinivasan-triumphant.html" class="read-more" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">Read the rest</a></div></div><div>=</div>SUPPRESSION?<a href="https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2018/12/10/ny-attorney-general-underwood-exxon-ethics/">https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2018/12/10/ny-attorney-general-underwood-exxon-ethics/</a>Karen SavageA nonprofit with ties to the fossil fuel industry has filed <a href="https://www.govjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/JCOPE-181207.pdf?utm_source=Government+Justice+Center&utm_campaign=1cbfc8de9e-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_10_21_10_49_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_89e1c296a5-1cbfc8de9e-290615533" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">an ethics complaint</a> against the New York attorney general’s office, alleging that Attorney General Barbara Underwood and two special assistant attorneys general are violating state ethics laws in their climate-related litigation against Exxon.The Government Justice Center, led by board members who work for organizations that have received funding from oil industry and climate denial groups, alleges that Underwood is “accepting funding from an entity to conduct litigation by New York State on that entity’s behalf.”The complaint alleges that Matthew Eisenson and Gavin McCabe, two special assistant attorneys general working on the office’s securities fraud case against Exxon as well as other work, are violating state law because they are paid through the NYU School of Law’s<a href="http://www.law.nyu.edu/centers/state-impact" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;"> State Energy & Environment Impact Center</a>.Known as the State Impact Center, it was<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;"> established last year</a> with funding from Bloomberg Philanthropies, a nonprofit founded by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to support state attorneys general in “defending and promoting clean energy, climate and environmental laws and policies.”Eisenson and McCabe were both hired by the New York attorney general’s office through the State Impact Center’s fellows program. According to the Center’s website the Center “has offered all state attorneys general the opportunity to hire NYU Law Fellows to work under their direction as special assistant attorney generals on clean energy, climate change, and environmental issues.”The Government Justice Center contends that Underwood’s office hired Eisenson and McCabe specifically to “help pursue a private party’s political and litigation agenda.” The Center says the use of the NYU fellows program also violates the law by giving the impression that Underwood’s office can be improperly influenced by Bloomberg.The attorney general’s office said the arrangement <a href="https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/In-latest-effort-to-hamstring-AG-s-Exxon-suit-13449932.php" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">violates no ethics laws</a> and has been cleared by the state’s Joint Commission on Public Ethics.The Government Justice Center said the alleged violations stem from Eisenson’s and McCabe’s names being included in signature blocks of recent climate change-related litigation, including Underwood’s <a href="https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2018/10/24/new-york-attorney-general-exxon-climate-fraud/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">suit against Exxon</a> for securities fraud, and a friend-of-the-court brief supporting New York City’s climate liability <a href="https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2018/01/10/new-york-city-climate-lawsuit-liability-bill-de-blasio/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">suit</a> against five major oil companies.“The presence of the special assistants in those cases, funded by Mr. Bloomberg, raises questions regarding whether Mr. Bloomberg and the Center are unduly influencing decision-making and litigation,” wrote Cameron J. Macdonald, executive director and general counsel for the Government Justice Center, who wrote the complaint.Paul Nolette, a political science professor at Marquette University who studies state attorneys general and their role in national policy making, said it is common for attorneys general to tap into the expertise of various interest groups.“Overall I don’t see it [the complaint] as a particularly strong argument, in part because this type of arrangement has been very common amongst AGs for quite some time and that includes situations where AGs have worked with private class action attorneys on a contingency fee basis, which has also raised ethics concerns, but generally speaking, courts across the country have allowed that arrangement to occur,” Nolette said.“Clearly the [State Impact] Center has an agenda of ‘we want to fight climate change’ but that alone is not particularly unusual or what I would consider unethical,” he said.“We don’t hide anything that we do,” said Christopher Gray, communications director for the State Impact Center. “We are not securities lawyers, we work on environmental policy. The idea that we’re directly involved in a meaningful way, doesn’t meet the facts.”“This is another attempt by what appears to be a dark money group to de-legitimize the ExxonMobil investigation, which pre-existed the founding of the State Impact Center and which we don’t have any oversight or influence over,” Gray said.According to its charity registration statement, the Government Justice Center was founded in 2016 to provide “public interest litigation focused on government waste, negligence, misappropriation and other improper actions.”The organization’s board members include director <a href="https://www.manhattan-institute.org/expert/james-r-copland" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">James Copeland</a>, a senior fellow and director of legal policy at the Manhattan Institute. Exxon <a href="https://cdn.exxonmobil.com/_{/media/global/files/worldwide-giving/2017-public-policy-worldwide-giving.pdf}" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">gave $115,200</a> to the Manhattan Institute in 2017 for public information and policy research. The group <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=103&v=AkoP6bNj-Yg" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">posted</a> a Youtube video in March that was made to look like a real news story titled “The ‘Overheated’ Costs of Climate Change.” It featured former TV newscaster John Stossel, who interviewed senior fellow Oren Cass, who <a href="https://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/overheated-how-flawed-analyses-overestimate-costs-climate-change-10986.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">maintains</a> that the costs of the climate crisis are overestimated.Treasurer for the Government Justice Center is Brandon Muir, who is <a href="https://www.reclaimnewyork.org/about/" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">also</a> the executive director of Reclaim New York, an organization <a href="https://www.reclaimnewyork.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Reclaim-New-York-2016-Form-990.pdf" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">chaired</a> by Rebekah Mercer.Since at least 2015, the Mercer Family Foundation<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/01/12/trump-kingmaker-billionaires-robert-rebekah-mercer-pouring-millions-climate-science-denial" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;"> has funded</a>numerous organizations known for<a href="https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/201982204/201723199349104262/IRS990PF" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;"> promoting</a> climate denial, including the Manhattan Institute and the Heartland Institute.Tim Hoefer is president of the Government Justice Center and director of the Empire Center for New York State Policy, which was a<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130725041149/http:/www.empirecenter.org/AboutUs/EmpireCenter/" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;"> project</a> of the Manhattan Institute.Government Justice Center director and retired judge Robert S. Smith, spent more than 25 years as<a href="https://www.fklaw.com/attorneys-Robert-Smith.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;"> partner</a> at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, the firm hired by Exxon to defend itself against a growing number of climate change-related lawsuits, including Underwood’s securities fraud case.The ethics complaint echoes a <a href="https://cei.org/AGclimatescheme" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">report</a> published earlier this year by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, which relied on public records requests to allege that attorneys general are involved in a coordinated scheme by private interests to persuade elected officials to hold oil giants responsible for climate change. That alleged conspiracy includes Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, who is also investigating Exxon for possible fraud.“This seems to me to be just one additional part of this massive brawl between the New York attorney general’s office, the Massachusetts attorney general and ExxonMobil. I’m not terribly surprised that they filed this ethics complaint, but it doesn’t strike me as something that’s really going to go anywhere,” Nolette said.<a href="https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2018/11/19/democratic-ag-midterm-climate-change/">https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2018/11/19/democratic-ag-midterm-climate-change/</a>Nearly lost in the sometimes breathless coverage of the massive Democratic gains in the House of Representatives and state legislatures was a political sea change in the recent midterm election: for the first time in years, Democrats gained control over the levers of environmental law in four critical states.In four formerly reliably Republican states—Michigan, Colorado, Wisconsin and Nevada—GOP attorneys general were ousted by Democratic challengers. It is a development, observers say, that represents a stunning defeat for the oil and gas industry, which poured millions of dollars into those campaigns. And it could alter the landscape for several high-profile cases that seek to hold the industry accountable for the ravages of climate change.“Democratic AGs now hold 27 offices,” said Lizzie Ulmer, communications director for the Democratic Attorneys General Association. “That puts us in the majority.”The Democrats’ gains on Nov. 6 give them precisely the slim majority the Republicans used to hold. Among the ousted were some staunch supporters of the fossil fuel industry.The question is whether this new coalition of Democratic attorneys general will act en masse, launching investigations and filing suits as a coordinated bloc, as their Republican predecessors did.Throughout most of the Obama administration, the GOP attorneys general formed a united front. They challenged the Democratic administration on a host of issues, from health care to critical environmental issues like the Clean Power Plan, which sought to leverage market forces to cut carbon emissions, and the Waters of United States rule that gives federal regulators a larger role in regulating tributaries to major navigable waterways, which previously had been beyond federal reach.“They were very coordinated in their efforts to be a bloc and to be obstructionist during the Obama administration,” Ulmer said. As Texas Gov. Greg Abbott once described his former job as the state’s attorney general: “I go into the office, I sue the federal government and I go home.”Even when they were in the minority, however, Democratic attorneys general have been active, especially since the beginning of the Trump administration. They have, either separately or as a team, sued the administration 38 times, with some, like California’s recently re-elected Xavier Becerra, proving particularly litigious. Becerra was involved in 24 of those cases and has won 14 of them.Those lawsuits are likely to continue, and the new crop of Democratic attorney generals could bolster their ranks and file a few more of their own.That’s particularly likely in a place like Michigan, where Democrat Dana Nessel easily defeated Tom Leonard, the heir apparent to Republican Bill Schuette, who unsuccessfully ran for governor. Under Schuette, Michigan was among the most ferocious states in its support of the oil and gas industry, filing an amicus brief, for example, <a href="https://www.metrotimes.com/news-hits/archives/2018/09/05/bill-schuette-backs-exxon-mobil-appeal-that-calls-climate-change-unsettled-science" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">backing Exxon against a landmark lawsuit</a> filed by New York State alleging that the company defrauded investors by hiding the risks of climate change. In the brief, Schuette declared climate change to be “unsettled science.”Many expect Michigan will do an about-face, said Lisa Wozniak, executive director for the Michigan League of Conservation Voters. In a state that is still coping with the fallout from the catastrophic lead contamination of Flint’s water supply, Nessel ran on an aggressive environmental platform. A <a href="https://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2018/10/dana_nessel_hopes_to_bring_the.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">cornerstone of her campaign</a> was a pledge to use the full force of the office to decommission the 65-year-old Enbridge 5 pipeline, which carries tar sands oil from Canada under the environmentally sensitive Straits of Mackinac connecting Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. “It’s been deemed one of the most serious threats to the Great Lakes and our drinking water,” Wozniak said, “but I’d also say that it’s intimately linked to climate since it is carrying tar sands.”A larger questions is whether Nessel would consider joining New York and Rhode Island in their liability suits against the industry. “I know she cares deeply about energy policy and climate change,” Wozniak said. “And while she has not specifically said that she’s going to be joining those cases I would not be surprised if she did.” Nessel declined to comment for this story. In neighboring Wisconsin, Josh Kaul unseated another of Exxon’s chief allies, Republican Brad Schimel. That gave the party dominance in the upper Midwest because in Minnesota, Rep. Keith Ellison will replace fellow Democrat Lori Swanson and Illinois also replaced its incumbent with another Democrat, Kwame Raoul.  The oil and gas industry also lost an ally in Nevada, where outgoing Republican Attorney General Adam Laxalt had <a href="https://www.rgj.com/story/news/politics/2018/09/10/adam-laxalt-nevada-republican-nominee-exxon-mobil-koch-brothers-donor-foil/1203690002/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">emerged as a key foe</a> of New York’s lawsuit against Exxon. Nevada voters rejected both Laxalt’s bid for governor and elected Aaron Ford, a Democrat, over Laxalt’s hand-picked successor, Wes Duncan.Democrats also picked up a seat in the gas-rich state of Colorado, where Democrat Phil Weiser defeated Republican George Brauchler. Weiser <a href="https://pagetwo.completecolorado.com/2018/08/21/attorney-general-candidates-worlds-apart-on-state-issues/" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">has not made clear</a> how aggressively he intends to pursue climate-related cases and investigations. Weiser’s office did not immediately respond to a request for an interview, but in the past, the University of Colorado Law School professor has expressed skepticism about the suits filed against oil and gas producers. Three Colorado communities, including the City and County of Boulder, <a href="https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2018/04/17/colorado-climate-lawsuits-exxon-suncor/" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">have filed liability suits</a> against Exxon and Suncor. And it remains unclear whether the ever-litigious Becerra, who in the two years since he succeeded Kamala Harris as California’s AG, will join lawsuits against Exxon and other oil producers. He <a href="https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2017/09/18/exxon-climate-fraud-california-xavier-becerra-kamala-harris/" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">has remained noncommittal</a> on that topic, so it remains to be seen whether that changes now that he has a mandate from the voters.What is clear is that the new class of attorneys general is taking office at a time when their colleagues have already begun the spade work on some novel approaches to holding fossil fuel producers accountable for the effects of climate change.In addition to <a href="https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2018/10/24/new-york-attorney-general-exxon-climate-fraud/" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">the New York suit</a>, which relies on a 1921 anti-fraud act aimed at curbing Wall Street excesses, and <a href="https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2018/07/02/rhode-island-climate-liability-suit/" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">a suit by Rhode Island</a>, which uses its anti-nuisance laws to hold 14 oil and gas companies liable for pollution, Massachusetts <a href="https://www.climateliabilitynews.org/2017/11/13/maura-healey-massachusetts-exxon-climate-investigation/" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">is using consumer protection laws</a> to argue that the industry’s failure to alert the public to the long-term risks of its products amounted to false and unfair advertising.“One thing that’s really interesting in working with Democratic attorneys general across the country is that every office is a little bit different in how it’s structured, what powers they’ve been given, what their budgets are, what sort of authority they have,” Ulmer said. “When it comes to issue-specific questions, it truly is going to depend on the state.“But I can tell you a number of these candidates have talked about the importance of climate change, protecting the environment, protecting natural resources, making sure that the citizens of their states have clean water and really clean air and protecting the future during their campaigns. We know that’s something they’re going to continue…once they’re fully transitioned into office.”interim AG pretty ogood but<a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/14092018/letitia-james-new-york-attorney-general-primary-exxon-investigation-divestment-fossil-fuels-climate-change">https://insideclimatenews.org/news/14092018/letitia-james-new-york-attorney-general-primary-exxon-investigation-divestment-fossil-fuels-climate-change</a>tool<a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Attorney_General(state_executive_office)">https://ballotpedia.org/Attorney_General(state_executive_office)</a><table class="wikitable" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" border="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-spacing: 0px; background: rgb(249, 249, 249); margin: 1em 1em 1em 0px; border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); max-width: 100%; width: 658px;"><tbody style="box-sizing: border-box;"><tr style="box-sizing: border-box;"><td style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Attorney_General" class="mw-redirect" title="Attorney General" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">Attorney General</a></td><td align="center" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;">21</td><td align="center" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;">27</td><td align="center" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;">1</td><td align="center" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;">2</td><td align="center" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;">50</td></tr></tbody></table>  =<a href="https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/trump-economy-path-another-financial-crisis-and-its-likely-be-even-worse-time">https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/trump-economy-path-another-financial-crisis-and-its-likely-be-even-worse-time</a><div class="headline" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h1 class="node-title" style="line-height: 52px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; clear: both;">Path for Another Financial Crisis — And It's Likely to Be Even Worse This Time</h1></div><div class="teaser" style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 15px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="field field-name-field-teaser field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Ten years after Lehman Brothers’ collapse, the Wall Street casino is running amok.</div></div></div></div><div class="byline news-politics" style="margin-bottom: 0px; max-width: 350px; float: left; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">By <a href="https://www.alternet.org/authors/lynn-parramore-0" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">Lynn Parramore</a> / <a href="https://ineteconomics.org/ideas-papers/blog" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">Institute for New Economic Thinking</a></div>
In summer’s end, the U.S. economy looks to be sizzling. Unemployment is <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-economy-unemployment/us-jobless-claims-fall-to-near-49-year-low-idUSKCN1LM1RC" style="text-decoration-line: none;">low</a>. Growth is <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-economy-gdp/u-s-second-quarter-gdp-growth-raised-to-4-2-percent-consumer-spending-cut-idUSKCN1LE1GB" style="text-decoration-line: none;">higher</a> than expected. Consumer confidence is <a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2018/08/16/larry_kudlow_at_cabinet_meeting_we_are_crushing_it_on_economy.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">soaring</a> and Wall Street just set a <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/columnist/2018/08/26/bull-market-who-gets-credit-record-run-stocks/1073780002/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">record</a> bull run.<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;">“We are crushing it,” Trump’s economic advisor Larry Kudlow recently <a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2018/08/16/larry_kudlow_at_cabinet_meeting_we_are_crushing_it_on_economy.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">boasted</a>.<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;">The euphoria feels a bit like… just before the crash of 2007-8. Does that worry you? It should.<div style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 20px;"><p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;">Hold onto your 401(k)s, because the Wall Street casino that nearly tanked the global economy ten years ago is up and running amok again. <p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;">But what about the much-touted safeguards in place today? It’s true that in 2010, the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was passed to ensure that taxpayers would never again be on the hook to bailout of big financial institutions.<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;">Alas, according to Michael Greenberger, a law professor at the University of Maryland and one the key voices to raise alarms a decade ago, you can’t trust that promise. In new <a href="https://www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives/blog/how-the-largest-banks-are-leading-us-to-a-new-financial-crisis" style="text-decoration-line: none;">research</a> for the Institute for New Economic Thinking, he warns that bankers are wriggling right out of Dodd-Frank’s rules.<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;">If something goes wrong it could be even worse than last time. So we need to clearly see the game that’s being played.<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;">A Boom That Went Bust<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;">First, let’s recap what happened last time to knock millions out of their jobs and homes and send peoples’ savings down the tube.<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;">The late nineties real estate boom made people think, wow! Housing prices are going to keep going up. Let’s get a mortgage! Banks got excited and created investment vehicles to sell loans bundled together as Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDOs), which promised higher returns to investors. Credit ratings agencies gave the CDOs high ratings and investors snapped them up.<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;">CDOs became so hot that banks wanted to make more of them, so they started giving mortgage loans to just about anybody, even if they were broke. More than a few became famous as “Ninja” loans — no income, no job (see Thomas Herndon’s <a href="https://www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives/blog/mortgage-fraud-fueled-the-financial-crisis-and-could-again" style="text-decoration-line: none;">recent discussion</a> of that fraud-fueled nightmare).<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;">Banks said no problem: housing prices will keep rising, so people can just refinance their homes to pay off the loans. They sold these dodgy bundled mortgages to investors, and the credit ratings agencies cheered them, too, because banks paid them.<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;">A few people said, wait; maybe the value of these CDOs will collapse if people default on the underlying mortgages. They wanted to insure the CDOs in case that happened—even though they had made none of the underlying loans! Banks and other financial institutions at first thought these people were stupid, but they were happy to sell them insurance for a hefty fee, using a financial product called a “naked” credit default swap.<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;">The naked credit default swap is a problem. Picking out sets of mortgages that you have no financial relationship to and betting that they won’t be paid off is like seeing a sick neighbor who you think is going to die and taking out insurance on their life. For centuries insurance law said no, you can’t insure risk that is not your own.<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;">If you take out insurance on mortgages you don’t own, you sure as heck don’t want the debtor getting out of debt, through bankruptcy for example, do you? No way: then you don’t get your insurance pay out. Incentives get very shady. <p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;">But the banks and big financial institutions, including insurance companies like AIG, sold the naked credit default swaps anyway, saying they weren’t really insurance. Which was nonsense. <p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;">By federal statute, transactions on all this stuff were unregulated and undisclosed, so nobody had a clue how much they were worth and who had them. Investors kept on betting trillions that people would fail to pay off their mortgages even though they didn’t own them. Some of these actual home mortgages were bet on as many as nine times!<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;">Then everything spun out of control. Too many houses got built that people couldn’t afford and prices started coming down. Folks started to default, so CDO values collapsed, too, and banks like Goldman Sachs bought “insurance” on the very products they sold to investors. That’s kind of like selling cars and betting they will blow up as you drive home. <p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;">Greenberger points out that if we had just had regular defaults on mortgages, without all the crazy side bets, we would have had economic problems, sure, but nothing like a Great Recession.<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;">Instead, banks ended up with heaps of bad loans they couldn’t sell. Everybody who had taken out “insurance” on CDOs demanded their money, but nobody could pay.<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;">The rest is history. Lehman Brothers imploded. The Federal Reserve bailed out AIG so that it could pay off at full value the naked credit default swaps of big banks. Taxpayers shelled out trillions—first a $7 billion bailout package, then trillions more in the form of a special Federal Reserve magic called quantitative easing, to keep the banks afloat. The guys who ran the firms that made this disaster got gold-plated bonuses and retirement packages.<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;">History Repeating Itself?<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;">So here we are in 2018. Jerome Powell, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, says the economy is wonderful and we <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-fed-powell-banks/fed-chair-nominee-powell-sees-no-too-big-to-fail-banks-idUSKBN1DS260" style="text-decoration-line: none;">won’t have too-big-to-fail banks</a> anymore. Everybody can relax and trust the financial system.<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;">Now, Dodd-Frank did do some good things. The riskiest stuff—like naked credit default swaps—was supposed to be overseen, principally by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and the markets were meant to become more transparent. When you trade credit default swaps, somebody — a clearing facility — has to be between you and the other party to the swap to guarantee that the underlying obligation is paid off. Exchanges were created to make these transactions transparent.<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;">Both clearing facilities and exchanges would hit the alarm bell if a company like AIG started to lose a lot of money on swaps. The government would also be told who is making all the bets. If a firm didn’t have the money to cover the bets, then the clearing facility would close out the transaction before losses started to pile up.<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;">So we’re all good, right? Wrong, says Greenberger.<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;">The banks may have turned away from the business of insuring bundles of mortgages, but now they’re bundling and betting other kinds of debt, like credit card debt, student loans, auto loans, corporate loans — you name it. It’s the same casino games: they make asset-backed securities which turn into CDOs, then come the “naked” credit default swaps, and so on. Once again, people who are not making the loans are betting that those loans won’t be paid off.<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;">And guess what? While everybody was relaxing, the banks figured out a way to do their swaps deals outside of the jurisdiction of Dodd-Frank. They snuck the risky business overseas where the U.S. regulators can’t watch them.<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;">One thing they didn’t move overseas: the risk to you.<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;">The shady scheme went down like this: In 2013, the CFTC put out guidelines about how Dodd-Frank would apply to swaps executed outside the U.S. The CFTC said that “guaranteed” foreign subsidiaries to U.S. bank holding companies that traded swaps were subject to Dodd-Frank regulation. Since the standard swaps agreement for over two decades included a guarantee that the U.S. bank would back the deal if things went south for a foreign subsidiary, there was no reason to worry if risky swaps were traded by that subsidiary. Everybody understood if you were the counterparty to one of these deals, you counted on the bank to stand behind the foreign subsidiary.<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;">So far, so good. Except for the matter of a tiny footnote.<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;">Deep in the fine print of hundreds of footnotes in the CFTC guidelines, the major swaps dealer trade association found a little item saying that in a contract, you could, if you really wanted to, choose not to guarantee deals made in a foreign subsidiary. If you did not guarantee them, then Dodd-Frank would not apply.<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;">The swaps dealers association pounced. They said to their members, like Bank of America and Citigroup: Let’s do it! Just put a note in the contract that you won’t stand behind the subsidiary if it fails. We’ll move as many swaps as we want to our newly “deguaranteed” foreign offices so we can forget all about Dodd-Frank. Under cover of darkness, without notifying the CFTC, they got rolling. The banks got so cocky that some swaps dealers just started doing their deals in New York and then, after they were done, “assigning” them to foreign subsidiaries. Presto! No more pesky regulation. <p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;">Some customers wanting to buy swaps complained that this was too risky. But then they said to themselves, wait: if the foreign subsidiary fails and Goldman or JP Morgan won’t cover the loss, does it really matter? After all, we know from 2008 that big banks get big bailouts from U.S. taxpayers if they fail. (Ed Kane, a finance professor at Boston College, has <a href="https://www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives/blog/bankers-think-they-have-an-ethical-duty-to-steal-from-taxpayers" style="text-decoration-line: none;">warned</a> about this implicit guarantee, which actually inflates bank stocks and supports prices of their bonds). So the customers shrugged and kept on betting with these foreign subsidiaries.<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;">Greenberger explains that the CFTC caught up to the shenanigans in 2016 and made proposals to stop them. The four biggest banks, JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and Bank of America, which do 90% of all the swaps deals in the U.S., argued that it’s really not a problem because if the trades get assigned to London or Frankfurt, for example, the European Union (EU) has lots of regulations to make sure everything is safe and sound.<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;">To this, Greenberger says, “Who are they kidding? Just look at the EU. Deutsche Bank is hanging on by its fingernails. Many Italian banks are failing. Turkey is in terrible trouble. The financial markets in those countries are teetering, and we’re going to rely on them to regulate this stuff?”<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;">There’s another catch: U.S. regulators can’t get information on these “foreign” deals, so nobody knows the full extent of the trading. But you can think in terms of many trillions of dollars. Basically, we’re right back to a non-transparent market with boatloads of money sloshing around everywhere. Just like last time.<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;">The CFTC regulators told the banks that their “deguarantee” argument was baloney and vowed to stipulate that Dodd-Frank applied to these deals. Then Trump got elected.<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;">“Deregulation” is one of Trump’s favorites words, so closing this loophole now is about as likely as a bank CEO going to jail. Not happening.<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;">Consider this: Right now, American students are amassing huge piles of debt. If students stop paying off their loans, there will be a lot of defaults. Actually, it’s already starting to happen. On Wall Street, people have been betting on these defaults and buying naked credit default swaps to guarantee that they will be paid if the students can’t pay.<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;">By the way, wonder why it’s so hard to get out of student debt once you’ve got it? Because the Wall Street casino guys with the naked credit default swaps want their insurance money, that’s why.<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;">Casino games are also rolling with credit card debt. Same thing with auto loans. Corporate-debt, too. We’re talking trillions of dollars in defaults. Sound familiar?<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;">If this continues, what happens to the credit defaults swaps that have been assigned to an office in Frankfurt? Who pays if the foreign subsidiary goes under? Not the citizens of Germany, says Greenberger. You can be sure of that.<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;">This hasn’t happened yet, but there was a red flag back in 2012. The London Whale scandal, which reared its ugly head when a trader at a London subsidiary of JP Morgan lost $6 billion in a swaps deal, came after Dodd-Frank passed, but before it went into effect (and before the loophole was discovered). The bank had enough in cash reserves to take that enormous hit, but most banks would not. JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/lynn-parramore/jamie-dimons-ultra-americ_b_2915429.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">called it</a> a “tempest in a teapot.” Others were not convinced: Forbes magazine put out an <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2013/01/24/how-jamie-dimon-endangers-the-public-safety/#58ae2d155166" style="text-decoration-line: none;">article</a> about it called, “How Jamie Dimon and JPMorgan Chase Endanger the Public Safety.”<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;">(By the way, JP Morgan and other big banks, along with bank-friendly regulators, have been <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-proposes-retooling-big-bank-capital-rule-1523478608" style="text-decoration-line: none;">arguing</a> that they should be able to keep less money on reserve).<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;">Greenberger notes that the London Whale was the result of trading by just one guy. If you had ten of these, the banks probably wouldn’t be able to pay off their obligations and the counterparties wouldn’t be able to pay off theirs, either.<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;">It’s 2007 all over again. <p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;">Greenberger says that if big financial firms fail because they can’t pay each other off, it’s not going to be a recession, but more like the Great Depression. A worldwide economic meltdown with everybody trying to get their money out of the banks and institutions failing everywhere you turn. The only way to stop it would be to bail the banks out.<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;">But American taxpayers hate that idea. Greenberger doesn’t believe they’d go for it. Even if the Federal Reserve stepped in to do some behind-the-scenes magic like quantitative easing instead of an upfront bailout that Congress would have to approve, he thinks that the public would still mobilize to fight it.<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;">“Besides that,” he notes, “I think we can subjectively say that Trump’s federal regulators are not as skilled as those who handled the last crisis. So it’s going to be total havoc.”<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;">Political Chaos on the Horizon<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;">It would be hard to exaggerate just what a political crisis this would be. The Tea Party, you’ll recall, emerged as a response to anger at the bank bailouts. Bitterness over the injustice of what happened in 2008 may well be a key reason why Trump is president.<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;">“Everybody else went through trauma, except the big banks,” Greenberger observes. “Dick Fuld of Lehman has got houses all over the world, sitting pretty. The head of Merrill Lynch got a golden multi-million dollar parachute. The rest of us were losing jobs or flipping hamburgers at McDonald’s. If something goes wrong again and there’s wind that these four big banks are somehow going to be rescued in spite of their recklessness, there will be political hell to pay for that.”<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;">Remember, another systematic bank failure leaves two ugly possibilities: a bailout or a depression, with perhaps a third of the country out of work. <p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;">Faced with this choice, the public might be even more enraged than last time. Trust would break down completely. If you sit down and start thinking about that, you begin to get very, very worried.<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;">A Way Out?<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;">There’s one avenue of relief, says Greenberger. Not an easy one, but a possibility.<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;">State attorneys general have a statutory right to bring actions in federal district court on behalf of their citizens to enforce Dodd-Frank. Because the banks are clearly evading the law, he says it’s an open and shut case: “The law says that if these transactions could imperil the US economy, Dodd-Frank applies wherever they take place.”<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;">The trouble is finding attorneys general with the will to fight. Greenberger says that unfortunately, many of them, while otherwise first rate, just don’t understand the swaps market. “They tremble and panic over the idea that they might have to bring a lawsuit concerning swaps,” he says.<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;">The Democratic Party, he reminds us, is pretty much split between those who are sympathetic to the banks (and enjoy taking political contributions from them) and those who want to fight this stuff out. It’s far from certain that the second group will be heeded.    <p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;">Trump assures Americans that there’s only smooth sailing ahead. Everybody will be employed and banks will no longer be dangerous. The economy is “the greatest ever,” he <a href="https://www.boston.com/news/politics/2018/06/04/ap-fact-check-trump-says-economy-best-ever-its-not" style="text-decoration-line: none;">claims</a>.<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;">...
<header class="entry-header" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-right: 202.141px; margin-left: 67.375px;" myriad="Myriad" pro="Pro" system-ui="system-ui" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" sans="Sans" droid="Droid" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><h1 class="entry-title" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; margin: 0px 0px 0.848485em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; font-family: myriad-pro-condensed, " myriad="Myriad" pro="Pro" myriad-pro="myriad-pro" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" rem="rem" line-height="line-height" hyphens="hyphens" none="none">Mason Attorneys General Education Program</h1></header><div class="entry-content" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-right: 202.141px; margin-left: 67.375px; border-color: rgb(209, 209, 209);" myriad="Myriad" pro="Pro" system-ui="system-ui" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" oxygen="Oxygen" ubuntu="Ubuntu" cantarell="Cantarell" fira="Fira" sans="Sans" droid="Droid" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><h2 style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; margin: 0px 0px 1.21739em; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; font-family: myriad-pro-condensed, " myriad="Myriad" pro="Pro" myriad-pro="myriad-pro" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" rem="rem" line-height="line-height"><a href="http://masonlec.org/lec_new/upcoming-events-attorneys-general-education-program" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">UPCOMING EVENTS</a>  | <a href="http://masonlec.org/lec_new/past-events-attorneys-general-education-program" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none;">PAST EVENTS</a></h2>State Attorneys General face an incredibly diverse and complex array of issues that have significant regulatory and public policy implications. The Attorneys General Education Program offers substantive continuing professional education programs designed to help AGs and their senior staff lawyers deepen their knowledge of the economics principles that underlie those issues and improve their prosecutorial and public policy decision-making skills.With the advice of a bipartisan Advisory Board comprised pf current and former state attorneys general, the AGEP offers timely, rigorous, and balanced programs that teach basic economics concepts and how to apply them to important issues facing states. It also offers more focused educational programs that analyze the underlying economics of a variety of topic, ranging from banking and finance to consumer protection, and from energy and environmental regulation to the economics of the sharing economy.AGEP offerings include:<div style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px;"><ul style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.75em; padding: 0px; list-style-position: initial; list-style-image: initial;"><li style="box-sizing: inherit; list-style-type: none;"><ul style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1.25em; padding: 0px; list-style: disc;"><li style="box-sizing: inherit; list-style-type: none;"><ul style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1.25em; padding: 0px; list-style: disc;"><li style="box-sizing: inherit;">The Economics Institute: The Attorneys General Economics Institute provides an introduction to basic concepts of law and economics with a focus on applications in the public policy arena relevant to state officials. Over three days of classroom lectures and discussions, participants learn about markets in action, property rights and exchange, competition and monopoly, information costs and transaction costs, and the economics of insurance.</li><li style="box-sizing: inherit;">Policy Institutes, Workshops, and Symposia: Public policy institutes and workshops build on the economics training provided in the Economics Institute and apply those lessons to specific policy issues. Symposia and public policy conferences feature panel discussions and debates by leading experts on many of the issues state AG offices and other policymakers face in the course of their public service. These programs are typically open to attorneys at sate and federal regulatory agencies in addition to AG senior staff lawyers.</li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></div></div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;" pt="PT" serif="serif" georgia="Georgia" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/article/e8a2cd9143e14b3397c5ba8d2bfde9c0/apnewsbreak-attorneys-general-cast-doubt-utah-land-push" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 600; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">Associated Press reported this week </a>that the Western Conference of Attorneys General has issued<a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3117841-CWAG-Public-Lands-Subcommittee-Report-PDF.html" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 600; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;"> an analysis</a> rejecting claims made by leading proponents of a public lands takeover scheme who were claiming, laughably, that the  U.S. government has no right to hold national forests, wildlife refuges, national monuments, and other public lands in trust for all Americans.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;" pt="PT" serif="serif" georgia="Georgia" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">Utah is currently in the process of planning a <a href="http://westernpriorities.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=6b3f59dc19c07727b0b196979&id=4fd45e1f8c&e=4cc30cc0ad" target="blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://westernpriorities.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u%3D6b3f59dc19c07727b0b196979%26id%3D4fd45e1f8c%26e%3D4cc30cc0ad&source=gmail&ust=1475672570760000&usg=AFQjCNGDqMFmRyOYix6L3hJTuF_hrFTk4w" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 600; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">$14 million dollar lawsuit</a> against the U.S. government for control over public lands.  No other Western states have joined Utah in pouring their money down the toilet. This new analysis by the mostly republican AGs in the very states Montana State Senator Jennifer Fielder (who leads the public land takeover movement) has been targeting, throws cold water on any remaining delusions that this nonsense would fly.  Fielder had been <a href="https://jenniferfieldermontana.wordpress.com/2016/02/01/utah-could-win-public-lands-lawsuit/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 600; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">telling us the exact opposite</a>, that Utah could succeed.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;" pt="PT" serif="serif" georgia="Georgia" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">By a vote of 11 to 1, the bipartisan group of Western Attorneys General adopted the analysis undermining Utah’s legal case. The AP got the analysis through a public records request.  There were seven Republican attorneys general, three Democrats and one independent, including AGs from Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Alaska, Utah (hilariously), Colorado, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, Nevada and Arizona.  They voted 11-1 (Nevada was the lone dissenter) to approve the report at their annual meeting in Idaho this summer, but the AP wasn’t able to get the report until now.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;" pt="PT" serif="serif" georgia="Georgia" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"> ballotopedia hmmn<table border="1" class="wikitable collapsible ; collapsed ; sortable" width="60%" id="collapsibleTable0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0px; border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); border-collapse: collapse;" open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" line-height="line-height" px="px" background="background" rgb="rgb"><tbody><tr><th style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em; text-align: center; background: rgb(0, 0, 139);">State</th><th style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em; text-align: center; background: rgb(0, 0, 139);">Officer</th><th style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em; text-align: center; background: rgb(0, 0, 139);">Assumed office</th></tr><tr><td align="center" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Attorney_General_of_Nevada" title="Attorney General of Nevada" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Nevada</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><center><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Adam_Paul_Laxalt" title="Adam Paul Laxalt" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Adam Laxalt</a></center></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><center>2015</center></td></tr><tr><td align="center" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Attorney_General_of_South_Carolina" title="Attorney General of South Carolina" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">South Carolina</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><center><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Alan_Wilson(South_Carolina)" title="Alan Wilson (South Carolina)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Alan Wilson</a></center></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><center>2011</center></td></tr><tr><td align="center" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Attorney_General_of_Michigan" title="Attorney General of Michigan" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Michigan</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><center><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Bill_Schuette" title="Bill Schuette" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">William Duncan "Bill" Schuette</a></center></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><center>2011</center></td></tr><tr><td align="center" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Attorney_General_of_Wisconsin" title="Attorney General of Wisconsin" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Wisconsin</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><center><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Brad_Schimel" title="Brad Schimel" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Brad Schimel</a></center></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><center>2015</center></td></tr><tr><td align="center" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Attorney_General_of_Alaska" title="Attorney General of Alaska" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Alaska</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><center><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Craig_W.Richards" title="Craig W. Richards" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Craig W. Richards</a></center></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><center>2014</center></td></tr><tr><td align="center" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Attorney_General_of_Colorado" title="Attorney General of Colorado" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Colorado</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><center><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Cynthia_Coffman" title="Cynthia Coffman" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Cynthia Coffman</a></center></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><center>2015</center></td></tr><tr><td align="center" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Attorney_General_of_Kansas" title="Attorney General of Kansas" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Kansas</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><center><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Derek_Schmidt" title="Derek Schmidt" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Derek Schmidt</a></center></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><center>2011</center></td></tr><tr><td align="center" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Nebraska_Attorney_General" title="Nebraska Attorney General" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Nebraska</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><center><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Doug_Peterson" title="Doug Peterson" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Doug Peterson</a></center></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><center>2015</center></td></tr><tr><td align="center" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Attorney_General_of_Indiana" title="Attorney General of Indiana" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Indiana</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><center><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Greg_Zoeller" title="Greg Zoeller" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Greg Zoeller</a></center></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><center>2009</center></td></tr><tr><td align="center" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Attorney_General_of_Tennessee" title="Attorney General of Tennessee" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Tennessee</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><center><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Herbert_H.Slatery" title="Herbert H. Slatery" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Herbert H. Slatery</a></center></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><center>2014</center></td></tr><tr><td align="center" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Attorney_General_of_Louisiana" title="Attorney General of Louisiana" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Louisiana</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><center><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Jeff_Landry" title="Jeff Landry" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Jeff Landry</a></center></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><center>2016</center></td></tr><tr><td align="center" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Attorney_General_of_Texas" title="Attorney General of Texas" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Texas</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><center><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Ken_Paxton" title="Ken Paxton" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Ken Paxton</a></center></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><center>2015</center></td></tr><tr><td align="center" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Attorney_General_of_Idaho" title="Attorney General of Idaho" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Idaho</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><center><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Lawrence_Wasden" title="Lawrence Wasden" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Lawrence Wasden</a></center></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><center>2003</center></td></tr><tr><td align="center" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Attorney_General_of_Arkansas" title="Attorney General of Arkansas" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Arkansas</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><center><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Leslie_Rutledge" title="Leslie Rutledge" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Leslie Rutledge</a></center></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><center>2015</center></td></tr><tr><td align="center" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Attorney_General_of_Alabama" title="Attorney General of Alabama" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Alabama</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><center><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Luther_Strange" title="Luther Strange" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Luther J. Strange, III</a></center></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><center>2011</center></td></tr><tr><td align="center" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Attorney_General_of_Arizona" title="Attorney General of Arizona" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Arizona</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><center><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Mark_Brnovich" title="Mark Brnovich" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Mark Brnovich</a></center></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><center>2015</center></td></tr><tr><td align="center" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Attorney_General_of_South_Dakota" title="Attorney General of South Dakota" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">South Dakota</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><center><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Marty_J.Jackley" title="Marty J. Jackley" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Marty J. Jackley</a></center></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><center>2009</center></td></tr><tr><td align="center" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Attorney_General_of_Ohio" title="Attorney General of Ohio" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Ohio</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><center><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Mike_DeWine" title="Mike DeWine" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Richard Michael DeWine</a></center></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><center>2011</center></td></tr><tr><td align="center" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Attorney_General_of_Florida" title="Attorney General of Florida" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Florida</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><center><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Pam_Bondi" title="Pam Bondi" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Pam Bondi</a></center></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><center>2011</center></td></tr><tr><td align="center" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Attorney_General_of_West_Virginia" title="Attorney General of West Virginia" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">West Virginia</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><center><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Patrick_Morrisey" title="Patrick Morrisey" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Patrick Morrisey</a></center></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><center>2013</center></td></tr><tr><td align="center" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Attorney_General_of_Wyoming" title="Attorney General of Wyoming" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Wyoming</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><center><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Peter_Michael" title="Peter Michael" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Peter Michael</a></center></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><center>2013</center></td></tr><tr><td align="center" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Attorney_General_of_New_Jersey" title="Attorney General of New Jersey" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">New Jersey</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><center><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Robert_Lougy" title="Robert Lougy" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Robert Lougy</a></center></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><center>2013</center></td></tr><tr><td align="center" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Attorney_General_of_Georgia" title="Attorney General of Georgia" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Georgia</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><center><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Samuel_S.Olens" title="Samuel S. Olens" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Samuel S. Olens</a></center></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><center>2011</center></td></tr><tr><td align="center" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Attorney_General_of_Oklahoma" title="Attorney General of Oklahoma" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Oklahoma</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><center><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Scott_Pruitt" title="Scott Pruitt" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Scott Pruitt</a></center></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><center>2011</center></td></tr><tr><td align="center" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Attorney_General_of_Utah" title="Attorney General of Utah" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Utah</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><center><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Sean_D.Reyes" title="Sean D. Reyes" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Sean D. Reyes</a></center></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><center>2013</center></td></tr><tr><td align="center" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Attorney_General_of_Montana" title="Attorney General of Montana" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Montana</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><center><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Tim_Fox(Montana)" title="Tim Fox (Montana)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Tim Fox</a></center></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><center>2013</center></td></tr><tr><td align="center" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Attorney_General_of_North_Dakota" title="Attorney General of North Dakota" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">North Dakota</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><center><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Wayne_Stenehjem" title="Wayne Stenehjem" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Wayne Stenehjem</a></center></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><center>2001</center></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="" open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" line-height="line-height" float="float" right="right" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><table class="wikitable" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" width="200" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0px; border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); border-collapse: collapse; background: rgb(249, 249, 249);"><tbody><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><div class="embedvideo " style="width: 200px;">
</div>
</td></tr></tbody></table></div> =DIVEST now a legal strategy?<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 22.5px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="field-items" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-item even" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><figure id="file-267353" class="file file-image file-image-jpeg with-caption" style="box-sizing: inherit; max-width: 100%; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><div class="content" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><figcaption class="field field-name-field-image-caption field-type-text-long field-label-hidden" style="box-sizing: inherit; padding: 2em; line-height: 1.6; border-right: 1px solid rgb(231, 231, 231); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(231, 231, 231); border-left: 1px solid rgb(231, 231, 231); border-top-style: none;"><div class="field-items" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Bevis Longstreth, a former SEC commissioner, says his new proposal to state attorneys general for an "interpretive release" and guidance on climate-related risk could open the floodgates of divestment from coal, oil and gas companies</div></figcaption></div></figure></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 22.5px;"><div class="field-items" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded" style="box-sizing: inherit;">The money managers of university and non-profit endowments owe a debt of gratitude to a lawyer named Bevis Longstreth. He's hardly a household name, but <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Modern-Investment-Management-Prudent-Rule/dp/0195041968?ie=UTF8&Version=1&entries=0" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit;">an obscure book</a> he published 30 years ago provoked a modernization of the legal definition of prudent investing that changed their lives for the better.His work opened the door for trustees of non-profits to make investments that are now at the heart of modern portfolio management. Previously they were out of bounds because they were considered too risky."Imagine all the pension funds in this country, and all the institutions like Yale and others, they are all deeply invested in hedge funds," Longstreth said. "When I wrote that book it would have been impossible for them to invest in a hedge fund."Now Longstreth, 82, is out to rock the world of non-profit money managers again. This time he doesn't have a book, <a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/sites/default/files/documents/UPMIFAInterpretationBevisLongstrethPDF.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit;">but merely a six-page argument</a>.His proposal calls for a legal reinterpretation of what constitutes prudent management of institutional funds now that the investment landscape is filled with new risks for fossil fuel investors.With the world heading toward zero carbon emissions after the signing of the Paris agreement, Longstreth thinks it's time for some fresh guidance.To that end, he's working channels to convince various attorneys general to spell out those risks in an "interpretive release," and offer guidance on how to handle them. He thinks the attorneys general of New York, Massachusetts and California will be most receptive to his proposal.If the guidance is published, Longstreth says, it could open floodgates of divestment from coal, oil and gas companies. That's because, as he explains in the extensive interview below, it can't be ignored.Every state in the union (except Pennsylvania and the territory of Puerto Rico) has its own version of the uniform law governing investments by trustees, known by the acronym <a href="http://www.uniformlaws.org/ActSummary.aspx?title=Prudent%20Management%20of%20Institutional%20Funds%20Act" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent;">UPMIFA</a>. And each attorney general has power to issue guidance on how to exercise prudence under that uniform law.The question remains whether any attorney general would offer guidance singling out a particular asset class.Though retired from legal practice and now a three-time novelist, Longstreth brings considerable experience to his latest legal rethink. He was twice appointed by President Ronald Reagan to serve as commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission. For decades he was a securities lawyer and partner at <a href="http://www.debevoise.com/bevislongstreth" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent;">Debevoise & Plimpton</a>, a prominent international firm.He wears wire-rimmed glasses, carries degrees from Princeton (B.S. 1956) and Harvard (LL.B 1961), and has a careful manner of choosing words precisely.We spoke with Longstreth about his career, his latest legal effort, and how it could provoke change.ICN: Your career included being a commissioner of the SEC. How were you chosen and how would you characterize your tenure?Longstreth:  I served in the SEC from 1981-1984. I was appointed by President Reagan to a shortened term to fill out somebody who had retired, and then Reagan reappointed me to occupy a Democratic seat on the commission. I think for President Reagan I was not an obvious choice, given my political background, but I was chosen because Jim Baker [Reagan's former chief of staff] wanted me there.</div></div></div>http://insideclimatenews.org/news/07062016/retired-lawyer-boris-longstreth-floodgates-divestment-fossil-fuels-climate-change-investments
==

--
team red_CPPWest Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, who is leading the

charge, called it “the single most onerous and illegal regulations that

we’ve seen coming out of DC in a long time.” He added, “the EPA cannot

do what it intends to do legally.”

Morrisey is joined by attorneys general from Texas, Alabama,

Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky,

Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, Ohio,

South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Arizona and

North Carolina. //RAGA
==
team blue:
In a move many are hailing as a “turning point” in the climate fight,

20 state Attorneys General on Tuesday launched an unprecedented,

multi-state effort to investigate and prosecute the “high-funded and

morally vacant forces” that have stymied attempts to combat global

warming—starting with holding <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/tag/exxonknew" target="blank">ExxonMobil</a> and <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/12/22/more-exxon-big-oil-companies-years-shared-damning-climate-research" target="blank">other</a> industry giants accountable for fraud and suppression of key climate science.

“This is about facts, and science, and transparency,” said

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, who spoke at a press

conference alongside New York Attorney General <a href="http://ecowatch.com/2015/11/06/exxon-climate-scandal-subpoena/">Eric Schneiderman</a>, former Vice President <a href="http://ecowatch.com/?s=Al+Gore">Al Gore</a> and seven other Attorneys General.

“Fossil fuel companies that deceived investors and consumers about the dangers of <a href="http://ecowatch.com/climate-change-news/">climate change</a>

should be, must be held accountable,” Healey continued, saying there is

a “troubling disconnect between what Exxon knew, what industry folks

knew and the company and industry chose to share with investors and the

American public.”

The coalition of Attorneys General from 16 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands was convened by Schneiderman, who in November <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/11/05/exxonknew-escalates-ny-attorney-general-subpoenas-oil-giant-over-climate-crimes" target="blank">announced</a> a state investigation into Exxon after reporting <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/07/09/big-oil-knew-big-oil-lied-and-planet-earth-got-fried" target="blank">revealed</a> that

the oil giant had for decades known and suppressed evidence about the

dangers that fossil fuels posed to the environment and then purposely

disseminated false information in order to boost its profits.

California has also <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/01/20/big-california-taking-exxonmobils-climate-cover" target="_blank">launched</a>

an investigation and on Tuesday Healey and U.S. Virgin Islands Attorney

General Claude Earl Walker confirmed their states have as well.

Schneiderman said that additional states were pursuing similar action

and that the purpose of the coalition is to work together in this

“common interest.”

“The scope of the problem we are facing, the size of the corporate

entities and alliances and trade associations [working against science

and public interest] is massive and it requires a multi-state effort,”

Schneiderman said.

AG Walker said that Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands are already “experiencing the effects of global warming,” from <a href="http://ecowatch.com/?s=coral+bleaching">coral bleaching</a> and the proliferation of seaweed, to ever-more powerful hurricanes.

“It is troubling that, as the polar caps melt, there are companies

that are looking at that as an opportunity to go and drill, to go and

get more oil. How selfish can you be?” Walker asked. “Your product is

destroying this Earth and you want to do what? Destroy the planet

further,” he added, saying they have “documents” showing just that.

“We will not stop until we get to bottom of this and make it clear we

have to do something transformational,” he added. “We cannot continue

to rely on fossil fuels.”

Environmental groups that have spearheaded the call for

accountability and investigations into what Exxon knew heralded the

announcements and the new AG climate coalition.

“This creates a huge sense of momentum. Exxon may have been able to

brush aside a few isolated inquiries, but with more states jumping on

board, these investigations are sure to generate some serious waves,”

said May Boeve, executive director of 350.org, which on Tuesday launched

the website <a href="http://exxonknew.org/" target="_blank">ExxonKnew.org </a>to

share information about the investigations and petition the U.S.

Department of Justice and state Attorneys General to “hold Exxon

accountable.”

“The Exxon revelations may turn out to be the largest corporate

scandal in history,” Boeve continued. “Everyone is impacted by climate

change, which means everyone has a stake in these investigations. A

trial of ExxonMobil and the fossil fuel industry would be even bigger

than the cases against Big Tobacco.”

As Katherine Sawyer, senior international organizer for watchdog

group Corporate Accountability International, explained in an emailed

statement following the press conference:

<blockquote>“In the ’90s, investigations by attorneys general were

the beginning of the end for Big Tobacco as we knew it and ushered in a

series of lawsuits that shuttered its front groups, forced the release

of internal documents and held it liable to pay the high cost of its

impacts on society. Just as a similar coalition did with Big Tobacco,

this powerful coalition of state Attorneys General are leading the way

in holding Exxon and the rest of the fossil fuel industry accountable

for their decades of deception and protecting climate policy from their

profit-driven interference.”</blockquote>

“Big Polluters have done everything in their power to deny climate

change, it is time for our justice system to take back the climate

debate,” <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2016/03/29/seventeen-attorneys-general-joint-climate-announcement-greenpeace-response" target="_blank">declared</a> <a href="http://ecowatch.com/author/aleonard/">Annie Leonard</a>, Greenpeace USA executive director, who said the AGs’ announcement was “a clear demonstration of climate leadership.”

The coalition includes Attorneys General from California,

Connecticut, District Of Columbia, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland,

Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island,

Virginia, Vermont, Washington state and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Appearing alongside members of that group, former Vice President Al Gore, whose 2006 documentary film An Inconvenient Truth

is credited with spurring public debate about climate change, said, “I

really believe that years from now this convening … may well be looked

back upon as a major turning point in the effort to hold to account

those commercial interests … who have been deceiving the American people

about the dangers of climate change.”

Watch the full press conference here:<a href="http://ecowatch.com/2016/03/30/climate-change-investigation-exxon/">http://ecowatch.com/2016/03/30/climate-change-investigation-exxon/</a>

</div>===<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_attorney_general">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_attorney_general</a><img alt="" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d8/Party_affiliation_of_current_United_States_attorneys_general.svg/400px-Party_affiliation_of_current_United_States_attorneys_general.svg.png" class="thumbimage" data-file-width="959" data-file-height="593" height="247" width="400" />
The state attorney general in each of the 50 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._state" title="U.S. state">U.S. states</a> and territories is the chief legal advisor to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_governments_of_the_United_States" title="State governments of the United States">state government</a> and the state's chief law enforcement officer. In some states, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attorney_general" title="Attorney general">attorney general</a> serves as the head of a state department of justice, with responsibilities similar to those of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Justice" title="United States Department of Justice">United States Department of Justice</a>.

The current party composition of the state Attorneys General are:

<ul style=""><li>27 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party%28United_States%29" title="Republican Party (United States)">Republicans</a></li><li>23 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party%28United_States%29" title="Democratic Party (United States)">Democrats</a></li></ul>

The composition for territories and districts are:

<ul style=""><li>3 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party%28United_States%29" title="Democratic Party (United States)">Democrats</a></li><li>3 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent%28politician%29" title="Independent (politician)" class="mw-redirect">Nonpartisan</a></li></ul>

<h2>Contents</h2>

</div></div><div id="toc" class="toc" style="">

<ul><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_attorney_general#Selection">1 Selection</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_attorney_general#Table">2 Table</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-3"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_attorney_general#See_also">3 See also</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-4"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_attorney_general#References">4 References</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-5"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_attorney_general#External_links">5 External links</a></li></ul>

</div>

<h2 style="">Selection</h2>

The most prevalent method of selecting a state attorney general is by

popular election. 43 states have an elected attorney general.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_attorney_general#cite_note-Bangor-1">[1]</a> Elected attorneys general serve a four-year term, except in Vermont, where the term is two years. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_attorney_general#cite_note-NAAG2010-2">[2]</a>

Seven states do not elect an attorney general. In Alaska, Hawaii, New

Hampshire, New Jersey, and Wyoming, the attorney general is a

gubernatorial appointee.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_attorney_general#cite_note-Bangor-1">[1]</a> The attorney general in Tennessee is appointed by the Tennessee Supreme Court for an eight-year term.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_attorney_general#cite_note-Bangor-1">[1]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_attorney_general#cite_note-NAAG2010-2">[2]</a> In Maine, the attorney general is elected by the state Legislature for a two-year term.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_attorney_general#cite_note-Bangor-1">[1]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_attorney_general#cite_note-NAAG2010-2">[2]</a>

The District of Columbia and two U.S. territories, Guam and the

Northern Mariana Islands, elect their attorneys general for a four-year

term. 2014 marked the first year that the District of Columbia and

Northern Mariana Islands held an election for the office. In American

Samoa, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, the attorney general is

appointed by governor.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_attorney_general#cite_note-NAAG2014-3">[3]</a>

In Puerto Rico, the attorney general is officially called the secretary

of justice, but is commonly known as the Puerto Rico attorney general.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_attorney_general#cite_note-4">[4]</a>

<h2 style="">Table</h2>

List of attorneys general by U.S. states and territories:

Rows of the Attorney General table below are color coded indicating the political party of the office holder.

<ul style=""><li>Blue indicates <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party%28United_States%29" title="Democratic Party (United States)">Democractic party</a>.</li><li>Pink is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party%28United_States%29" title="Republican Party (United States)">Republican party</a>.</li><li>Yellow are <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_politician" title="Independent politician">Independent politicians</a> (unaffiliated with a political party).</li><li>White indicates <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_Democratic_Party_%28Puerto_Rico%29" title="Popular Democratic Party (Puerto Rico)">Popular Democratic party</a>.</li></ul>

<table class="wikitable sortable jquery-tablesorter" style=""><thead><tr><th title="Sort ascending" role="columnheader button" tabindex="0" class="headerSort">Officeholder</th><th title="Sort ascending" role="columnheader button" tabindex="0" class="headerSort">State</th><th title="Sort ascending" role="columnheader button" tabindex="0" class="headerSort">Party</th><th title="Sort ascending" role="columnheader button" tabindex="0" class="headerSort">Assumed office</th><th title="Sort ascending" role="columnheader button" tabindex="0" class="headerSort">Term expires</th><th title="Sort ascending" role="columnheader button" tabindex="0" class="headerSort">Law School</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr style="background:#FFB6B6"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luther_Strange" title="Luther Strange">Luther Strange</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attorney_General_of_Alabama" title="Attorney General of Alabama">Alabama</a></td><td>Rep</td><td>January 17, 2011</td><td>2019</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulane_University_Law_School" title="Tulane University Law School">Tulane University</a></td></tr><tr style="background:#FFB6B6"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craig_W.Richards" title="Craig W. Richards">Craig Richards</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Attorney_General" title="Alaska Attorney General">Alaska</a></td><td>Rep</td><td>December 2, 2014</td><td>Appointed by Governor</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_and_Lee_University_School_of_Law" title="Washington and Lee University School of Law">Washington and Lee University</a></td></tr><tr style="background:#B0CEFF"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talauega_Ale&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Talauega Ale (page does not exist)">Talauega Ale</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Samoa" title="American Samoa">American Samoa</a></td><td>Dem</td><td>January 28, 2014</td><td>Appointed by Governor</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake_University_Law_School" title="Drake University Law School">Drake University</a></td></tr><tr style="background:#FFB6B6"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Brnovich" title="Mark Brnovich">Mark Brnovich</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_Attorney_General" title="Arizona Attorney General">Arizona</a></td><td>Rep</td><td>January 5, 2015</td><td>2019</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_San_Diego_School_of_Law" title="University of San Diego School of Law">University of San Diego</a></td></tr><tr style="background:#FFB6B6"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_Rutledge" title="Leslie Rutledge">Leslie Rutledge</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arkansas_Attorney_General" title="Arkansas Attorney General">Arkansas</a></td><td>Rep</td><td>January 13, 2015</td><td>2019</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_H.Bowen_School_of_Law" title="William H. Bowen School of Law">University of Arkansas, Little Rock</a></td></tr><tr style="background:#B0CEFF"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamala_Harris" title="Kamala Harris">Kamala Harris</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Attorney_General" title="California Attorney General">California</a></td><td>Dem</td><td>January 3, 2011</td><td>2019</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_California,Hastings_College_of_the_Law" title="University of California, Hastings College of the Law">University of California, Hastings</a></td></tr><tr style="background:#FFB6B6"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynthia_Coffman%28politician%29" title="Cynthia Coffman (politician)">Cynthia Coffman</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_Attorney_General" title="Colorado Attorney General">Colorado</a></td><td>Rep</td><td>January 11, 2015</td><td>2019</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_State_University_College_of_Law" title="Georgia State University College of Law">Georgia State University</a></td></tr><tr style="background:#B0CEFF"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Jepsen" title="George Jepsen">George Jepsen</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connecticut_Attorney_General" title="Connecticut Attorney General">Connecticut</a></td><td>Dem</td><td>January 5, 2011</td><td>2019</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Law_School" title="Harvard Law School">Harvard University</a></td></tr><tr style="background:#B0CEFF"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Denn" title="Matthew Denn">Matthew Denn</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delaware_Attorney_General" title="Delaware Attorney General" class="mw-redirect">Delaware</a></td><td>Dem</td><td>January 6, 2015</td><td>2019</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yale_Law_School" title="Yale Law School">Yale University</a></td></tr><tr style="background:#B0CEFF"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Racine" title="Karl Racine">Karl Racine</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attorney_General_of_the_District_of_Columbia" title="Attorney General of the District of Columbia">District of Columbia</a></td><td>Dem</td><td>January 2, 2015</td><td>2019</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Virginia_School_of_Law" title="University of Virginia School of Law">University of Virginia</a></td></tr><tr style="background:#FFB6B6"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pam_Bondi" title="Pam Bondi">Pam Bondi</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_Attorney_General" title="Florida Attorney General">Florida</a></td><td>Rep</td><td>January 4, 2011</td><td>2019</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stetson_University_College_of_Law" title="Stetson University College of Law">Stetson University</a></td></tr><tr style="background:#FFB6B6"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Olens" title="Sam Olens">Sam Olens</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attorney_General_of_Georgia" title="Attorney General of Georgia">Georgia</a></td><td>Rep</td><td>January 10, 2011</td><td>2019</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emory_University_School_of_Law" title="Emory University School of Law">Emory University</a></td></tr><tr style="background:#FFB6B6"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Barrett-Anderson" title="Elizabeth Barrett-Anderson">Elizabeth Barrett-Anderson</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guam" title="Guam">Guam</a></td><td>Rep</td><td>January 5, 2015</td><td>2019</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Clara_University_School_of_Law" title="Santa Clara University School of Law">Santa Clara University</a></td></tr><tr style="background:#B0CEFF"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Chin" title="Doug Chin">Doug Chin</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attorney_General_of_Hawaii" title="Attorney General of Hawaii">Hawaii</a></td><td>Dem</td><td>March 12, 2015</td><td>Appointed by Governor</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_S.Richardson_School_of_Law" title="William S. Richardson School of Law">University of Hawaii at Manoa</a></td></tr><tr style="background:#FFB6B6"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Wasden" title="Lawrence Wasden">Lawrence Wasden</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idaho" title="Idaho">Idaho</a></td><td>Rep</td><td>January 6, 2003</td><td>2019</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Idaho_College_of_Law" title="University of Idaho College of Law">University of Idaho, Moscow</a></td></tr><tr style="background:#B0CEFF"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_Madigan" title="Lisa Madigan">Lisa Madigan</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illinois_Attorney_General" title="Illinois Attorney General">Illinois</a></td><td>Dem</td><td>January 13, 2003</td><td>2019</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loyola_University_Chicago_School_of_Law" title="Loyola University Chicago School of Law">Loyola University Chicago</a></td></tr><tr style="background:#FFB6B6"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Zoeller" title="Greg Zoeller">Greg Zoeller</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_Attorney_General" title="Indiana Attorney General">Indiana</a></td><td>Rep</td><td>January 12, 2009</td><td>2017</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_University_Maurer_School_of_Law" title="Indiana University Maurer School of Law">Indiana University, Bloomington</a></td></tr><tr style="background:#B0CEFF"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Miller%28politician%29" title="Tom Miller (politician)">Tom Miller</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Iowa_Attorneys_General" title="List of Iowa Attorneys General">Iowa</a></td><td>Dem</td><td>January 6, 1995</td><td>2019</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Law_School" title="Harvard Law School">Harvard University</a></td></tr><tr style="background:#FFB6B6"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derek_Schmidt" title="Derek Schmidt">Derek Schmidt</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas_Attorney_General" title="Kansas Attorney General">Kansas</a></td><td>Rep</td><td>January 10, 2011</td><td>2019</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgetown_University_Law_Center" title="Georgetown University Law Center">Georgetown University</a></td></tr><tr style="background:#B0CEFF"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Beshear" title="Andy Beshear">Andy Beshear</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attorney_General_of_Kentucky" title="Attorney General of Kentucky">Kentucky</a></td><td>Dem</td><td>January 4, 2016</td><td>2020</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Virginia_School_of_Law" title="University of Virginia School of Law">University of Virginia</a></td></tr><tr style="background:#FFB6B6"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Landry" title="Jeff Landry">Jeff Landry</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Attorneys_General_of_Louisiana" title="List of Attorneys General of Louisiana">Louisiana</a></td><td>Rep</td><td>January 11, 2016</td><td>2019</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loyola_University_New_Orleans_College_of_Law" title="Loyola University New Orleans College of Law">Loyola University, New Orleans</a></td></tr><tr style="background:#B0CEFF"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_T.Mills" title="Janet T. Mills">Janet Mills</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maine_Attorney_General" title="Maine Attorney General">Maine</a></td><td>Dem</td><td>January 7, 2011</td><td>Elected by the Legislature</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Maine_School_of_Law" title="University of Maine School of Law">University of Maine, Portland</a></td></tr><tr style="background:#B0CEFF"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_E.Frosh" title="Brian E. Frosh">Brian Frosh</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attorney_General_of_Maryland" title="Attorney General of Maryland">Maryland</a></td><td>Dem</td><td>January 6, 2015</td><td>2019</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_Law_School" title="Columbia Law School">Columbia University</a></td></tr><tr style="background:#B0CEFF"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maura_Healey" title="Maura Healey">Maura Healey</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts_Attorney_General" title="Massachusetts Attorney General">Massachusetts</a></td><td>Dem</td><td>January 21, 2015</td><td>2019</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeastern_University_School_of_Law" title="Northeastern University School of Law">Northeastern University</a></td></tr><tr style="background:#FFB6B6"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Schuette" title="Bill Schuette">Bill Schuette</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_Attorney_General" title="Michigan Attorney General">Michigan</a></td><td>Rep</td><td>January 1, 2011</td><td>2019</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_San_Francisco_School_of_Law" title="University of San Francisco School of Law">University of San Francisco</a></td></tr><tr style="background:#B0CEFF"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lori_Swanson" title="Lori Swanson">Lori Swanson</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Attorney_General" title="Minnesota Attorney General">Minnesota</a></td><td>Dem</td><td>January 2, 2007</td><td>2019</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Mitchell_College_of_Law" title="William Mitchell College of Law">William Mitchell College</a></td></tr><tr style="background:#B0CEFF"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Hood" title="Jim Hood">Jim Hood</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_Attorney_General" title="Mississippi Attorney General">Mississippi</a></td><td>Dem</td><td>January 14, 2004</td><td>2015</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Mississippi_School_of_Law" title="University of Mississippi School of Law">University of Mississippi, Oxford</a></td></tr><tr style="background:#B0CEFF"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Koster" title="Chris Koster">Chris Koster</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missouri_Attorney_General" title="Missouri Attorney General">Missouri</a></td><td>Dem</td><td>January 12, 2004</td><td>2017</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Missouri_School_of_Law" title="University of Missouri School of Law">University of Missouri, Columbia</a></td></tr><tr style="background:#FFB6B6"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Fox%28politician%29" title="Tim Fox (politician)">Tim Fox</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montana" title="Montana">Montana</a></td><td>Rep</td><td>January 7, 2013</td><td>2017</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Montana_School_of_Law" title="University of Montana School of Law" class="mw-redirect">University of Montana</a></td></tr><tr style="background:#FFB6B6"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Peterson%28politician%29" title="Doug Peterson (politician)">Doug Peterson</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebraska_Attorney_General" title="Nebraska Attorney General">Nebraska</a></td><td>Rep</td><td>January 8, 2015</td><td>2019</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepperdine_University_School_of_Law" title="Pepperdine University School of Law">Pepperdine University</a></td></tr><tr style="background:#FFB6B6"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Laxalt" title="Adam Laxalt">Adam Laxalt</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevada_Attorney_General" title="Nevada Attorney General">Nevada</a></td><td>Rep</td><td>January 5, 2015</td><td>2019</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgetown_University_Law_Center" title="Georgetown University Law Center">Georgetown University</a></td></tr><tr style="background:#B0CEFF"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Foster" title="Joseph Foster">Joseph Foster</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Hampshire_Attorney_General" title="New Hampshire Attorney General">New Hampshire</a></td><td>Dem</td><td>May 15, 2013</td><td>2017 (Appointed by Governor)</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington_University_Law_School" title="George Washington University Law School">George Washington University</a></td></tr><tr style="background:#FFB6B6"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Jay_Hoffman" title="John Jay Hoffman">John Hoffman</a> (Acting)</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Jersey_Attorney_General" title="New Jersey Attorney General">New Jersey</a></td><td>Rep</td><td>June 10, 2013</td><td>Appointed by Governor</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_University_School_of_Law" title="Duke University School of Law">Duke University</a></td></tr><tr style="background:#B0CEFF"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hector_Balderas" title="Hector Balderas">Hector Balderas</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attorney_General_of_New_Mexico" title="Attorney General of New Mexico">New Mexico</a></td><td>Dem</td><td>January 1, 2015</td><td>2019</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_New_Mexico_School_of_Law" title="University of New Mexico School of Law">University of New Mexico, Albuquerque</a></td></tr><tr style="background:#B0CEFF"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Schneiderman" title="Eric Schneiderman">Eric Schneiderman</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_State_Attorney_General" title="New York State Attorney General" class="mw-redirect">New York</a></td><td>Dem</td><td>January 6, 2011</td><td>2019</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Law_School" title="Harvard Law School">Harvard University</a></td></tr><tr style="background:#B0CEFF"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Cooper" title="Roy Cooper">Roy Cooper</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Carolina_Attorney_General" title="North Carolina Attorney General">North Carolina</a></td><td>Dem</td><td>January 1, 2001</td><td>2017</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_North_Carolina_School_of_Law" title="University of North Carolina School of Law">University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill</a></td></tr><tr style="background:#FFB6B6"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_Stenehjem" title="Wayne Stenehjem">Wayne Stenehjem</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Dakota_Attorney_General" title="North Dakota Attorney General">North Dakota</a></td><td>Rep</td><td>December 15, 2000</td><td>2019</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_North_Dakota_School_of_Law" title="University of North Dakota School of Law">University of North Dakota</a></td></tr><tr style="background:#fdfd7f"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Edward_Manibusan&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Edward Manibusan (page does not exist)">Edward Manibusan</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Mariana_Islands" title="Northern Mariana Islands">Northern Mariana Islands</a></td><td>Ind</td><td>January 13, 2015</td><td>2019</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gonzaga_University_School_of_Law" title="Gonzaga University School of Law">Gonzaga University</a></td></tr><tr style="background:#FFB6B6"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_DeWine" title="Mike DeWine">Mike DeWine</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_Attorney_General" title="Ohio Attorney General">Ohio</a></td><td>Rep</td><td>January 10, 2011</td><td>2019</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_W.Pettit_College_of_Law" title="Claude W. Pettit College of Law">Ohio Northern University</a></td></tr><tr style="background:#FFB6B6"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Pruitt" title="Scott Pruitt">Scott Pruitt</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attorney_General_of_Oklahoma" title="Attorney General of Oklahoma">Oklahoma</a></td><td>Rep</td><td>January 10, 2011</td><td>2019</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Tulsa_College_of_Law" title="University of Tulsa College of Law">University of Tulsa</a></td></tr><tr style="background:#B0CEFF"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellen_Rosenblum" title="Ellen Rosenblum">Ellen Rosenblum</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_Attorney_General" title="Oregon Attorney General">Oregon</a></td><td>Dem</td><td>June 29, 2012</td><td>2017</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Oregon_School_of_Law" title="University of Oregon School of Law">University of Oregon</a></td></tr><tr style="background:#B0CEFF"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathleen_Kane" title="Kathleen Kane">Kathleen Kane</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_Attorney_General" title="Pennsylvania Attorney General">Pennsylvania</a></td><td>Dem</td><td>January 15, 2013</td><td>2017</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_University_Beasley_School_of_Law" title="Temple University Beasley School of Law">Temple University</a></td></tr><tr bgcolor="#FFE8E8"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%A9sar_Miranda" title="César Miranda">César Miranda</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secretary_of_Justice_of_Puerto_Rico" title="Secretary of Justice of Puerto Rico">Puerto Rico</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_attorney_general#cite_note-5">[5]</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_Democratic_Party%28Puerto_Rico%29" title="Popular Democratic Party (Puerto Rico)">PPD</a>/Dem</td><td>January 13, 2014</td><td>2017</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutgers_School_of_Law%E2%80%93Camden" title="Rutgers School of Law–Camden">Rutgers University, Camden</a></td></tr><tr style="background:#B0CEFF"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Kilmartin" title="Peter Kilmartin">Peter Kilmartin</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attorney_General_of_Rhode_Island" title="Attorney General of Rhode Island">Rhode Island</a></td><td>Dem</td><td>January 4, 2011</td><td>2019</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Williams_University_School_of_Law" title="Roger Williams University School of Law">Roger Williams University</a></td></tr><tr style="background:#FFB6B6"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Wilson%28South_Carolina_politician%29" title="Alan Wilson (South Carolina politician)">Alan Wilson</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Carolina" title="South Carolina">South Carolina</a></td><td>Rep</td><td>January 12, 2011</td><td>2019</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_South_Carolina_School_of_Law" title="University of South Carolina School of Law">University of South Carolina, Columbia</a></td></tr><tr style="background:#FFB6B6"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marty_Jackley" title="Marty Jackley">Marty Jackley</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Dakota_Attorney_General" title="South Dakota Attorney General" class="mw-redirect">South Dakota</a></td><td>Rep</td><td>September 4, 2009</td><td>2019</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_South_Dakota_School_of_Law" title="University of South Dakota School of Law">University of South Dakota</a></td></tr><tr style="background:#FFB6B6"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Slatery" title="Herbert Slatery">Herbert Slatery</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennessee_Attorney_General" title="Tennessee Attorney General">Tennessee</a></td><td>Rep</td><td>October 1, 2014</td><td>2022 (appointed by TN Supreme Court)</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Tennessee_College_of_Law" title="University of Tennessee College of Law">University of Tennessee, Knoxville</a></td></tr><tr style="background:#FFB6B6"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Paxton" title="Ken Paxton">Ken Paxton</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Attorney_General" title="Texas Attorney General">Texas</a></td><td>Rep</td><td>January 5, 2015</td><td>2019</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Virginia_School_of_Law" title="University of Virginia School of Law">University of Virginia</a></td></tr><tr style="background:#fdfd7f"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Claude_E.Walker&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Claude E. Walker (page does not exist)">Claude Walker</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Virgin_Islands" title="United States Virgin Islands">U.S. Virgin Islands</a></td><td>Ind</td><td>August 6, 2015</td><td>Appointed by Governor</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albany_Law_School" title="Albany Law School">Albany Law School</a></td></tr><tr style="background:#FFB6B6"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sean_Reyes" title="Sean Reyes">Sean Reyes</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_Attorney_General" title="Utah Attorney General">Utah</a></td><td>Rep</td><td>December 30, 2013</td><td>2017</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UC_Berkeley_School_of_Law" title="UC Berkeley School of Law">University of California, Berkeley</a></td></tr><tr style="background:#B0CEFF"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Sorrell" title="William Sorrell">William Sorrell</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vermont_Attorney_General" title="Vermont Attorney General">Vermont</a></td><td>Dem</td><td>May 1, 1997</td><td>2017</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornell_Law_School" title="Cornell Law School">Cornell University</a></td></tr><tr style="background:#B0CEFF"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Herring" title="Mark Herring">Mark Herring</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attorney_General_of_Virginia" title="Attorney General of Virginia">Virginia</a></td><td>Dem</td><td>January 11, 2014</td><td>2018</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Richmond_School_of_Law" title="University of Richmond School of Law">University of Richmond</a></td></tr><tr style="background:#B0CEFF"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Ferguson%28politician%29" title="Bob Ferguson (politician)">Bob Ferguson</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Attorney_Generals_of_Washington" title="List of Attorney Generals of Washington" class="mw-redirect">Washington</a></td><td>Dem</td><td>January 16, 2013</td><td>2016</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_University_School_of_Law" title="New York University School of Law">New York University</a></td></tr><tr style="background:#FFB6B6"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Morrisey" title="Patrick Morrisey">Patrick Morrisey</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Attorneys_General_of_West_Virginia" title="List of Attorneys General of West Virginia">West Virginia</a></td><td>Rep</td><td>January 14, 2013</td><td>2016</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutgers_School_of_Law%E2%80%93Newark" title="Rutgers School of Law–Newark">Rutgers University, Newark</a></td></tr><tr style="background:#FFB6B6"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brad_Schimel" title="Brad Schimel">Brad Schimel</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Attorneys_General_of_Wisconsin" title="List of Attorneys General of Wisconsin">Wisconsin</a></td><td>Rep</td><td>January 5, 2015</td><td>2019</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Wisconsin_Law_School" title="University of Wisconsin Law School">University of Wisconsin, Madison</a></td></tr><tr style="background:#FFB6B6"><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_K.Michael" title="Peter K. Michael">Peter Michael</a></td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyoming_Attorney_General" title="Wyoming Attorney General">Wyoming</a></td><td>Rep</td><td>July 9, 2013</td><td>Appointed by Governor</td><td><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Wyoming_College_of_Law" title="University of Wyoming College of Law">University of Wyoming</a></td></tr></tbody><tfoot /></table>

<h2 style="">See </h2>
<p class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="295" data-total-count="4545" itemprop="articleBody" id="story-continues-6" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 135px; line-height: 1.4375rem; width: 532px; max-width: 540px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">...Private lawyers also have written drafts of legal filings that attorneys general have used almost verbatim. In some cases, they have become an adjunct to the office by providing much of the legal work, including bearing the cost of litigation, in exchange for up to 20 percent of any settlement.<p class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="360" data-total-count="4905" itemprop="articleBody" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 135px; line-height: 1.4375rem; width: 532px; max-width: 540px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Money gathered through events like the one in February 2013 at the Loews hotel is flooding the political campaigns of attorneys general and flowing to party organizations that can take unlimited corporate contributions and then funnel money to individual candidates. The Republican Attorneys General Association alone has pulled in <a href="http://www.politicalmoneyline.com/tr/tr_MG_527_Filer.aspx?&sEIN=464501717&sCycle=2014" style="">$11.7 million</a> since January.It is a self-perpetuating network that includes a group of former attorneys general called SAGE, or the Society of Attorneys General Emeritus, most of whom are now <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/10/28/us/5-Rhode-Island-Attorney-General-Turned-Attorney-General-Lobbyist.html" style="">on retainer</a> to corporate clients.<p class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="253" data-total-count="5355" itemprop="articleBody" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 135px; line-height: 1.4375rem; width: 532px; max-width: 540px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Giant energy producers and service companies like Devon Energy of Oklahoma, the Southern Company of Georgia and TransCanada have retained their own teams of attorney general specialists, including Andrew P. Miller, a former attorney general of Virginia.<p class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="508" data-total-count="5863" itemprop="articleBody" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 135px; line-height: 1.4375rem; width: 532px; max-width: 540px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">For some companies, the reward seems apparent, according to the documents obtained by The Times. In Georgia, the attorney general, after receiving a request from a former attorney general who had become a lobbyist, disregarded written advice from the state’s environmental regulators, the emails show. In Utah, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/10/28/us/politics/7-Utah-Attorney-General-and-Bank-of-America.html" style="">the attorney general dismissed a case</a>pending against Bank of America over the objections of his staff after secretly meeting with a former attorney general working as a Bank of America lobbyist.<p class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="233" data-total-count="6096" itemprop="articleBody" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 135px; line-height: 1.4375rem; width: 532px; max-width: 540px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/10/28/us/politics/7-Utah-Attorney-General-and-Bank-of-America.html" style="">That Bank of America case</a> was cited in July when the two most recent former attorneys general in Utah <a title="Two Former Utah Officials Arrested" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/16/us/politics/two-former-attorneys-general-in-utah-are-charged-with-corruption.html" style="">were charged</a> with granting official favors to donors in exchange for golf getaways, rides on private planes and a luxury houseboat.<p class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="103" data-total-count="6199" itemprop="articleBody" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em 135px; line-height: 1.4375rem; width: 532px; max-width: 540px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">While the Utah case is extreme, some participants say even the daily lobbying can corrode public trust....http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/07/us/politics/energy-firms-in-secretive-alliance-with-attorneys-general.htmlabbot pruitt epa clean air plan1st time majority gop, backroom deals12/14 lipton:<h1 itemprop="headline" id="story-heading" class="story-heading" style="line-height: 2.375rem; margin: 0px 0px 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Energy Firms in Secretive Alliance With Attorneys General</h1>The letter to the Environmental Protection Agency from Attorney General Scott Pruitt of Oklahoma carried a blunt accusation: Federal regulators were grossly overestimating the amount of air pollution caused by energy companies drilling new natural gas wells in his state.But Mr. Pruitt left out one critical point. The three-page letter was written by lawyers for Devon Energy, one of Oklahoma’s biggest oil and gas companies, and was delivered to him by Devon’s chief of lobbying.“Outstanding!” William F. Whitsitt, who at the time directed government relations at the company, said in a note to Mr. Pruitt’s office. The attorney general’s staff had taken Devon’s draft, copied it onto state government stationery with only a few word changes, and sent it to Washington with the attorney general’s signature. “The timing of the letter is great, given our meeting this Friday with both E.P.A. and the White House.”Mr. Whitsitt then added, “Please pass along Devon’s thanks to Attorney General Pruitt.”
Courting FavorArticles in this series examine the explosion in lobbying of state attorneys general by corporate interests and the millions in campaign donations they now provide.The email exchange from October 2011, obtained through an open-records request, offers a hint of the unprecedented, secretive alliance that Mr. Pruitt and other Republican attorneys general have formed with some of the nation’s top energy producers to push back against the Obama regulatory agenda, an investigation by The New York Times has found.Attorneys general in at least a dozen states are working with energy companies and other corporate interests, which in turn are providing them with record amounts of money for their political campaigns, including at least $16 million this year.They share a common philosophy about the reach of the federal government, but the companies also have billions of dollars at stake. And the collaboration is likely to grow: For the first time in modern American history, Republicans in January will control a majority — 27 — of attorneys general’s offices.The Times reported previously how individual attorneys general have shut down investigations, changed policies or agreed to more corporate-friendly settlement terms after intervention by lobbyists and lawyers, many of whom are also campaign benefactors.But the attorneys general are also working collectively. Democrats for more than a decade have teamed up with environmental groups such as the Sierra Club to use the court system to impose stricter regulation. But never before have attorneys general joined on this scale with corporate interests to challenge Washington and file lawsuits in federal court.Out of public view, corporate representatives and attorneys general are coordinating legal strategy and other efforts to fight federal regulations, according to a review of thousands of emails and court documents and dozens of interviews.“When you use a public office, pretty shamelessly, to vouch for a private party with substantial financial interest without the disclosure of the true authorship, that is a dangerous practice,” said David B. Frohnmayer, a Republican who served a decade as attorney general in Oregon. “The puppeteer behind the stage is pulling strings, and you can’t see. I don’t like that. And when it is exposed, it makes you feel used.”For Mr. Pruitt, the benefits have been clear. Lobbyists and company officials have been notably solicitous, helping him raise his profile as president for two years of the Republican Attorneys General Association, a post he used to help start what he and allies called the Rule of Law campaign, which was intended to push back against Washington.That campaign, in which attorneys general band together to operate like a large national law firm, has been used to back lawsuits and other challenges against the Obama administration on environmental issues, the Affordable Care Act and securities regulation. The most recent target is the president’s executive action on immigration.“We are living in the midst of a constitutional crisis,” Mr. Pruitt told energy industry lobbyists and conservative state legislators at a conference in Dallas in July, after being welcomed with a standing ovation. “The trajectory of our nation is at risk and at stake as we respond to what is going on.”
DOCUMENTA Window Into a Secret Alliance: Attorneys General and the Energy IndustryThe New York Times submitted open-records requests for correspondence between certain energy industry executives and attorneys general who are helping lead an effort they call the Rule of Law campaign to combat Obama administration regulations. Thousands of pages of correspondence emerged. Here is a sampling of the documents, showing how the regulated industries and their lobbyists have secretly worked with the attorneys general to combat Washington.
 OPEN DOCUMENTMr. Pruitt has responded aggressively, and with a lot of helping hands. Energy industry lobbyists drafted letters for him to send to the E.P.A., the Interior Department, the Office of Management and Budget and even President Obama, The Times found.Industries that he regulates have also joined him as plaintiffs in court challenges, a departure from the usual role of the state attorney general, who traditionally sues companies to force compliance with state law.Energy industry lobbyists have also distributed draft legislation to attorneys general and asked them to help push it through state legislatures to give the attorneys general clearer authority to challenge the Obama regulatory agenda, the documents show.“It is quite new,” said Paul Nolette, a political-science professor at Marquette University and the author of the forthcoming book “Federalism on Trial: State Attorneys General and National Policy Making in Contemporary America.” “The scope, size and tenor of these collaborations is, without question, unprecedented.”And it is an emerging practice that several former attorneys general say threatens the integrity of the office.“It is a magnificent and noble institution, the office of attorney general, as it is truly the lawyer for the people,” said Terry Goddard, a Democrat who served two terms as Arizona’s attorney general and who, like Mr. Frohnmayer, reviewed copies of the documents collected by The Times. “That independence is clearly at risk here. What is happening diminishes the reputation of individual attorneys general and the community as a group.”Mr. Pruitt, who has emerged as a hero to conservative activists, dismissed this criticism as misinformed.“Those kinds of questions arise from the environment we are in — a very dysfunctional, distrustful political environment,” Mr. Pruitt said in an interview. “I can say to you that is not who we are or have ever been, and despite those criticisms we sit around and make decisions about what is right, and what represents adherence to the rule of law, and we seek to advance that and try to do the best we can to educate people about our viewpoint.”In a state dominated by the energy industry, Mr. Pruitt’s stands have been widely popular. “Attorney General Pruitt has been a champion for our state,” said State Senator Mike Schulz, a Republican who is the majority floor leader. “The State of Oklahoma is in a better position than the E.P.A. to regulate drilling.”
But Mr. Pruitt’s ties with industry are clear. One of his closest partners has been Harold G. Hamm, the billionaire chief executive of Continental Resources, which is among the biggest oil and gas drilling companies in both Oklahoma and North Dakota.
GRAPHICA Letter From Oklahoma’s Attorney General, Written Almost Entirely by Energy Company OfficialsDevon Energy’s lawyers and lobbyists drafted letters and provided them to Attorney General Scott Pruitt to send to the Environmental Protection Agency, the Interior Department and even President Obama directly. Most of those letters were signed by Mr. Pruitt and sent with few changes. Here is one example, obtained through open-records requests.
 OPEN GRAPHICThis year, Mr. Pruitt joined with a group aligned with Mr. Hamm to sue the Interior Department over its plan to consider adding animals such as the lesser prairie chicken to the endangered species list, a move that Mr. Hamm has said could knock out “some of the most promising land for oil and gas leases in the country.” The suit was filed after Mr. Hamm announced that he would serve as the chairman of Mr. Pruitt’s re-election campaign.
“Time and time again, General Pruitt has stood up and bravely fought for the rights of Oklahomans in those instances when the federal government has overextended its hand,” Mr. Hamm said as his role in Mr. Pruitt’s re-election effort was announced.
A Potent AllyEnergy industry executives and lobbyists from across the United States saw great potential in Mr. Pruitt, a gifted politician who had been a state legislator and a minor-league baseball team co-owner and executive before running for attorney general.Among them was Andrew P. Miller, a patrician 81-year-old former Virginia attorney general. Mr. Miller is a regular at gatherings of state attorneys general at resort destinations, and his client list includes TransCanada, the backer of the Keystone XL pipeline; the Southern Company, the Georgia-based electric utility, which has a large number of coal-burning power plants; and the investor group behind the proposed Pebble Mine in Alaska.
For the energy industry, Mr. Pruitt was an easy choice.
“There’s a mentality emanating from Washington today that says, ‘We know best,’ ” Mr. Pruitt said during his 2010 campaign. “It’s a one-size-fits-all strategy, a command-and-control kind of approach, and we’ve got to make sure we know how to respond to that.”
Among Mr. Pruitt’s first acts was to create a “federalism office,” which challenged the Obama administration’s plan to reduce haze in southwestern Oklahoma by requiring coal-burning electricity plants in the state to install new pollution control equipment.
His interaction with the industry, Mr. Pruitt said during an interview at his Oklahoma City office, has been motivated by a desire to gather information from experts, while defending his state’s longstanding tradition of self-determination.That ethos, he said, is depicted in a large oil painting in his office that shows local authorities with rifles at the ready confronting outsiders during the land rush era. “The founders recognized that power concentrated in a few is a bad thing,” Mr. Pruitt said.More of Nation’s Attorneys General Are RepublicanAided by record fund-raising by the Republican Attorneys General Association, Republicans, for the first time in modern history, will control a majority of state attorney general posts in 2015.Party of incoming attorneys general by state, 2015Money raised by attorney general associationsNumber of attorneys general by partyCHARTSources: Republican and Democratic Attorneys General Associations (fund-raising numbers); Paul Nolette, department of political science, Marquette University (attorneys general by party and state)By Alicia Parlapiano
Mr. Miller made it his job to promote Mr. Pruitt nationally, both as a spokesman for the Rule of Law campaign and as the president of the Republican Attorneys General Association.“I regard the general as the A.G. best suited to take this lead on this question of federalism,” Mr. Miller wrote to Mr. Pruitt’s chief of staff in April 2012. “The touchstone of this initiative would be to organize the states to resist federal ‘overreach’ whenever it occurs.”To Mr. Miller, having Mr. Pruitt as an advocate fit a broader strategy. He wanted state attorneys general to band together the way they did when they challenged the health care law in 2010. In that effort, they hired a major national corporate law firm, Baker Hostetler, to argue the case, with much of the bill being paid through donations from executives at corporations that oppose the law.In his initial appeal to Mr. Pruitt, Mr. Miller insisted that his approach was not “client driven.” But he soon began to name individual clients — TransCanada and Pebble Mine in Alaska — that he wanted to include in the effort. The E.P.A. has held up the Pebble Mine project, which could potentially yield 80 billion pounds of copper, after concluding it would “threaten one of the world’s most productive salmon fisheries.”“This strike force ought to take the form of a national state litigation team to challenge the E.P.A.’s overreach,” Mr. Miller said in an email to Mr. Pruitt’s office. “Like the Dalmatian at the proverbial firehouse, it could move out smartly when the alarm sounded.”
A Call to ArmsMr. Miller’s pitch to Mr. Pruitt became a reality early last year at the historic Skirvin Hilton Hotel in Oklahoma City, where he brought together an extraordinary assembly of energy industry power brokers and attorneys general from nine states for what he called the Summit on Federalism and the Future of Fossil Fuels.The meeting took place in the shadow of office towers that dominate Oklahoma City’s skyline and are home to Continental Resources, a leader in the nation’s fastest-growing oil field, the Bakken formation of North Dakota, as well as Devon Energy, which drilled 1,275 new wells last year.More liberal attorneys general, such as Douglas F. Gansler, Democrat of Maryland, did not participate.“Indeed, General Gansler would in all likelihood try to hijack your summit,” Mr. Miller wrote to Mr. Pruitt in an email. “At best you would be left to preside over a debate, rather than a call to arms.”
Top Individual Recipients of Energy Industry Money Since 2004Many attorneys general collect contributions directly from energy industry donors, in addition to money passed on from party associations. Attorney General Scott Pruitt of Oklahoma, for example, has received at least $215,574 from companies and industry employees since 2010, even though he ran unopposed in his most recent election.
Attorney generals highlighted in graywill be in office in 2015ATTORNEYGENERALELECTIONYEARSPARTYSTATECONTRIBUTIONSGreg AbbottRTex.$2,459,2042006, 2010Tom CorbettRPa.577,1922004, 2008Ken PaxtonRTex.488,4112014RMike DeWineOhio321,0332010, 2014Luther StrangeAla.279,200R2010, 2014Gary K. KingDN.M.228,0182006, 2010Scott PruittROkla.215,5742010, 2014Chris KosterDMo.202,4192008, 2012Bill SchuetteRMich.190,5162010, 2014RKenneth T.Cuccinelli IIVa.174,6382009Notes: 2014 data is incomplete. Scott Pruitt was unopposed in 2014.Source: National Institute on Money in State Politics (energy industry contributions)By Alicia ParlapianoOklahoma energy companies were there, according to an agenda, joined by executives from Peabody Energy of Missouri, the world’s largest private-sector coal producer, as well as the Southern Company, which has aggressively challenged federal air pollution mandates.The nation’s top corporate energy regulatory lawyers were there, too, including F. William Brownell, a senior partner at the law firm Hunton & Williams, which has spent more than 25 years fighting the enforcement of the Clean Air Act.The event was organized by an energy-industry-funded law and economics center at George Mason University of Virginia. The center is part of the brain trust of conservative, pro-industry groups that have worked from the sidelines to help Mr. Pruitt and other attorneys general.And there was nothing ambiguous about the agenda.“Suggested Responses to Assaults on Federalism” was the topic of one breakfast meeting, moderated by Attorney General Wayne K. Stenehjem of North Dakota, that showcased Mr. Brownell and three other top corporate regulatory lawyers. Mr. Hamm was the featured dinner speaker.“We need to ensure the robust role of the states,” said Paul M. Seby, another coal industry lawyer who attended. “And as the chief law enforcement officers, it is not surprising this is becoming a cornerstone of attorney generals’ attention.”Attorneys general said they had no choice but to team up with corporate America. “When the federal government oversteps its legal authority and takes actions that hurt our businesses and residents, it’s entirely appropriate for us to partner with the adversely affected private entities in fighting back,” said Attorney General Pam Bondi of Florida, whose top deputy attended the meeting.
A ‘Strike Force’The impact of the gathering was immediate. A week later, a new Federalism in Environmental Policy task force was established by lawyers in the offices of 19 state attorneys general, according to email records obtained from the office of Attorney General Timothy C. Fox of Montana, who had participated in the Oklahoma meeting.“This message is in follow-up to the excellent environmental conference put on last week by George Mason University and hosted by the Oklahoma attorney general’s office,” said one email sent by Katie Spohn, the deputy attorney general in Nebraska. “In order to continue our coordination of efforts regarding Federalism in Environmental Policy, I am seeking input from each state who participated in the conference.”PATRICK MORRISEY The West Virginia attorney general got a draft bill from a coal industry lawyer. Mr. Miller was pleased. “Just the kind of strike force I was talking about,” he said in an interview.And the input poured forth. The states worked to detail major federal environmental action, like efforts to curb fish kills, reduce ozone pollution, slow climate change and tighten regulation of coal ash. Then they identified which attorney general’s office was best positioned to try to monitor it and, if necessary, attempt to block it.Follow-up by Mr. Pruitt’s federalism office often came after coordination with industry representatives, especially from Devon Energy. The company, one of the most important financial supporters for the Republican Attorneys General Association, is guarded about its public profile. But it readily turned to Mr. Pruitt and his staff for help, setting up meetings for the attorney general with its chief executive, its chief lobbyist and other important players.“We have a clear obligation to our shareholders and others to be involved in these discussions,” John Porretto, a Devon spokesman, said in a statement.
While some of the exchanges were general in character, others were quite explicit, especially the communication about the E.P.A.’s methane regulations that had prompted Mr. Whitsitt, the Devon official, to propose that Mr. Pruitt send a letter to the agency.
“Just a note to pass along the electronic version of the draft letter to Lisa Jackson at E.P.A.,” said one September 2011 letter to Mr. Pruitt’s chief of staff from Mr. Whitsitt. “We have no pride of authorship, so whatever you do on this is fine.”
Mr. Pruitt took the letter and, after changing just 37 words in the 1,016-word draft, copied it onto his state government letterhead and sent it to Ms. Jackson, the E.P.A. administrator.
That was just one of his challenges to Washington. Devon officials also turned to Mr. Pruitt to enlist other Republican attorneys general and Republican governors to oppose a rule proposed by the Bureau of Land Management that would regulate hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, on federal land.“As promised, we are sending you the attached draft of the R.G.A./RAGA follow-up letter to President Obama opposing B.L.M.’s proposed rule,” Brent Rockwood, Devon’s director of government affairs, wrote to Mr. Pruitt’s staff in late 2012, in an email marked “confidential.”
Weeks later, that letter was sent to Mr. Obama without only a few word changes, signed by Mr. Pruitt and Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, who was the head of the Republican Governors Association at the time.
ANDREW P. MILLER A version of the lobbyist’s bill was approved by the West Virginia Legislature. Company officials again expressed their pleasure to Mr. Pruitt.
“I’ve learned that we’re having an effect — and may be able to have more, perhaps even to having the rule withdrawn or shifted to almost a reporting-only one,” Mr. Whitsitt wrote, in another email marked “confidential.”
The rule — which the industry claims would cost $346 million a year to comply with — has still not been issued.
Coordination between the corporations and teams of attorneys general involved in the Rule of Law effort also involves actual litigation to try to clear roadblocks to energy projects, documents show.
Energy producers, for instance, wanted to sue the Interior Department as it considered adding animals such as the sage grouse — which nests near sites of oil and gas drilling — to a list of endangered species, a move that could put tens of thousands of acres off limits to new drilling.
The energy companies could have sued on their own, but their executives believed that the case would be more potent by bringing in Mr. Pruitt and the weight of the State of Oklahoma.
“We just came to the conclusion he would be the best person to be the lead attorney on this,” said Mike McDonald, an owner of Triad Energy, a small oil and gas exploration company, and the president of a group that calls itself the Domestic Energy Producers Alliance. “He has exceeded our expectations.”For the industry, the state is an extremely valued partner because states are granted “special solicitude” from the federal courts, a critical advantage to private companies that helps confer legal standing and means that a matter is less likely to be dismissed.Mr. Pruitt’s office, in a statement to The Times, rejected any suggestion that the attorney general has been wrong to send to Washington comment letters written by industry lobbyists, or to take up their side in litigation.“The A.G.’s office seeks input from the energy industry to determine real-life harm stemming from proposed federal regulations or actions,” the statement said. “It is the content of the request not the source of the request that is relevant.”
HAROLD G. HAMM The oil drilling executive was the chairman of Mr. Pruitt’s re-election campaign.Persuading lawmakers to offer legislation has been another effective lobbying tool. In West Virginia, Mr. Miller handed Attorney General Patrick Morrisey a draft of legislation that he argued would put West Virginia in a better position to sue the Obama administration over proposed regulations to tighten pollution controls on power plants, emails show.“I trust you will find the legislation acceptable in its present form,” Mr. Miller wrote to Mr. Morrisey in February, referring to a private meeting the two had had in the law library of Mr. Morrisey’s office in Charleston. “If so, I would appreciate your having it introduced by your friends in both the Senate and the House.”A version of the bill was introduced and passed by the West Virginia Legislature in March. Delegate Rupert Phillips Jr., the chief sponsor of a second bill that also contained language identical to what Mr. Miller had requested, said in an interview that he had acted with Mr. Morrisey’s support, an account supported by William B. Raney, the president of the West Virginia Coal Association.“It is nice to have everybody singing from the same sheet of music,” Mr. Raney said.A spokesman for Mr. Morrisey disputed this account, saying that while he supported the effort to challenge the rule, he did not play a role in promoting the legislation.
Blurred LinesThe work in Mr. Pruitt’s office has sometimes seemed to blur the distinction between his official duties and the advancement of his political career.Mr. Pruitt’s chief of staff, Crystal Drwenski, served as gatekeeper to his office, arranging meetings and helping companies get Mr. Pruitt and his staff to intervene with the federal authorities. But Ms. Drwenski also played an important supplemental role for the attorney general: fund-raising aide.“A.G. Pruitt is working with the Republican Attorneys General Association on their national meeting in Washington,” Ms. Drwenski wrote to Mr. Whitsitt. “The benefit of membership and participation is having 25 Republican A.G.s in a room to discuss policy issues.”Ms. Drwenski wanted Devon Energy’s help in enlisting the American Petroleum Institute, and Mr. Whitsitt agreed.“I’ve put in a plug to A.P.I.,” Mr. Whitsitt wrote back to Ms. Drwenski, a few hours after her request, having reached out to the organization’s senior lobbyist, Marty Durbin. “He is expecting a call.”In addition to the American Petroleum Institute, major energy companies — ConocoPhillips, the oil and gas company; Alpha Natural Resources, a coal mining giant; and American Electric Power, the nation’s biggest coal consumer — have recently joined the Republican Attorneys General Association, bringing in hundreds of thousands of additional dollars to the group, internal documents show.By last year, the association was starting to pull in so much money under Mr. Pruitt’s leadership that it decided to break free from its partnership with the Republican State Leadership Committee, a group that represents state elected officials. Within months, the association also set up the Rule of Law Defense Fund, yet another legal entity that allows companies benefiting from the actions of Mr. Pruitt and other Republican attorneys general to make anonymous donations, in unlimited amounts. Fund-raising skyrocketed.The $16 million that the association has collected this year is nearly four times the amount it collected in 2010, money it used mostly to buy millions of dollars’ worth of television advertisements in states like Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado and Nevada, all places where Republican candidates for attorney general won election.The fund-raising has taken place on the state level as well. Oklahoma Gas & Electric — a for-profit utility that Mr. Pruitt joined with in federal court to fight the E.P.A. — invited its employees to the Petroleum Club in downtown Oklahoma City late last year for a fund-raising event for Mr. Pruitt, drawing donations from about 45 company employees, including the chief executive. Four days later, Mr. Pruitt filed a new appeal in the case — timing that the utility said was a coincidence.While Mr. Pruitt’s efforts to raise money for the Republican Attorneys General Association have been an unqualified success, the lawsuits and regulatory appeals he has filed have yielded mixed results.In May, the Supreme Court declined to take up the appeal on the Oklahoma Gas & Electric matter, meaning the company is now moving ahead on retrofitting its coal-burning plants. But other lawsuits are pending, including Mr. Pruitt’s challenge of the Dodd-Frank law, which rewrote the nation’s financial regulations, and, perhaps most important, his challenge of the tax subsidies that are a critical part of the Obama administration’s health care law.Mr. Pruitt’s staff has juggled various duties — helping major corporations push their challenges against Washington, and then turning to these same executives, at times, to ask them for financial support.For example, Ms. Drwenski, who is no longer Mr. Pruitt’s chief of staff, asked Devon Energy in 2012, on a workday afternoon, for help in signing up the American Petroleum Institute as a member of the Republican Attorneys General Association.She used her personal email account to send out the initial request. But the subsequent exchange took place on her work email account, even though Oklahoma state law prohibits state officials from using state property or time to solicit political contributions. A spokesman for Mr. Pruitt said, “It is entirely possible she could have been taking a late lunch.”Mr. Pruitt, who ran unopposed to win a second term, has not needed much of the money himself, but his fund-raising efforts have greatly benefited other Republicans running for the job.That explains the partylike atmosphere late last month in South Florida, where members of the Republican Attorneys General Association held their fall meeting at the chic Fontainebleau Miami Beach, along with hundreds of lobbyists, lawyers and corporate executives, whose companies had paid as much as $125,000 for the privilege to celebrate with them.During the opening reception, on a giant terrace overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, with red, white and blue lights beaming onto the walls and rock music blasting, the Republican attorneys general strode to the stage to trumpet their new majority in the states.Mr. Pruitt was there for the weekend’s festivities, an event at which Devon Energy served as a corporate host, with banners hung in the hotel hallways featuring the corporate logo.The Oklahoma attorney general’s stay was brief. The Rule of Law campaign had a new and urgent target.“Our president sees himself as above the law,” Mr. Pruitt said from Oklahoma City as he announced several days later yet another front in the campaign, a lawsuit he planned to file to challenge the Obama administration’s new immigration policies. “We will take action to hold him accountable.
Correction: December 14, 2014 A picture credit last Sunday with the continuation of an article about Republican attorneys general in several states who have formed a secretive alliance with some of the nation’s top energy producers to oppose President Obama’s regulatory agenda misidentified the photographer in some editions. The picture, of Scott Pruitt, the Oklahoma attorney general, was taken by Dylan Hollingsworth, not by Nick Oxfordfrom JCN 3/153/15http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2015/03/the-jcn-story-building-a-secretive-gop-judicial-machine<section class="content article-main-content" style="line-height: 24px;"><section class="content-body article-body-content"> was a cold winter night in Washington, D.C., not long after President George W. Bush won a second term, and the mood at the upscale Italian restaurant was downright celebratory.The most prominent guest was Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, but his table also boasted a mix of high-powered conservatives, including some deep-pocketed donors. Among the elite were Federalist Society executive Leonard Leo, fundraiser and lawyer Ann Corkery, and California real estate magnate Robin Arkley II. “The big prize was to sit next to Scalia,” quipped one attendee at the soiree, adding that Arkley was one such lucky winner.As it happened, the bash coincided with the birth of a new judicial advocacy outfit that Corkery was instrumental in launching, and Arkley in funding, according to conservative sources familiar with the events. The Judicial Confirmation Network (JCN), set up as a 501(c)(4) “social welfare” group that doesn’t disclose its donors, would prove to be a crucial player in drumming up support for Bush Supreme Court nominees John Roberts Jr. and Samuel Alito Jr. — eventual allies for Scalia on the Court’s right flank.In the years since, JCN’s modus operandi and battlegrounds have shifted — particularly since Barack Obama won the White House, which prompted the group to sound the alarm and change its name to the Judicial Crisis Network. In the ensuing years, not only has it fought to block Obama’s nominees to the high court, but it has spent millions to sway state judicial elections and attorneys general races, helping to uphold state laws backed by conservatives, nurture like-minded talent in the states, and advance pro-business, limited-government legal agendas aligned with its donors’ leanings.To expand its influence in state elections, JCN has emerged as a pipeline for secret money to other, better-known dark money groups like the Wisconsin Club for Growth and the American Future Fund which, in turn, have spent big bucks in state Supreme Court and AG races.JCN heightened its focus on AG races last year when it pumped $1 million in secret money into the Republican Attorneys General Association, making it the third-biggest contributor to RAGA and helping the GOP pick up three new slots so that it now controls the majority of state AG posts.  JCN’s pivotal part in the surge of spending on court elections has received scant attention. But in 2012, <a href="http://www.mcfn.org/pdfs/reports/MCFN_2012_Cit_Guide_final_rev..pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">it dished out more than $2 million</a> in court races in Michigan alone — half of that in a single down-ticket state circuit contest, according to the <a href="http://www.mcfn.org/pdfs/reports/MCFN_2012_Cit_Guide_final_rev..pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Michigan Campaign Finance Network</a>. And over the last two years, the organization contributed a minimum of about $2 million to groups that were involved in 2014 state judicial elections and efforts to influence how judges are chosen. Recipients of JCN checks included the many-tentacled Republican State Leadership Committee, which for the first time invested in court races around the country, spending more on them than any other outside group.More broadly, in the last election cycle TV ad spending in state Supreme Court elections jumped to <a href="http://www.justiceatstake.org/newsroom/press-releases-16824/?tv_ad_spending_reaches_nearly_14_million_in_2014_state_supreme_court_races&show=news&newsID=19337" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">at least $13.8 million</a>, according to a preliminary tally by the nonprofit Justice at Stake Campaign. Outside groups, both conservative and liberal, accounted for an estimated $4.9 million of that, or more than 35 percent — a greater share than ever before.The sharp rise in judicial election spending by JCN and other groups on both sides of the political aisle troubles some judicial candidates who have been targeted. “To the extent that judicial campaigns start looking like other campaigns, there’s a risk that judges will be perceived as having a political agenda,” Sam Ervin IV, a North Carolina Supreme Court justice, told The Daily Beast. Ervin, who was elected  in 2014 and is the grandson of the celebrated senator who led Congress’s investigation of the Watergate scandal, lost an earlier race in 2012 after a spending blitz by several outside groups totaling almost $2.6 million, much of it dark money including $75,000 from JCN. “The public is better served, in an environment where judges are elected, if they know the source of the funding for those campaigns,” Ervin, a Democrat, added.To fill its own coffers, JCN has increasingly relied on funding — to the tune of nearly $4 million, according to IRS documents — from another non-disclosing group, the Wellspring Committee, that’s run by Corkery and was founded seven years ago with the help of conservative donors in the network led by billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch. Corkery’s entree to that rarefied network came via JCN supporter Arkley, an early attendee of their famed retreats. And Ann Corkery and her husband, Neil — who is JCN’s treasurer — are central figures in a cluster of other nonprofits, IRS filings show.A fast riseJCN’s early niche entailed working in tandem with a well-organized conservative coalition — in which Leo, the Federalist Society’s executive vice president, was a key player — to ensure that Roberts and Alito won Senate confirmation. To that end, JCN spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in 2005 and January 2006 on radio and online ads, as well as on grassroots efforts, to shape public opinion. One example: The group ran a radio ad blitz in late 2005 in Arkansas, where the two Democratic senators’ votes were considered in play, using Christmas themes and an appeal from a black minister.Well-connected consultants helped JCN get things up and running. One was Gary Marx, a rising social conservative star who Corkery recruited to became the group’s executive director, according to a well-placed source.Another was New York lawyer Wendy Long, a former clerk for Clarence Thomas. She left the law firm Kirkland & Ellis and signed on as counsel to JCN, becoming the organization’s face on cable news and buttressing its legal bona fides.But mostly, JCN’s early rise was attributable to Corkery’s ability to rope in a few big donors. “Ann is very good at cultivating relationships and capitalizing on them,” a conservative source observed.</section>Robin Arkley, the president and CEO of Security National Corp. who had tapped Corkery to be his political liaison and senior advisor, became a key underwriter of JCN’s operations, to the tune of the high six or low seven figures, sources say.The pair went to some of the early fundraising and policy retreats held by the Kochs — events that now draw a glittering cast of wealthy allies and conservative stars to raise millions for the brothers’ network of politically active groups. Arkley was also a financial backer of the Federalist Society. “Arkley helped put Ann in play” as a liaison to funding for advocacy groups on the right, said one conservative.Corkery had a breakthrough year in 2008. Koch operatives gave her the reins to their fledgling <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2013/11/wellsprings-flow/" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Wellspring Committee</a>, a dark money conduit that began pumping funds to other dark money Koch-backed groups like Americans for Prosperity. At the same time, Corkery served as a finance vice chair for Mitt Romney’s 2008 presidential campaign.Though Corkery’s most direct Koch ties frayed after the ’08 elections and Arkley’s wallet took a hit in the financial crisis, according to sources and reports, Corkery mined other big donors she’d been courting for Wellspring, such as John Templeton Jr., a Pennsylvania philanthropist, and New York hedge fund mogul Paul Singer, conservative sources said.Conservative and business groups had been pouring money into state court elections through the early 2000s in order to produce a friendlier legal climate — one that curbed tort liability for corporations, for example. Smart marketing and intellectual heft provided by Leo’s Federalist Society helped them notch significant gains. From 2000 to 2009, business and conservative groups spent more than twice as much on state court elections as plaintiffs’ lawyers, unions, and liberal groups — <a href="http://www.justiceatstake.org/media/cms/JASNPJEDecadeONLINE_8E7FD3FEB83E3.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">$26.3 million to $11.9 million</a>, according to Justice at Stake. 
</section><section class="content article-main-content" style="line-height: 24px;">Wellspring, followed quickly by JCN, became big players in directly and indirectly funding state Supreme Court races. In 2008, for example, Wellspring funneled $200,000 to a group that produced the negative attack ads that helped a conservative eke out a victory over a sitting Supreme Court justice in Wisconsin, tipping control of the bench to the right. In 2009, Wellspring grants went to groups trying to change judicial selection methods in Missouri and Tennessee.In 2010, Wellspring began sending money directly to JCN, giving it and a related organization, the Judicial Education Project, $400,000; an additional $306,000 came in 2011, then $1.5 million in 2012 and $1.4 million the next year. Big grants also went to other organizations playing in judicial politics — including $400,000 in 2011 for Wisconsin Club for Growth, a major actor in that state’s shift to a conservative Supreme Court majority.Wisconsin Club for Growth was also aided by JCN to the tune of more than half-a-million dollars from mid-2012 to mid-2013 as JCN began to function as a dark money conduit like Wellspring. The Wisconsin group spent close to $400,000 to help win a second 10-year term for Justice Patience Roggensack.Conservative control of the Wisconsin court, enabled in no small part by the big pots of dark money dumped into the state, has proved vital to the rejection of challenges to two signature conservative policies championed by GOP Gov. Scott Walker: his initiatives to curb public sector unions and to require voter IDs. (The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday turned away a challenge to the voter ID law, so it will stand.)And an investigation into whether Walker illegally coordinated efforts with several groups — including Wisconsin Club for Growth — in the run-up to his 2012 recall vote now depends on a ruling by the state’s justices. The special prosecutor leading the probe <a href="http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/john-doe-prosecutor-asks-one-or-more-justice-to-step-aside-b99444515z1-291866271.html" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">has asked at least one</a> — perhaps all four — of the court’s conservatives to recuse themselves because of support they have gotten from the groups. (Given recent history and the state’s <a href="http://www.wisciviljusticecouncil.org/policy-project/legislative-report-special-legislative-committee-studies-judicial-discipline-and-recusal/" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">weak judicial conduct rules</a>, court observers say that seems unlikely.) The lower court money bombWhile turning, and keeping, the Wisconsin court conservative was a high priority for JCN and others on the right, the group didn’t spend much cash there directly. But the opposite was true in neighboring Michigan, where JCN laid out more than $2 million on two 2012 court races. About half the money went to an effort to keep law professor Bridget McCormack from sitting on the state Supreme Court, including a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6twOgKpiXbs" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">last-minute ad</a> accusing McCormack of volunteering to represent terrorists, featuring the mother of a soldier killed in Afghanistan. (McCormack did volunteer one of her law school clinics to represent a Guantanamo detainee, though he was released before the students communicated with him.)The other $1 million, though, was spent attempting to kick an Oakland County Circuit Court judge off the bench — and JCN’s spending in that race was matched by <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/nonprof_contrib_rcpt.php?id=522062978&cycle=2014" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Americans for Job Security</a>, which had earlier benefited from Wellspring largesse.Such staggering spending on a lower court contest may be unprecedented, and it was far from clear why the groups were interested. One possible explanation: a funder with an ax to grind.Who that was may never be known. But “pretty much everyone believed” it to be Manoj Bhargava or a person or entity linked to him, said a Michigan lawyer who had a ringside seat at the time; other attorneys and journalists in the state told The Daily Beast the same thing.The Indian-born Bhargava, who invented the now-ubiquitous 5-Hour Energy shot, might be seen by some as a walking contradiction. On the one had, he lived as a monk in India for years and has taken a <a href="http://givingpledge.org/index.html" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">pledge to give</a> more than half his wealth to charity. But he’s also a fierce competitor who, according to a profile in Forbes, displays in his office <a href="http://www.forbes.com/fdc/welcome_mjx.shtml" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">cardboard tombstones</a> bearing the names of rivals his company has beaten in court.A 2012 case before Circuit Judge Phyllis McMillen may shed light on the origins of the campaign against her. Bhargava, through 5-Hour’s parent company Innovation Ventures, was suing a key 5-Hour contractor for allegedly stealing trade secrets. At first McMillen issued a temporary restraining order against the contractor. As facts emerged, though, she lifted the TRO. To allow Innovation Ventures to “crush competitors” unfairly, she said in court February 10, “is certainly not something that’s supported by public policy.”McMillen was running for her first full term in 2012. That spring, soon after she lifted the TRO, she and her colleagues who were also on the ballot learned they had opposition: a couple of lawyers from Republican Attorney General Bill Schuette’s office. Three non-Michiganders had provided the seed money for their candidacies: Andrew McKenna of Virginia, a fundraising consultant with ties to Bhargava, according to a well-placed source; John Templeton, one of Ann Corkery’s funding sources; and John Bryan of Oregon, a retired oil and chemicals executive who spoke at one of the Koch confabs.TV ads sponsored by JCN and its dark money ally showed up closer to the election, with some attacking McMillen (one made her appear to have been lenient with a habitual offender) and others praising the challengers. “They were on every half-hour,” McMillen told The Daily Beast. “It was relentless.” There was radio, too, and a torrent of direct mail.McMillen says she doesn’t know who went after her. “I have no idea,” she said. “There are people who don’t like the way I’ve decided; we handle big litigation.”Bhargava did not respond to numerous requests for comment.In any case, JCN’s Wolverine State crusades didn’t work out too well. McCormack is now a Supreme Court justice and McMillen won her contest, too. In early 2013, she ruled against Bhargava.</section>But in 2014 he clearly emerged as a national mega donor to boost GOP governors at a time when his energy drink company was facing probes by as many as 33 state AGs into allegations of deceptive advertising. In the last election cycle Bhargava’s ETC Capital investment firm gave <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/527s/527cmtedetail_contribs.php?ein=113655877&cycle=2014" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">nearly $2.8 million</a> to the Republican Governors Association, putting him at the top of RGA’s donor heap right after David Koch and his company and casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson.Attorneys general become focusJCN’s surging dark money dollars found a new outlet last year when the network ponied up $1 million to the Republican Attorneys General Association for its 2014 drive to help the GOP capture AG seats in Nevada, Colorado, and elsewhere. That made JCN <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/527s/527cmtedetail_contribs.php?ein=464501717&cycle=2014" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">RAGA’s third-largest donor</a> in a year when RAGA was instrumental in helping Republicans capture enough AG posts that they now hold the majority. RAGA and similar 527 organizations must disclose their donors, but the sources of JCN’s contributions remain in the dark.On top of that, JCN sent $750,000 to the Iowa-based American Future Fund, which started its own AG project between July 1, 2012, and June 30, 2013, tax filings show — JCN’s largest grant of that fiscal year. In turn, AFF chipped in $680,000 to RAGA last year.State attorneys general had been moving higher on JCN’s political radar. Policy director and chief counsel Carrie Severino, who succeeded Wendy Long as JCN’s counsel in 2010 and, like her, once clerked for Justice Thomas, wrote in <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/bench-memos/329618/state-attorney-general-races-watch-carrie-severino" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">National Review</a> right before the 2012 elections that conservative AGs are “emerging as key leaders in the battle for limited constitutional government.” Many of them, she noted, had joined the challenge to Obamacare, and a number were also fighting the Dodd-Frank financial services overhaul and EPA regulations.Dark money ties that bindThe JCN spending through RAGA to boost the GOP’s share of AG slots is just one example of the synergies that the network has forged as a dark money vehicle. Other ties binding JCN to various groups it has funded — and received money from — are evident in the comings and goings of personnel, consultants, and board members. For instance, whenGary Marx stepped down as JCN’s executive director in mid-2011, he took a similar post with Ralph Reed’s Faith and Freedom Coalition (a group that <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/nonprof_contrib_rcpt.php?id=270182697&cycle=2014" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Wellspring helped</a> in 2010 with a $250,000 check). Likewise, last year Chris Jankowski became a consultant to JCN after spending several years running the Republican State Leadership Committee until he departed suddenly in early 2014, according to multiple sources. Both JCN and Wellspring had funneled hundreds of thousands to the RSLC, which has helped the GOP chart major gains in legislatures and other state offices. (RAGA had been part of that group but was spun off early last year.) But JCN’s tightest ties with any group or individual revolve around Ann and Neil Corkery, which meant that Wellspring’s links to JCN were personal as well as political. Serendipitously Ann Corkery’s husband Neil was JCN’s treasurer, a paid part-time gig. The group’s small board also includes Dan Casey, a veteran GOP operative and “the political and PR brains” of that shop, says one source. Wellspring’s board was made up of Ann Corkery and two people the Corkerys knew from their work with Catholic groups.But in 2011, the ties between these two dark money machines grew even closer when Ann Corkery sacked her two fellow board members at Wellspring and replaced them with her daughter and the son of JCN board member Casey, according to IRS filings and former board members. One of those ousted, treasurer Steven Wagner, said, “I never saw any financial records. I was treasurer in name only.”In fact, Wellspring and JCN are the tip of a nonprofit iceberg when it comes to the Corkery family. In 2012, tax records show that Neil Corkery was not only treasurer of JCN, president of its allied Judicial Education Project, and executive director of a charity called the Sudan Relief Fund, all of which paid him salaries; but he also drew paychecks from at least four other organizations: the anti-gay union National Organization for Marriage, ActRight Action, the Catholic Association Foundation, and Catholic Voices. His total earnings were almost $450,000, and his weekly workload was 105 hours in the first half of the year, the groups’ IRS filings show, before dropping back to a mere 80.Some who are familiar with the groups are dubious about that workaholic schedule — especially at the Sudan charity, where Corkery was paid $235,000 for a supposed 40-hour workweek. Neither Ann nor Neil Corkery responded to phone messages or written requests for comment on this story.Moving aheadCritics notwithstanding, the board changes at Wellspring a few years ago seemed to spell good news for JCN, coinciding with the two recent years in which JCN received close to $3 million from Wellspring and allowing the network to ramp up its efforts in the states.And JCN has been otherwise busy, too — churning out, for example, amicus briefs for major legal challenges to Obama administration policies, including the high-profile case that now threatens to undermine key sections of Obamacare which was argued before the Supreme Court in early March.The group doesn’t always toe the mainstream GOP line: It has at times weighed in against Republicans in what look like internal party spats fueled by donor preferences.Ultimately JCN looks poised to continue its role as a dark money juggernaut in 2016 in state and federal elections — both directly and via allied dark money and 527 conduits. If JCN’s recent history proves a guide, that means voters going to the polls in 2016 will remain largely uninformed about who’s writing the network’s big checks for ad and grassroots drives to help elect the highest judicial and legal officers in the states, and senators who may well have to approve nominees to fill future Supreme Court vacancies.Robert Maguire of the Center for Responsive Politics contributed to this piecePeter Stone, who covered lobbying and the influence of money in politics at National Journal for 18 years, has been writing for Mother Jones, The Huffington Post, The Daily Beast and others.koster dem missouri http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/30/us/politics/missouris-attorney-general-faces-scrutiny.htmlAttorney General of AlabamaLuther Strange

 Attorney General of ArizonaTom Horne

 Attorney General of ColoradoJohn W. Suthers

Attorney General of FloridaPam Bondi

 Attorney General of GeorgiaSam Olens

 Attorney General of IdahoLawrence Wasden

Attorney General of IndianaGreg Zoeller

 Attorney General of KansasDerek Schmidt

 Attorney General of LouisianaBuddy Caldwell

Attorney General of MichiganBill Schuette

 Attorney General of MontanaTim Fox

 Attorney General of NebraskaJon Bruning

Attorney General of North DakotaWayne Stenehjem

 Attorney General of OhioMike DeWine

 Attorney General of OklahomaScott Pruitt

Attorney General of South CarolinaAlan Wilson

 Attorney General of South DakotaMarty J. Jackley

 Attorney General of TexasGreg Abbott

Attorney General of UtahSean Reyes

 Attorney General of West VirginiaPatrick Morrisey

 Attorney General of WisconsinJ.B. Van Hollen--

In most <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_law" title="Common law" style="text-decoration: none; line-height: 19.2px; background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">common law</a> jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general is the main legal advisor to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government" title="Government" style="text-decoration: none; line-height: 19.2px; background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">government</a>, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_enforcement" title="Law enforcement" style="text-decoration: none; line-height: 19.2px; background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">law enforcement</a> or responsibility for public prosecutions.

In the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_government_of_the_United_States" title="Federal government of the United States" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">federal government of the United States</a>, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Attorney_General" title="United States Attorney General" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Attorney General</a> is a member of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Cabinet" title="United States Cabinet" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Cabinet</a> and as head of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Justice" title="United States Department of Justice" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Department of Justice</a> is the top law enforcement officer and lawyer for the government. The attorney general may need to be distinguished from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Solicitor_General" title="United States Solicitor General" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Solicitor General</a>, a high Justice Department official with the responsibility of representing the government before the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Supreme_Court" title="United States Supreme Court" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Supreme Court</a>. In cases of exceptional importance, however, the Attorney General may choose to represent the government himself or herself to the Supreme Court.

The individual <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S.state" title="U.S. state" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">U.S. states</a> and territories, as well as the Federal capital of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington,D.C." title="Washington, D.C." style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Washington, D.C.</a> also have <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_Attorney_General" title="State Attorney General" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">attorneys general</a> with similar responsibilities. The majority of state Attorneys General are chosen by popular election, as opposed to the U.S. Attorney General who is a presidential appointee.

<header class="post-header" style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;"><h1 class="post-title" style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.1em; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.stateagmonitor.com/2014/11/05/2014-november-state-attorneys-general-elections-results/" title="Permalink to 2014 November State Attorneys General Elections Results" rel="bookmark" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">2014 November State Attorneys General Elections Results</a></h1><span class="post-byline" style="margin: 0px 0px 8px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: block;">By <a href="http://www.dicksteinshapiro.com/people/bernard-nash" title="Visit Bernard's Biography" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: bold; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline: none;">Bernard Nash</a> , <a href="http://www.dicksteinshapiro.com/allenc/" title="Visit Christopher's Biography" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: bold; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline: none;">Christopher J. Allen</a> , and <a href="http://www.dicksteinshapiro.com/people/bryan-mosca" title="Visit Bryan's Biography" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: bold; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline: none;">Bryan L. Mosca</a> on <time class="post-date" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">November 5th, 2014</time><span class="post-categories" style="margin: 0px 0px 8px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: block;">Posted in <a href="http://www.stateagmonitor.com/2014-election/" title="View all posts in 2014 Election" rel="category tag" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: bold; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline: none;">2014 Election</a></header><section class="post-content" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.4em; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Thirty states and the District of Columbia elected their AG yesterday. Four other states elected their Governor, who will appoint the state’s AG.<ul style="margin: 0px 0px 10px 30px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none;"><li style="margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: disc;">All incumbent AGs won their elections.</li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: disc;">Twelve new AGs were elected to office:<ul style="margin: 0px 0px 10px 30px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none;"><li style="margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: disc;">Arizona – Republican Mark Brnovich</li><li style="font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: disc;">Arkansas – Republican Leslie Rutledge</li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: disc;">Colorado – Republican Cynthia Coffman</li><li style="font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: disc;">Delaware – Democrat Matt Denn</li><li style="font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: disc;">DC – Democrat Karl Racine</li><li style="font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: disc;">Maryland – Democrat Brian Frosh</li><li style="font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: disc;">Massachusetts – Democrat Maura Healey</li><li style="font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: disc;">Nebraska – Republican Doug Peterson</li><li style="font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: disc;">Nevada – Republican Adam Laxalt</li><li style="font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: disc;">New Mexico – Democrat Hector Balderas</li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: disc;">Texas – Republican Ken Paxton</li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: disc;">Wisconsin – Republican Brad Schimel</li></ul></li><li style="font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: disc;">Four AGs and one former AG ran for Governor:<ul style="margin: 0px 0px 10px 30px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none;"><li style="margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: disc;">Texas Republican AG Greg Abbott was elected Governor.</li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: disc;">In Florida, Democratic former Governor and AG Charlie Crist was defeated by Republican Incumbent Governor Rick Scott.</li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: disc;">In Massachusetts, Democratic AG Martha Coakley was defeated by Republican Charlie Baker.</li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: disc;">In New Mexico, Democratic AG Gary King was defeated by Republican Incumbent Governor Susana Martinez.</li></ul></li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: disc;">One former AG is leading his race for U.S. Senate:<ul style="margin: 0px 0px 10px 30px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none;"><li style="margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: disc;">Former Alaska Republican AG Dan Sullivan is currently leading by a few percentage points over Democratic Incumbent Senator Mark Begich.</li></ul></li></ul>After picking up two seats, Republicans will now hold a majority of State AG seats. The 2015 AG political composition will be 27 Republicans to 23 Democrats. That balance might change slightly over the coming months due to a small number of states where the new governor or newly-seated legislature will appoint the AG. The states to watch are Alaska, where Independent Bill Walker is currently leading over Republican Incumbent Governor Sean Parnell, and Maine, where the state Senate races are too close to call and a Republican victory would create uncertainty for current AG Democrat Janet Mills.To view the rest of the AG election results, please click <a href="http://www.dicksteinshapiro.com/sites/default/files/AG_Results_Blog_Post.pdf" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: bold; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; outline: none;">here</a>.For further analysis of the 2014 election, please join Bernie Nash, head of Dickstein Shapiro’s State AG practice, as he partners with the Association of Corporate Counsel to present a webcast on how this new AG landscape will affect the business community.The webcast is today at 3 PM EST/12 PM PST. Register <a href="http://webcasts.acc.com/detail.php?id=951940&go=1" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: bold; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; outline: none;">here</a>.</div></section><footer class="post-footer" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="post-social" style="margin: 15px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; clear: both; height: 20px;">
</div><span class="post-tags" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: bold; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: block; text-transform: uppercase;">TAGS: <a href="http://www.stateagmonitor.com/tag/acc-webcast/" rel="tag" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline: none; text-transform: none;">ACC webcast</a>, <a href="http://www.stateagmonitor.com/tag/alaska-governor-sean-parnell/" rel="tag" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline: none; text-transform: none;">Alaska Governor Sean Parnell</a>, <a href="http://www.stateagmonitor.com/tag/alaska-independent-bill-walker/" rel="tag" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline: none; text-transform: none;">Alaska Independent Bill Walker</a>, <a href="http://www.stateagmonitor.com/tag/alaska-senator-mark-begich/" rel="tag" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline: none; text-transform: none;">Alaska Senator Mark Begich</a>, <a href="http://www.stateagmonitor.com/tag/arizona-republican-mark-brnovich/" rel="tag" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline: none; text-transform: none;">Arizona Republican Mark Brnovich</a>, <a href="http://www.stateagmonitor.com/tag/arkansas-republican-leslie-rutledge/" rel="tag" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline: none; text-transform: none;">Arkansas Republican Leslie Rutledge</a>, <a href="http://www.stateagmonitor.com/tag/colorado-republican-cynthia-coffman/" rel="tag" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline: none; text-transform: none;">Colorado Republican Cynthia Coffman</a>, <a href="http://www.stateagmonitor.com/tag/dc-democrat-karl-racine/" rel="tag" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline: none; text-transform: none;">DC Democrat Karl Racine</a>, <a href="http://www.stateagmonitor.com/tag/delaware-democrat-matt-denn/" rel="tag" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline: none; text-transform: none;">Delaware Democrat Matt Denn</a>, <a href="http://www.stateagmonitor.com/tag/florida-governor-rick-scott/" rel="tag" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline: none; text-transform: none;">Florida Governor Rick Scott</a>, <a href="http://www.stateagmonitor.com/tag/former-alaska-attorney-general-dan-sullivan/" rel="tag" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline: none; text-transform: none;">Former Alaska Attorney General Dan Sullivan</a>,<a href="http://www.stateagmonitor.com/tag/former-florida-governor-and-attorney-general-charlie-crist/" rel="tag" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline: none; text-transform: none;">Former Florida Governor and Attorney General Charlie Crist</a>, <a href="http://www.stateagmonitor.com/tag/maine-attorney-general-janet-mills/" rel="tag" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline: none; text-transform: none;">Maine Attorney General Janet Mills</a>, <a href="http://www.stateagmonitor.com/tag/maryland-democrat-brian-frosh/" rel="tag" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline: none; text-transform: none;">Maryland Democrat Brian Frosh</a>, <a href="http://www.stateagmonitor.com/tag/massachusetts-attorney-general-martha-coakley/" rel="tag" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline: none; text-transform: none;">Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley</a>, <a href="http://www.stateagmonitor.com/tag/massachusetts-democrat-maura-healey/" rel="tag" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline: none; text-transform: none;">Massachusetts Democrat Maura Healey</a>, <a href="http://www.stateagmonitor.com/tag/massachusetts-republican-charlie-baker/" rel="tag" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline: none; text-transform: none;">Massachusetts Republican Charlie Baker</a>, <a href="http://www.stateagmonitor.com/tag/nebraska-republican-doug-peterson/" rel="tag" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline: none; text-transform: none;">Nebraska Republican Doug Peterson</a>, <a href="http://www.stateagmonitor.com/tag/nevada-republican-adam-laxal/" rel="tag" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline: none; text-transform: none;">Nevada Republican Adam Laxal</a>, <a href="http://www.stateagmonitor.com/tag/new-mexico-attorney-general-gary-king/" rel="tag" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline: none; text-transform: none;">New Mexico Attorney General Gary King</a>, <a href="http://www.stateagmonitor.com/tag/new-mexico-democrat-hector-balderas/" rel="tag" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline: none; text-transform: none;">New Mexico Democrat Hector Balderas</a>, <a href="http://www.stateagmonitor.com/tag/new-mexico-governor-susana-martinez/" rel="tag" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline: none; text-transform: none;">New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez</a>, <a href="http://www.stateagmonitor.com/tag/texas-attorney-general-greg-abbott/" rel="tag" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline: none; text-transform: none;">Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott</a>, <a href="http://www.stateagmonitor.com/tag/texas-republican-ken-paxton/" rel="tag" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline: none; text-transform: none;">Texas Republican Ken Paxton</a>, <a href="http://www.stateagmonitor.com/tag/wisconsin-republican-brad-schimel/" rel="tag" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline: none; text-transform: none;">Wisconsin Republican Brad Schimel</a></footer> pruitt runs RG AG=<a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/12/07/3600475/investigation-energy-firms-attorneys-general-fighting-federal-government/">http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/12/07/3600475/investigation-energy-firms-attorneys-general-fighting-federal-government/</a>Energy firms and state attorneys general have established a secretive alliance in an effort to derail environmental oversight and promote fossil fuels, according to an in-depth New York Times’ <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/07/us/politics/energy-firms-in-secretive-alliance-with-attorneys-general.html?smid=tw-share" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">investigation</a> published this weekend. Having reviewed thousands of emails and legal documents and undertaken dozens of interviews, the Times found that “Republican attorneys general have formed with some of the nation’s top energy producers to push back against the Obama regulatory agenda.”<div id="in-content-ad" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 22.4400005340576px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0.4em 0px; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.6em; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Using Oklahoma as an example, open-records requests revealed that Attorney General Scott Pruitt delivered a letter to the EPA in 2011 accusing the agency of significantly overestimating the air pollution caused by fracking. Pruitt did not mention that the letter was originally written by representatives of Devon Energy, one of the state’s largest oil and gas companies.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0.4em 0px; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.6em; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“The attorney general’s staff had taken Devon’s draft, copied it onto state government stationery with only a few word changes, and sent it to Washington with the attorney general’s signature,” reports the Times.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0.4em 0px; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.6em; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Devon Energy is a major supporter of the Republican Attorneys General Association, whose mission is electing Republicans to the Office of Attorney General. The company has donated significantly to the campaigns of climate deniers, <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/04/16/1872591/dirty-energy-fuels-climate-change-denier-ken-cuccinellis-campaign/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">giving</a> $800,000 to former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s gubernatorial campaign in 2013. Devon Energy also gave <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/02/20/1614831/lobbying-budgets-of-keystone-xl-opponents-exceeded-that-of-supporters-by-more-than-35-to-1/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">over a million</a> dollars to the lobbying effort in support of the Keystone XL pipeline in 2012. Pruitt is head of the Republican Attorneys General Association, which has collected $16 million this year — nearly four times the amount it collected in 2010.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0.4em 0px; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.6em; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">According to the Times, at least a dozen states now have attorneys general working with “energy companies and other corporate interests” that are in exchange providing them with unheard of amounts of political funds. This impact of this effort can be seen in this year’s election results, as Republicans will hold 27 state attorney’s general offices starting in January — the first time they’ve had a majority in recent history.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0.4em 0px; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.6em; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The Times reports that Devon Energy “readily turned to Mr. Pruitt and his staff for help” as part of a broader national effort bringing together powerful energy interests and attorneys general. The establishment of a new Federalism in Environmental Policy task force by the offices of 19 state attorneys general has bolstered attempts to push back on federal actions to reduce ozone pollution, protect endangered species, regulate fracking, and limit greenhouse gas emissions. The scale of this coordination with corporate interests is unprecedented.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0.4em 0px; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.6em; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Pruitt changed 37 words out of 1,016 when repurposing a letter drafted by Devon lawyers for submission to then head of the EPA, Lisa Jackson, about the agency’s methane regulations. The Times <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/12/07/us/politics/documents-attorneys-general-and-the-energy-industry.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">published</a> 80-plus pages of notes and documents showing the extent to which Devon and other energy companies have been working with state attorneys general to fight federal actions.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0.4em 0px; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.6em; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In responding to questions about his involvement with industry lobbyists, Pruitt said that “it is the content of the request not the source of the request that is relevant.” He went on to say that Devon Energy is an important energy producer and job creator for Oklahoma and that the overreach of the federal government into the regulation of fracking is not only bad for Devon, but also would negatively impact citizens of the state.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0.4em 0px; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.6em; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">A recent <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/content/345/6192/13.summary" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">study</a> published in the journal Science found that nearly all of the more than 2,500 small earthquakes that have hit Oklahoma in the past five years can be linked to the process of drilling for oil and gas. Spills related to fracking have also <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/07/31/3466283/olympic-pool-sized-hydrochloric-acid-spill-oklahoma/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">threatened</a>water supplies in the state.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0.4em 0px; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.6em; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In another recent display of the coordination between energy firms and state-level Republican politicians, this week the American Legislative Executive Council held their annual closed-door meeting in D.C. They <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/12/05/3599846/getting-turned-away-from-the-alec-conference/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">pushed</a> a number of anti-clean energy initiatives, including a resolution to abolish the EPA.===

ag going after duke cunningham sacked in scandal?

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BS: Okla dem  http://ballotpedia.org/Oklahoma_Attorney_General-Drew_Edmondson

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abbott Tx 1 google srch return: screenshot/ choose life  <a href="https://www.oag.state.tx.us/">https://www.oag.state.tx.us/</a>

Texas Landowner's Bill of Rights

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WASHINGTON--President Barack Obama’s new push against climate change may resistance from Republican-led state governments.

Obama on Tuesday announced his long-term climate change <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/share/climate-action-plan" target="hplink">plan</a> that will include<a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/06/25/remarks-president-climate-change" target="hplink"> regulations on coal-fired power plants</a>.

Some states are likely to resist -- a continuation of long-running fight between Obama and Republican governors, state legislatures and attorneys general on a variety of issues.

"In some of these states, there's just going to be a sort of reflexive, anti-Obama response," Sean Kelly, a political science professor at California State University Channel Islands told The Huffington Post. "They'll go to court. Some attorney general will see an opportunity."

Still, Kelly said Environmental Protection Agency regulations on power plant emissions probably will be difficult for states to obstruct because of a Supreme Court ruling that gave the executive branch a mandate to enforce the Clean Air Act.

Some state attorneys general have already weighed in on the climate fight. Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt signed onto a legal brief urging the Supreme Court to take up a case that challenges existing EPA greenhouse gas regulations. Other attorneys general, including <a href="http://news.heartland.org/newspaper-article/2013/06/11/attorneys-general-warn-epa-over-sue-and-settle-fracking-regulations" target="hplink">Scott Pruitt</a> from Oklahoma, <a href="http://newsok.com/states-including-oklahoma-urge-epa-to-stay-out-of-oil-field-emission-regulation/article/3806240" target="hplink">have asked</a> the federal government to grant states more authority to regulate natural gas drilling, or fracking. Texas' attorney general Greg Abbott, <a href="https://www.oag.state.tx.us/newspubs/releases/2013/041913_texas_v_epa.pdf" target="_hplink">has petitioned</a> the Supreme Court to take up his federal lawsuit challenging EPA's authority to regulate pollution.

In states with large coal mining industries, the proposals have proven controversial as well. West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey (R)<a href="http://wvrecord.com/news/s-4684-state-attorney-general/260856-ag-morrisey-vows-to-inspect-legality-of-obamas-climate-change-plan"> Obama's proposals will plunge his state into "an abyss of poverty." Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett (R) </a><a href="http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2013/06/25/corbett-calls-obamas-climate-change-proposal-a-war-on-coal-and-jobs/"> the plan a "war on jobs."</a>

<a href="http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2013/06/25/corbett-calls-obamas-climate-change-proposal-a-war-on-coal-and-jobs/">"People are rejecting science," said Wisconsin state Rep. Fred Clark (D-Baraboo). "Just two weeks ago, I got a book in the mail, along with every other (state) legislator, funded by the Heartland Institute that basically tries to debunk the notion of climate change and claim that it's just part of a natural cycle." The Heartland Institute, a conservative think tank partly funded by oil and tobacco companies, denies global warming and the health effects of secondhand cigarette smoke.</a>

Clark said he has trouble convincing his Republican colleagues to view climate change as human-caused. In other states, including Missouri and Kansas, Republican-controlled legislatures recently have adopted a mixed bag of resolutions resisting federal and international recommendations for environmental policy.

<a href="http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2013/06/25/corbett-calls-obamas-climate-change-proposal-a-war-on-coal-and-jobs/">Kansas state House Energy and Environment Committee Chairman Dennis Hedke (R-Wichita), led efforts in his state </a><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/11/agenda-21-kansas-un-sustainability_n_1507823.html" target="hplink">to oppose</a> the United Nations’ sustainability program, known as Agenda 21, along with <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/09/kansas-sustainable-development_n_3045118.html" target="hplink">banning sustainability</a> in the state.

Hedke, a trained geophysicist who considers himself an environmentalist, told HuffPost he believes EPA regulations on energy producers are hurting businesses and families because of skyrocketing electricity bills. He also said the science used to promote policy is deeply flawed.

Existing EPA regulations have increased electricity costs in Kansas up to 60 percent in the last five years, Hedke said. Kansas' electricity costs are still 18 percent less expensive than the national average, according to an Institute for Energy Research <a href="http://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/states/kansas/" target="_hplink">fact sheet.</a>

While Obama is likely to take action with executive power rather than legislation, Hedke and his counterparts in other states will have fewer options to resist. Nevertheless, they plan to fight back against the EPA and Obama.

"The EPA is just out of control. There's no other way to put it. And I'm going to fight the EPA with every fiber of my being for as long as I live," Hedke said. "We will take steps in the state of Kansas to try to push back on their unbelievable overreach and attempt to control the lives of Kansans and the people of the United States of America."

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connecticut state atty (=AG?) cooperated w/ fusion ctr/ to bust fran tutt?  EF foreman 2 mill$ surveill, weekly repts to US Atty=

Two of Arizona's most powerful officials ran into some trouble this week, though one seems to be in far bigger trouble than the other.

Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett (R), for example, is perhaps best known for <a href="http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/05/23/11827467-two-steps-forward-one-step-back-in-arizona?lite">flirting with</a> the "birther" conspiracy theory and publicly questioning whether President Obama would be on the state ballot in 2012. This week, however, Bennett faced a different kind of controversy, when we learned the Arizona Secretary of State is <a href="http://www.salon.com/2013/05/07/arizona_secretary_of_state_on_payroll_of_freedomworks_activist/">bankrolled</a> by the Tea Party group Freedomworks, to the tune of $2,000 a month.

But as it turns out, that's the less interesting story <a href="http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/arizona-ag-pleads-no-contest-to-leaving-scene?ref=fpblg">out of the Grand Canyon State</a> this week.

On Wednesday in Phoenix Municipal Court, while all eyes were on the Jodi Arias murder trial, Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne pleaded no contest to leaving the scene of an accident, a misdemeanor, and agreed to pay a several hundred dollar fine. [...]

Horne on Wednesday issued a statement announcing that the case had been settled. "Today I paid a $300 fine to settle a traffic misdemeanor arising from not leaving a note after a traffic incident in a parking lot, which at most left a paint scratch and no dent," Horne said in the statement.

</blockquote>

And why is a minor traffic accident interesting? As it turns out, when Arizona's attorney general hit another car and drove away without leaving a note, he very likely would have gotten away with it, except, unbeknownst to him, Horne <a href="http://www.azfamily.com/news/Tom-Horne-says-he-paid-300-fine-to-settle-hit-and-run-case-206687831.html">was being followed by FBI</a> agents who saw the incident and reported what happened.

And why were FBI agents following the state attorney general? Because federal law enforcement suspects Horne may be guilty of breaking federal campaign finance laws, illegally coordinating with an outside political group.

What's more, making this just a little more entertaining, the Arizona Republican drove away after hitting that other car in part because his passenger is one of his subordinates, with whom Horne has had an extra-marital affair.

Incidentally, Horne, ostensibly Arizona's top law-enforcement official, <a href="http://www.knau.org/post/fbi-agent-says-ag-hornes-hit-and-run-was-attempt-hide-affair">initially lied</a> about hitting the other car and declined to cooperate in the police investigation.

<a href="http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/news/2013/05/10/18170756-crazy-from-the-heat">http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/news/2013/05/10/18170756-crazy-from-the-heat</a>

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The Democratic spoof claimed Cuccinelli said in a statement that "issues like his conflict of interest with drug company Star Scientific and his ideological attacks on the bipartisan transportation compromise are making it impossible for him to do his job impartially."

The Washington Post has reported that Cuccinelli delayed disclosure of his stock holdings in the Henrico-based drug company because he didn't know his holdings topped $10,000, the threshold for disclosure.

The Associated Press reported March 22 that Henrico-based Star Scientific Inc. sued Virginia's Department of Taxation in Mecklenberg Circuit Court in July 2011 over a $700,000 tax dispute with the state. A deputy attorney general filed an answer to the complaint the following month. There have been no new motions, pleadings, filings or hearings in the case since.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/va-gov-mcdonnell-in-close-relationship-with-owner-of-struggling-company/2013/03/30/43f34fb8-97ea-11e2-814b-063623d80a60_story.html

cooc says gifts van't be returned (or paid back w/ $)

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<div class="byline news-politics"><a href="http://www.prwatch.org/">PR Watch</a> [1] / By <a href="http://www.alternet.org/authors/brendan-fischer">Brendan Fischer</a> [2]</div>

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<h1 class="node-title">Kochs Form New Dark Money Group To Hide Political Activities From Public</h1>

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The right-wing network funded by the billionaire industrialist Koch brothers is being revamped after the 2012 elections, starting with a new nonprofit called the "Association for American Innovation" that will act as a hub for funneling undisclosed spending towards the Kochs' political projects.

With ambiguous IRS rules and a deadlocked Congress, they might get away with it.

The role for the group, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/26/koch-brothers-group_n_3164357.html">according to the Huffington Post</a> [3], is to serve as a financing vehicle for the Koch political network, which includes organizations like Americans for Prosperity. In some respects it appears to be playing a similar role as the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_to_Protect_Patient_Rights#cite_note-open_secrets-0">Center to Protect Patient Rights</a> [4], a 501(c)(4) nonprofit run by Koch operative Sean Noble that <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2012/05/cppr.html">funnelled</a> [5] nearly $55 million to other front groups, which in turn ran ads attacking Democrats in the 2010 elections.

The Association for American Innovation will likely help the Kochs and their allies continue avoiding transparency in political spending.

Association Formed as "Business League," Perhaps to Avoid IRS Scrutiny

The Association is organized under Section 501(c)(6) of the tax code, setting it apart from many of the dark money groups active in the 2010 and 2012 elections, like Karl Rove's Crossroads GPS or Americans for Prosperity, which are organized as 501(c)(4) "social welfare" nonprofits.

Section 501(c)(6) is reserved for business leagues like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce or trade associations like the pharmaceutical lobby PhRMA; but unlike those groups, there is little evidence the Association exists to advance the interests of any particular trade or industry.

"A (c)(6) is exactly where you'd expect captains of industry to go for political leverage out of the public view, especially if the notorious 501(c)(4) organizations are about to be more heavily scrutinized and regulated by the IRS," attorney Greg Colvin, an expert in nonprofit law, told the Center for Media and Democracy.

"Unlike a (c)(4), the organization would have no pretense of promoting the common good and general welfare of the community," Colvin said. "A 501(c)(6) is not a public interest organization. It can promote the special interests of oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, real estate developers, manufacturers, or free enterprise capitalism generally."

Donors to both 501(c)(6) "trade associations" and 501(c)(4) "social welfare" nonprofits can remain anonymous, providing a potential avenue for publicity-shy funders to spend on elections while keeping their identities secret. Super PACs must disclose all their donors, but nonprofits have no such obligation, unless a donation was specifically earmarked for a political ad.

And the law governing both 501(c)(6) and 501(c)(4) groups are the same: political intervention cannot be their primary purpose. But the IRS rules for what constitutes political intervention are relatively ambiguous and rarely enforced. And this provides an opening for the Kochs and their allies to continue influencing elections from the shadows.

Kochs Exploiting "Vague, Unpredictable, and Unevenly Applied" Laws

Despite these limits on political intervention, several dark money nonprofits last year did little else besides spend on election-related ads. Some nonprofits <a href="http://www.propublica.org/article/controversial-dark-money-group-among-five-that-told-irs-they-would-stay-out">even told the IRS</a> [6] they would not spend a dollar on political intervention.

There still has not been a public prosecution of a dark money group for violating election or tax law in the 2012 or 2010 elections, an issue that was the subject of a <a href="http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/hearing.cfm?id=2c79a170440dcdca9be971883a73cb83">Senate Judiciary Subcommittee hearing </a> [7]in April.

"The tax rules are vague, unpredictable, and unevenly applied," Colvin <a href="http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/pdf/04-09-13ColvinTestimony.pdf">testified</a> [8] at the hearing. "Only the most flagrant violations could be knowing, willful, or deliberate and subject to criminal prosecution."

To assess whether an ad or expenditure counts as "political intervention," the IRS uses multi-factor "issue advocacy" rules and a vague "facts and circumstances" approach. This includes enough wiggle room for dark money groups run by the Kochs or others to argue that their ads or organizing drives should count as "education" or "lobbying" rather than electoral advocacy -- preserving their nonprofit status while shielding their spending and funding from public view.

The IRS and Treasury Department could create more bright-line rules but have failed to do so.

Kochs Taking Steps to Thwart Transparency

This ambiguity in the rules governing nonprofits led to an unprecedented level of secret spending in the 2012 elections. And that has inspired calls for transparency from members of both parties, although the GOP as a whole has consistently opposed disclosure legisation. In addition to the DISCLOSE Act, which failed in recent sessions (largely because of Republican opposition), Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) have introduced the <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/138100014/Follow-the-Money-Act-Backgrounder">"Follow the Money Act"</a> [9] to require any group that spends more than $10,000 on an election to disclose the identities of donors who give $1,000 or more.

The Kochs have <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2013/04/pepsico-koch-industries-others-lobby-against-donor-disclosure.html">lobbied against</a> [10] almost every proposal for greater transparency in election spending.

The fate of disclosure legislation remains unclear. But perhaps the Kochs are nonetheless anticipating greater transparency requirements with the creation of the Association for American Innovation: by a donor giving to the Association, and the Association then contributing to a dark money nonprofit like Crossroads GPS that spends on political ads, the original donor's identity is almost certain to remain secret if Crossroads GPS must disclose its donors. GPS would likely only report the Association for American Innovation contribution, allowing the original donor to keep their anonymity.

"So long as huge amounts and proportions of political campaign funds can flow through multi-purpose 501(c) entities, the task of achieving public disclosure will be almost impossible," Colvin told the Senate Subcommittee.

Another complicating issue is that the IRS has never clarified how much political intervention is too much for a nonprofit. It cannot be a "primary purpose," which could mean anywhere between 10 percent and 49 percent of the nonprofit's overall activites. It is also not clear when one nonprofit transferring funds to another counts towards their political intervention limit.

Even if a group like the Association were to specify that its transfer to another Koch group cannot be used for electoral purposes (as defined under vague IRS rules), money is fungible, so the contribution can free up more funds for the recipient's explicitly political activity. And if the Association makes a significant number of contributions to other nonprofits -- which they will likely do -- and argues the transfers do not count as "political intervention," the Association itself could devote more resources to electoral politics without this becoming its "primary purpose."

Take it to the States (but Avoid State Attorney Generals)

Despite entreaties from Colvin and other experts, the IRS has failed to create more clear rules for nonprofits on how political intervention is defined and how much is too much, and Congress has failed to revise the tax code or pass disclosure legislation. This has left the door open to abuse of the tax code by players like the Kochs.

But some states have not been paralyzed by inaction.

In 2012, the Koch-connected Center to Protect Patient Rights was involved in a <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/11/11845/california-elections-board-peels-back-layer-dark-money-onion-finds-more-onion/">shell game</a> [11] where $11 million was shuffled between three different groups to influence two California ballot initiatives. But since November, California's elections board has been digging deep into what it calls this "campaign money laundering" effort, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/24/california-dark-money_n_2943688.html">most recently</a> [12] issuing a round of subpoenas to determine who provided the original funds.

Other states are also taking action. Montana and its state courts have <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/government-elections-politics/big-sky-big-money/montana-court-rules-dark-money-group-violated-state-law/">successfully enforced disclosure laws against</a> [13] a dark money group that had tried keeping its donors secret. <a href="https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2013/related/proposals/sb166">Bipartisan legislation</a> [14] in Wisconsin would require greater transparency for "issue ads" that run near an election. And New York's Attorney General issued new rules to <a href="http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/12/new_york_dark_money_rules.php">require donor disclosure</a> [15] by dark money groups that spend more than $10,000 in an election.

And here arises another advantage to organizing the Association for American Innovation as a (c)(6): unlike (c)(4)s, they largely will not fall under the jurisdiction of state attorney generals.

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<div class="tags">See more stories tagged with:

<div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/koch-brothers-0">koch brothers</a> [16],</div>

<div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/center-media-and-democracy">Center for Media and Democracy</a> [17],</div>

<div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/dark-money-groups">dark money groups</a> [18]</div>

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<div class="print-source_url">Source URL: <a href="http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/kochs-form-new-dark-money-group-hide-political-activities-public">http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/kochs-form-new-dark-money-group-hide-political-activities-public</a></div>

Links:

[1] http://www.prwatch.org/

[2] http://www.alternet.org/authors/brendan-fischer

[3] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/26/koch-brothers-group_n_3164357.html

[4] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_to_Protect_Patient_Rights#cite_note-open_secrets-0

[5] http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2012/05/cppr.html

[6] http://www.propublica.org/article/controversial-dark-money-group-among-five-that-told-irs-they-would-stay-out

[7] http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/hearing.cfm?id=2c79a170440dcdca9be971883a73cb83

[8] http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/pdf/04-09-13ColvinTestimony.pdf

[9] http://www.scribd.com/doc/138100014/Follow-the-Money-Act-Backgrounder

[10] http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2013/04/pepsico-koch-industries-others-lobby-against-donor-disclosure.html

[11] http://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/11/11845/california-elections-board-peels-back-layer-dark-money-onion-finds-more-onion/

[12] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/24/california-dark-money_n_2943688.html

[13] http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/government-elections-politics/big-sky-big-money/montana-court-rules-dark-money-group-violated-state-law/

[14] https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2013/related/proposals/sb166

[15] http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/12/new_york_dark_money_rules.php

[16] http://www.alternet.org/tags/koch-brothers-0

[17] http://www.alternet.org/tags/center-media-and-democracy

[18] http://www.alternet.org/tags/dark-money-groups

[19] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B

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At issue is a scientific finding issued by the EPA last year concluding that greenhouse gases are a threat to human health, due to the lower air quality, extreme weather events, and heat waves caused by rising temperatures. The chamber announced its intent to sue the EPA last month in an attempt to have the endangerment finding, as it's known, tossed out. The big-business lobby has been joined by a collection of trade groups like the American Farm Bureau Federation, the American Petroleum Institute, the National Association of Manufacturers, and the National Mining Association; free-market think tanks such as FreedomWorks and the Competitive Enterprise Institute; and the attorneys general of Texas, Alabama, and Virginia.

Bush2 admin fired 6 good ones?  in part for not going along with disenfr voter:

<div class="print-site_name">Published on Alternet (<a href="http://www.alternet.org">http://www.alternet.org</a>)</div>

<div class="print-breadcrumb"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/">Home</a> > Billionaires & Ballot Bandits: Karl Rove and the Republican Dark Art of Election Theft</div>

<div class="byline story">Seven Stories Press / By <a href="http://www.alternet.org/authors/greg-palast">Greg Palast</a> [1]</div>

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<h1 class="node-title">Billionaires & Ballot Bandits: Karl Rove and the Republican Dark Art of Election Theft</h1>

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<div class="story-date">September 20, 2012  |  </div>

<div class="field-item even">The following is an excerpt from Greg Palast’s new book, <a href="http://www.BallotBandits.org">Billionaires & Ballot Bandits: How to Steal an Election in 9 Easy Steps</a> [2], including a comic book by Ted Rall and an introduction by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (7 Stories Press, 2012).

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<div>Congressman Tim Griffin is a big, BIG supporter of the XL Pipeline. And the Kochs are big, BIG supporters of Congressman Griffin. Koch interests lined up $167,183 for Griffin’s run in 2010. Let me put that in perspective: for $167,183, the average member of Congress would be willing to wash your car—with his tongue.</div>

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That kind of money doesn’t come into a GOP candidate’s hands without the helpful hand of Karl Rove.

If you remember, voting-rights attorney Kennedy said Griffin “should be in jail.” A federal prosecutor expressed the same sentiment to me. How Griffin ended up in Congress, not in prison, is the more intriguing story.

It was well after midnight, in the first week of October before the 2004 election, when the e-mails started pouring in.

The chieftains of the George W. Bush reelection campaign were copying me on their most intimate and confidential messages—and Ollie, my research director, pissed me off by waking me in my cheap motel room to tell me this whacky-ass news. I was in the middle of nowhere USA with my election investigation for BBC going nowhere, so I wasn’t in the mood for this bullshit.

But it wasn’t bullshit. It was a miracle. Karl Rove’s right-hand man, Tim Griffin, Bush’s research director (read, smear director), had sent the data for some sick scheme to the chairman of the Bush reelection campaign in Florida, Brett Doster. Griffin, instead of sending copies to <a href="http://georgewbush.com/" target="blank">GeorgeWBush.com</a> [3], their internal e-mail domain, sent copies to <a href="http://georgewbush.org/" target="blank">GeorgeWBush.</a> [4]<a href="http://georgewbush.org/" target="_blank">ORG</a> [4], to my friend John Wooden’s joke site. Wooden passed them on to us for forensic analysis.

Here was the GOP leadership with their pants around their ankles, exposing their cheat sheets.

Holy Mama! Do I have to believe in God, now?

What we’d been handed proved to be an electronic back door into the darkest corners of a criminal vote-suppression machine.

By the morning, we had booked flights to Washington, DC, and Tallahassee, Florida, while Ms. Badpenny, in charge of our investigations, began the decoding work. We knew there was a scheme afoot, but what exactly was it?

Smoking-gun memos rarely read, “Louie, this is how we cheat the public,” or “Brett, here’s the plan to steal Florida.” If they do say that, they’re fake.

These e-mails’ clues were a bit tougher than most to crack. That pudgy little wad Griffin had written to Doster several e-mails with the cryptic subject line "Caging.xls," with Excel files attached, and terse messages like “Here’s another list.”

Each was a very selective list of voters, names and addresses. What struck me right off were names like Rodriguez, Washington and Goldberg—typically Hispanic, black and Jewish. Badpenny and the crew mapped the addresses, and sure enough, it was a perfect scattergram of poor, minority neighborhoods and townships with Gone With the Wind names like “Plantation, Florida.” There was also that list of Yiddish names from retirement homes: the GOP was certainly targeting the Elderly of Zion.

But for what?

At the Bush headquarters in Florida’s capital, campaign director Doster agreed to an interview. But when BBC required me to disclose we had his “caging” e-mails, Doster fled like a bunny into his Tallahassee offices and sent out his mouthpiece, Mindy Tucker Fletcher, clutching a supersized cup of Coca-Cola as big as a mortar shell. She brought a flunky to nod at whatever she said, and a sneering list of explanations, beginning with a corker: the "caging” lists, she said, were a compilation of Republican donors.

Really? Including these folks? Here were the Bush-Cheney “donors” who all lived at the State Street Rescue Mission: Page after page of names contained residents of homeless shelters.

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Want to try again, Mrs. Tucker Fletcher?

A "caging list,” she explained, was a term of art in the junk mail business referring to returned letters. I knew��that. The Republicans, she said, didn’t want to send duplicates to wrong addresses.

You don’t say! So Mindy, you’re telling me that Karl Rove’s top attack dog is now running the mailroom via confidential messages to state party chairmen—for address corrections?

Why don’t I give you one more try, Mrs. Tucker Fletcher. Could these, by chance, be lists used to systematically challenge the registrations of voters of color?

Mindy Tucker Fletcher grinned and said, carefully, “This is not a challenge list. That’s not what it’s SET UP to do.”

Bingo.

You see, we’d already made a couple of visits to experts before stopping by Fortress Bush. After sending the lists to America’s junk mail king Mark Swedlund, who’d helped me on many an undercover investigation, I had a damn good idea what these were—an opinion confirmed, without prompting, by Ion Sancho, Florida’s county elections supervisor, the recognized expert on voting systems—and vote heists. “They couldn��t be anything but challenge lists. And if they are, they’re breaking the law.”

More than one law, actually, especially if the targets have a racial or religious profile. And it would be breaking a consent decree: years earlier, the Republican National Committee was caught challenging black voters en masse at polling stations and had promised, under penalty of perjury, not to do it again.

Now it looked like they were doing it again, but in a most sophisticated way. Bobby Kennedy explained the game: “They send out letters to poor black and Hispanic voters, first class, with instructions to return, don’t forward, if the letter is not deliverable. The returned [“caged”] letter is then used as ‘evidence’ the voter’s listed address is fraudulent, and the Republican functionary then gets the name struck from voter rolls, or the absentee ballot, if mailed in, is not counted.”

Targeting the black, Hispanic and Jewish vote this way is not just icky and racist, it’s against the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which Kennedy��s late father Bobby Sr., the US attorney general, and his uncle, President John Kennedy, helped draft. Bobby Jr., looking at the evidence, suggested hard time for Griffin and Rove.

But who was going to prosecute Griffin and company, anyway? Was the Bush Justice Department going to tell Mr. Griffin to “spread 'em"? Mr. Griffin, of the Bush campaign? Mr. Griffin, assistant to the senior advisor to President Bush?

The Hysteria Factory

In early 2004, George Bush was not a popular president, what with wars and his billionaires leaving so little for the rest of us. But if malcontents, black folk, Latinos, and Jews lost their registrations, didn’t get to vote, were afraid to vote, then swing states like New Mexico, Ohio and Florida could be flipped.

A massive attack on voter rolls to remove names, to block voters from casting ballots, and challenging votes cast should do it. Millions of votes are made to disappear by stealth or just sheer incompetence, but Americans are too enamored of the television story of their democracy that they don’t see it and won’t hear of it.

The chairman of the US Commission on Civil Rights, Mary Frances Berry, told me, “Elections aren’t stolen in the vote count—they’re stolen in the no count,” a thought perceptive enough to have her removed from the commission by President Bush.

Rove knows that to win in a nation where white voters were becoming the minority, the number of minority “unvotes" simply had to be goosed. Registry purges, ballot rejections, blocked voter drives, ID requirements, you name it: anything to block the voter or their vote was critical to the GOP. If Democrats had “Rock the Vote,” Republicans would need to “Block the Vote.”

Paul Weyrich, cofounder, with $50 million from the Koch brothers, of the Heritage Foundation, while dining with Ronald Reagan, put it bluntly:

<blockquote>“Now many of our Christians have what I call the goo-goo syndrome—good government. They want everybody to vote. I don't want everybody to vote. Elections are not won by a majority of people, they never have been from the beginning of our country and they are not now.��As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.”</blockquote>

And his “our�� does not include those families in the State Street Rescue Mission.

Now, the best way to steal an election is to accuse the other guy of stealing the election. How else can you get Americans to tolerate the purge of thousands of African Americans from the voter rolls as criminals, to block Hispanic voters at the polls because they don��t have citizenship ID, to throw out mail-in ballots because absentee voters used the wrong color envelope?

The answer: this bonfire of the ballot box—wrongfully purging half a million citizens, not counting 2.7 million ballots, and rejecting 2.9 million registrants—is supposed to stop voter fraud.

<blockquote>“Whether they admit it or not, the Democrats need lawbreakers such as illegal aliens—who are being illegally registered as Democrats—and killers, rapists, and robbers in order to increase their base of far-left voters.”</blockquote>

That’s Mike Baker, Fox News, who spoke with my wingman Ronald Roberts (which isn’t “Ronald’s�� real name, but we don’t need every freak we are hunting Googling us).

Baker’s canard of the mama-stabbing Mexican voter wave never stops quacking.

And that was Mindy Tucker Fletcher’s last defense. I asked her, if the voters were not “caged” for the��purpose of challenging, would the GOP still use the list to challenge these voters?

Well, of course. “You wouldn’t want someone voting fraudulently, would you?”

No, I wouldn’t, Mindy.

The GOP position is this: If the letters mailed to voters at their registration came back to the cage “undeliverable,” that must mean this schemey voter was using a fake address so they could vote. Or vote twice. Fraud, mass fraud. There were tens of thousands of voters on these lists, so by Republican claims, a tidal wave of criminality.

Who were these fraudulent voters with fake addresses? Al-Qaeda stuffing the ballot box? The Zeta gang from Mexico? Castro’s agents?

Badpenny went sleepless calling every number she could trace, starting with this GOP caging list:

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Page after page of felonious voters registered at the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville! How evil is that?! Using our own military as a cover for massive vote fraud!

Unless, of course, there was another reason why the seamen and airmen weren’t at home. Badpenny reached one family and asked for the voter.

“Randall’s been posted overseas,” said Mrs. Prausa of her soldier husband.

Oh.

Active military may vote absentee from their US home address. But if GOP functionaries challenge them, their mail-in ballot is rejected—and they don’t even know it.

Go to Iraq, lose your vote. Mission accomplished, Mr. Bush.

Indeed, I went through the lists with experts including Ion Sancho, the elections supervisor. He was getting more and more steamed. Who were the supposed fraudsters? Homeless men who don’t have a name on a bell. Students away at school. Folks who move within their congressional district. And the 20 percent of US voters whose addresses contain typos from entries made by state employees into registry computers.

Every scheme to wipe away the voting rights of a US citizen, every legitimate ballot thrown in the garbage, every legal voter told to scram from the polling station, every diseased means used to defraud the public of the right to vote was justified by the hysterical claim of “VOTE FRAUD”!

But in all fairness, as a journalist, I had to look into the evidence of voter fraud. So I spoke personally with the attorney general of Florida.

The lawman, Bob Butterworth, assured me that if he found an illegal registrant or voter, he would arrest them, jail them. After all, an illegal voter, simply by the act of registering, had committed (another) felony.

I reminded him that Katherine Harris had found over 91,000 illegally registered felons.

How many arrests had he made from her list? “None.�� Zero. Bubkiss. Nada.

I don’t get it. Busting them would be easy: After all, we have their addresses on the registrations. And they show up at the polls.

How many cases of vote fraud on that list? “We’ve opened maybe half a dozen cases,” the Florida AG told me.

Six out of 91,000???!!!

And it turns out those six charges were in error and dropped. Fraudulent voters: zero.

And the tens of thousands of caged voters? Hundreds of thousands caged by the GOP nationwide? If they were fraudulent voters, why weren’t the jails filled with these felonious villains?

Because, says Dr. Lorraine Minnite, there is effectively no voter fraud in the US. Minnite, a professor at Rutgers University who actually dug into the crime files, discovered six—six!—convictions of vote fraud a year among 170 million voters.

Here’s your crime wave: Over the entire study period, there were two convictions per year for multiple voting, two noncitizens, and two felons. (They must be the dumbest felons ever, willing to go back to prison just to vote for a school bond.) And that voter ID thief? Doesn’t exist.

The truth is it’s murderously hard to convince folks to register or vote illegally when it’s absurdly easy to get caught and the penalty is long-term prison. Santiago Juarez, who runs voter drives in Mexican American neighborhoods, told me, “How do you organize thousands of people to vote twice? Hell, it��s hard enough getting people to vote once.” Stealing an ID to vote twice ain’t happening.

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Professor Minnite summed it up: ��The claim of widespread voter fraud is itself a fraud.” In 2012, over five million US citizens will lose their right to vote to prevent a crime committed by 12 individuals.

And the real criminals who are guilty of a couple million counts of violations of the Voting Rights Act, they’re on Fox and PBS or in Congress, aren’t they, Mr. Griffin?

Tears of a Clone

In May 2007, BBC television led the nightly news with my report on new US Attorney Griffin and the “caging" of US soldier voters.

By the next morning, Griffin resigned and turned in his lawman badge.

While the BBC report was, as usual, ignored by US media, it wasn’t ignored by the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. Congressman John Conyers reached me in London to tell me he would subpoena Griffin.

Griffin held a truly weird press conference, bellyaching about ��that British reporter,” bursting into tears, and, despite the fact that his name was on the e-mails sending out the caging lists, he insisted, “I never heard of ‘caging.’”

Really?

No one believed him. No one but me.

If he didn’t send out caging lists, who did? Who would viciously, criminally, attack the rights of soldiers and homeless and old Jewish grandmas?

��Caging” is a technical term used in the direct mail business. So, who knows the direct mail biz and could use Griffin’s personal computer?

Griffin’s boss, Rove, knows about “caging.” A lot. He became rich as owner of a direct mail company and was, in college, the CREEP computer whiz-kid who first introduced computer database mining in politics for Richard Nixon.

And he’s infamously careful never to use his own computer.

So who used your computer, Tim? And then made you resign as prosecutor, shut up about the facts...and get the Kochs to buy you a seat in Congress?

Conyers told me he had loads of questions about this for Mr. Rove—who simply ignored the congressman��s subpoena.

So we’ll never know if the creep who sent out the caging lists was Karl Rove, his Rove-bot Griffin, or, a third possibility, Griffin’s own gofer, Matt Rhoades.

While Griffin is now an Honorable Congressman (or, at least, a congressman), at the time, his career, following the BBC exposé, appeared to be toast. Indeed, John McCain dumped a high post for Griffin in his 2008 presidential campaign after the caging connection was made public.

But there is redemption. In 2012, Griffin’s gofer, Matt Rhoades, was named director of the Romney presidential campaign.

A Few Good Men (Very Few)

Bobby Kennedy may think that Griffin’s scheme to remove legal voters from the rolls was illegal, but Bush’s Justice Department was not likely to bust one of their own.

Nevertheless, Griffin wasn’t taking any chances. Neither was his boss, deputy chief of staff to the president and consigliere to the Bush reelection campaign, Karl Rove.

They feared there might be honest federal prosecutors. They could cause problems with The Plan to cage and challenge voters in 2004, in 2008, and beyond.

So, a directive came down from Main Justice in Washington to federal prosecutors nationwide: hunt for fraudulent voters. However, the lawmen were not told about an unwritten footnote to the directives: unsuccessful hunters would soon find themselves hunted.

I too was hunting for fraudulent voters—a good journalist should give evil the benefit of the doubt. So I went to New Mexico to bag myself a killer-rapist-illegal-alien-ID-thief voter.

But I was having a helluva time finding even one, despite three million having lost their vote to prevent this terrible crime.

But then, in October 2008, a state legislator in New Mexico, Justine Fox-Young, held up two pieces of paper in the capitol building showing, she said, 28 cases of someone voting with someone else’s name. It wasn’t a crime wave, but a kind of gentle ripple. So I called her and told to her to fax me the evidence. She didn’t. I called again and asked the crimebuster politician, “Justine, you’ve uncovered felony criminals.”

“Oh, yes!”

Cool. So did she turn over these villains to the federal prosecutors?

Uh-huh.

So, did the prosecutor arrest them? Lock 'em up?

“Not exactly.”

The answer was, not even remotely. I called the federal prosecutor, a rising star in the Republican Party, US Attorney David Iglesias. He found Ms. Fox-Young’s evidence just a load of bollocks, though he didn’t use those words, I’ll admit.

Iglesias hadn't arrested one single person in the entire state for voter fraud, despite the fact that the GOP campaign to prevent “fraud” in the state had resulted in the rejection of 28,000 voters and ballots, almost all Democrats.

In other words, the guy in charge of enforcing the law had not and would not bust a single person for the crime that justified his party’s pogrom against Hispanic voters all across the Southwest.

I wasn’t the only one to note that Captain Iglesias (he had remained in the Naval Reserve as one of the Navy’s top adjutant generals) was not busting Bad Voters.

Around the same time, I discovered that Allen Weh, chairman of the state Republican Party, and Pat Rogers, the party’s lawyer, complained to the White House about Iglesias failing to cuff these Hispanic voters after sending him 50 names, likely from the caging lists.

In 2008, Iglesias was able to tell me he “ran all over the plateaus of New Mexico with FBI agents” tracking down these fraudulent voters and found nothing but good citizens.

That wouldn’t do for the party apparatchiks.

The Republican Chairman Weh, and his counsel, Pat Rogers, brought in an enforcer from the White House: Karl Rove.

In my line of business I hear a lot that could make you shiver, but what Captain Iglesias told me that day in 2008 was one of the most chilling things I��d ever heard from a US official.

��

The GOP honchos, state and federal, he said, wanted him to lock up voters no matter the evidence.��They wanted him to indict innocent people to justify their vote-blocking laws.

Iglesias told me, “I didn’t help them with their bogus fraud prosecutions.”

Rove’s buddies leaned on Iglesias, but they picked the wrong guy. Captain Iglesias was one of the models for the Tom Cruise character, the crusading military defense lawyer, in the film A Few Good Men. Iglesias told the Rove-bots to stick their phony prosecution demands where the votes don’t shine.

So, President Bush fired Iglesias. And he wasn’t the only one. Seven other US attorneys, good Republicans but ethical ones, were removed by the White House and replaced by pliant Rove-bots.

At first, the US press didn’t notice. Iglesias was officially fired for “absenteeism”—because he was placed by the president on active duty and sent to Bosnia to address war crimes.

The press asked no questions, but one of my fans did when he watched my London broadcast on caging for BBC. Congressman John Conyers has always kept abreast of our investigations for BBC television. Conyers called me, then called hearings. He had plenty of evidence that the firings were illegal.

</div>

<div>

But the problem, Conyers told me, was that his fellow congressmen wouldn’t go after the real issue, the motive for the firings: suppressing the vote of minority citizens. Conyers, dean of the Congressional Black Caucus, had the problem that while he was chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, the majority of them were Republicans or other members of the Congressional “White�� Caucus.

The committee would concentrate only on the firings as “political,” and a repeat-a-press-release US media covered it that way, never getting to the real motive. And most important, the Bush White House stonewalled Conyers’ subpoena for cage-meister Griffin’s boss, Karl Rove.

Conyers forced Griffin’s cronies at the Justice Department to cough up their files on Iglesias�� firing which included this smoking pistol: Iglesias -- Underachiever in very important district. That’s the failure to bust innocent voters.

</div>

<div>

Absentee landlord. That’s his 40-day assignment for the Navy. Firing reserve officers on active duty is a crime, but hell, that’s nothing compared to the next felony on the list.

Domenici says he doesn’t move cases. This is Republican Senator Pete Domenici who, said Iglesias, woke him up at home to tell Iglesias to speed up the indictment of a Democrat prior to the election.

Oops. He’s telling a United States attorney to indict citizens, and attacking his failure to “move” when the senator tells him too.

I asked the prosecutor if Rove had him removed as punishment for not bringing the fake cases. ��If his intent was, ‘look what happened with Iglesias,’ if that was his intent, he’s in big trouble. That is obstruction of justice, one classic example.”

Iglesias was screwing them bad. The captain and eight other prosecutors were getting all precious about bringing bogus cases. That was undermining the GOP’s attempt to obtain new voter ID laws. The failure to find illegal voters put the lie to their campaign to prove the nation��s top voter registration organization, ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), had registered fraudulent voters. Getting ACORN was Republican operative Pat Rogers’ obsession, which he made into a national cause of the GOP and other politicians in the White Caucus as lawyer for the “nonpartisan” American Center for Voting Rights. It should have been called, American Center Against Voting. Everything the group proposed would cut the number of citizens voting by millions.

I wanted to ask Rogers why he brought in Rove and why he had Captain Iglesias gunned down. But Rogers didn’t want to answer my formal request for BBC TV. But I figured he couldn’t pass up the free champagne they would pour at a GOP victory party. At the soiree to which I obtained press credentials under another name, I caught Rogers in half-sip with an unseen microphone that captured his personal reviews of my reporting skills. “He’s an asshole,” he told a crony before greeting me warmly as the cameras rolled.

“Iglesias was not capable in his job.” Which was, apparently, hunting ACORN.

“ACORN hired a collection of people who fraudulently registered persons who are not eligible to vote. ACORN is working for the Democratic Party,” said Rogers. (He wore a flag lapel pin the party handed to all the champagne sippers. They gave me one of the Republican freebie flags. I still have it in the wrapper. Take a look: Made in China.)

Had Rogers unmasked a conspiracy between ACORN and the Democratic Party—covered up from them by US Attorney Iglesias, a Republican? Wow!

</div>

<div>

"Conspiracy,” said Rogers mysteriously, "is a loose word.” Rogers is fond of loose words. He’d recently held a press conference waving a list of a half-dozen fraudulent voters registered by ACORN. With his full house of illegal voters, Rogers made a huge splash in the papers. Then Iglesias made a total ass out of Rogers, by not busting even one.

What the hell, even a jerk reporter like me will give Rogers a chance. I checked out all six of these ne’er-do-wells, these fugitives from justice. I began at a diner in Cerritos where I tracked Melissa Tais, notorious for allowing another voter with another signature to use her name so she and her confederate could vote twice.

Actually, what she’d done was fill out one registration form at an ACORN table, but never received the receipt. So, following the law’s requirements, she reregistered, this time signing while holding the form in her hand so the signature was a little shaky—resulting in two admittedly different-looking signatures.

So, did she vote twice? No. County officials hauled her into a hearing and it shook her up so much she wouldn’t vote at all. And that’s what they wanted.

But Iglesias wouldn’t play and ACORN continued to register Hispanic and low-income voters until 2009, when Andrew Breitbart (who has since returned to the bosom of Satan) blew up some cockamamie sting which had nothing to do with voting—and put ACORN out of the registration business. (ACORN’s one-time lawyer, Barack Obama, averted his gaze as the media jackals savaged the poor folks’ group, then paid for his pusillanimity in 2010 when Congress flipped color from Blue to Red.)

The US attorney firings occurred just in time for the 2008 election. Iglesias wasn’t alone, of course. Tom Heffelfinger, Republican US attorney for Minnesota, was on the hit list for defending Native American voters from an attack by the GOP’s Minnesota secretary of state. Iglesias called his buddy in Arkansas who was taken down for similar pangs of conscience, but agreed to step aside without a fight so his friend, President Bush, could make his own choice.

And Bush’s choice was...Tim Griffin.

</div>

<div>Now, instead of being prosecuted for crimes, Tim became the prosecutor. At Karl Rove’s behest, Tim Griffin was appointed US attorney for Arkansas.

<div>For more Billionaires and Ballot Bandits visit <a href="http://www.ballotbandits.org/" target="_blank">www.BallotBandits.org</a> [5].</div>

</div>

<div class="tags">See more stories tagged with:

<div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/george-w-bus">George W. Bus</a> [6],</div>

<div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/tim-griffin">tim griffin</a> [7],</div>

<div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/mindy-tucker-fletcher">Mindy Tucker Fletcher</a> [9],</div>

<div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/election-0">election</a> [10],</div>

</div>

<div class="print-source_url">Source URL: <a href="http://www.alternet.org/tea-party-and-right/billionaires-ballot-bandits-karl-rove-and-republican-dark-art-election-theft">http://www.alternet.org/tea-party-and-right/billionaires-ballot-bandits-karl-rove-and-republican-dark-art-election-theft</a></div>

Links:

[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/greg-palast

[2] http://www.BallotBandits.org

[3] http://georgewbush.com/

[4] http://georgewbush.org/

[5] http://www.ballotbandits.org/

[6] http://www.alternet.org/tags/george-w-bus

[7] http://www.alternet.org/tags/tim-griffin

[8] http://www.alternet.org/tags/karl-rove

[9] http://www.alternet.org/tags/mindy-tucker-fletcher

[10] http://www.alternet.org/tags/election-0

[11] http://www.alternet.org/tags/gop

[12] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B

===

Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA) is a Washington-based association of Republican Attorneys General. The association was created due to "concerns arising out of the industry-wide lawsuits that seek to promote public policy changes via the courthouse rather than the statehouse," and out of a desire to stop those with "a wish list for future mass state lawsuits-car rental companies, pharmaceutical firms, makers of lead paint and gun manufacturers."<a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://www.texasobserver.org/showArticle.asp?ArticleID=64">[1]</a>

RAGA receives funding from major corporations, which can be considered a conflict of interest since some these corporations have, or are, suspected of criminal wrong-doing. Examples of potential conflicts of interest include:

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Microsoft" title="Microsoft">Microsoft</a> Corporation donated $10,000 to RAGA while being sued for antitrust violations by the Justice Department and 19 states. <a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A41820-2000Mar29?language=printer">[2]</a><a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://www.texasobserver.org/showArticle.asp?ArticleID=64">[3]</a>.</li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li>SBC Communications Inc. (now <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/AT%26T" title="AT&T">AT&T</a>) donated $35,000 while its acquisition of Ameritech Corp. was facing review by state officials.</li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Aetna" title="Aetna">Aetna</a> U.S. Healthcare gave $10,000 to RAGA while being accused of HMO fraud by Attorney General Dan Morales (D-TX) in 1998 just before he left office. Litigation stalled under Morales' Republican successor, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/John_Cornyn" title="John Cornyn">John Cornyn</a>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A41820-2000Mar29?language=printer">[4]</a>.</li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li>The Texas Observer reports,</li>

</ul>

<dl>

<dd>"Since RAGA's creation in 1999, Simmons' two main holding companies, Contran and Valhi, have contributed $350,000 to the Republican <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/PAC" title="PAC" class="mw-redirect">PAC</a> that launders RAGA's money, the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Republican_National_State_Elections_Committee&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Republican National State Elections Committee (page does not exist)">Republican National State Elections Committee</a>. RNSEC received another $211,000 since RAGA's creation from other companies that are defendants in the Rhode Island [lead paint] suit. This includes $201,000 from ARCO (and ARCO chairman emeritus Lodwrick Cook) and $10,000 from <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/DuPont" title="DuPont">DuPont</a>."</dd>

</dl>

<dl>

</dl>

<dl>

<dd>"[John] <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/John_Cornyn" title="John Cornyn">Cornyn</a>'s position is even more worth watching because a leading defendant in Rhode Island's lawsuit is NL Industries, which is controlled by Dallas corporate raider <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Harold_Simmons" title="Harold Simmons">Harold Simmons</a>. Simmons is a major donor to Republican PACs and candidates. He gave $90,000 to George W. Bush's two gubernatorial campaigns and has given Cornyn $31,000 since 1998." <a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://www.texasobserver.org/showArticle.asp?ArticleID=64">[5]</a></dd>

</dl>

In a two day fundraiser session back in the Spring of 2000 in Austin Texas, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Karl_Rove" title="Karl Rove">Karl Rove</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/George_W._Bush" title="George W. Bush" class="mw-redirect">George W. Bush</a>'s chief strategist, was featured. <a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A41820-2000Mar29?language=printer">[6]</a>

The primary method of contributing money to RAGA is to become a member. Membership costs from $5,000 to $25,000, with increasing levels of access to attorneys general depending on the donation amount.

Unfortunately, knowing the full details of the contributions RAGA receives is very difficult since all money received by RAGA is passed to the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Republican_National_Committee" title="Republican National Committee">Republican National Committee</a> without any public links, especially money received from direct solicitation by attorneys general.

Internal fundraising documents obtained by The Washington Post show that Republican state attorneys general were asked to solicit contributions from corporations and trade groups subject to lawsuits and regulations by their states. The companies solicited include <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Shell_Oil" title="Shell Oil" class="mw-redirect">Shell Oil</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Brown%26_Williamson" title="Brown & Williamson" class="mw-redirect">Brown & Williamson</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pfizer" title="Pfizer" class="mw-redirect">Pfizer</a> Inc., <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/MasterCard" title="MasterCard">MasterCard</a> Inc., <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Eli_Lilly" title="Eli Lilly">Eli Lilly</a> and Co., <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Anheuser-Busch" title="Anheuser-Busch">Anheuser-Busch</a> Cos., <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Citigroup" title="Citigroup">Citigroup</a> Inc., <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Amway" title="Amway" class="mw-redirect">Amway</a> Corp., <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=U.S.Steel&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="U.S. Steel (page does not exist)">U.S. Steel</a> Corp., <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Sprint_Nextel" title="Sprint Nextel">Nextel Communications Inc.</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/General_Motors" title="General Motors" class="mw-redirect">General Motors</a>, and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Microsoft" title="Microsoft">Microsoft</a> Corp. The documents state that company officials would be allowed to meet, participate in conference calls, and socialize with the attorneys general.

Attorneys general mentioned in the documents include <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/John_Cornyn" title="John Cornyn">John Cornyn</a>, who was the State Attorney General of Texas before being elected to the Senate in 2002; Alabama Attorney General <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bill_Pryor&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Bill Pryor (page does not exist)">Bill Pryor</a>, founder of RAGA and pending President Bush federal appellate court nominee; former Virginia Attorney General <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Mark_Earley&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Mark Earley (page does not exist)">Mark Earley</a>; Delaware Attorney General <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Jane_Brady&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Jane Brady (page does not exist)">Jane Brady</a>; former South Carolina Attorney General <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Charlie_Condon&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Charlie Condon (page does not exist)">Charlie Condon</a>; and former Ohio Attorney General <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Betty_Montgomery&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Betty Montgomery (page does not exist)">Betty Montgomery</a>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A3050-2003Jul16?language=printer">[7]</a>

<h2>Contents</h2>

��[<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Republican_Attorneys_General_Association#" class="internal" id="togglelink">hide</a>] </div>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Republican_Attorneys_General_Association#Attorneys_General">1 Attorneys General</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Republican_Attorneys_General_Association#Known_Contributers">2 Known Contributers</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-3"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Republican_Attorneys_General_Association#External_links">3 External links</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-4"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Republican_Attorneys_General_Association#Other_Related_SourceWatch_Resources">4 Other Related SourceWatch Resources</a></li>

</ul>

</td></tr></tbody></table>

<h2>Attorneys General</h2>

The following attorneys general are known to be part of (past and present) RAGA:

<ul>

<li>Alabama Attorney General <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bill_Pryor&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Bill Pryor (page does not exist)">Bill Pryor</a>, founder of RAGA and pending President Bush federal appellate court nominee.</li>

<li>Senator <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/John_Cornyn" title="John Cornyn">John Cornyn</a> (R-TX), State Attorney General of Texas before being elected to the U.S. Senate in 2002.</li>

<li>Virginia Attorney General <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Mark_Earley&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Mark Earley (page does not exist)">Mark Earley</a>.</li>

<li>Delaware Attorney General <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Jane_Brady&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Jane Brady (page does not exist)">Jane Brady</a>.</li>

<li>South Carolina Attorney General <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Charlie_Condon&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Charlie Condon (page does not exist)">Charlie Condon</a>, RAGA's first chairmen.</li>

<li>Ohio Attorney General <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Betty_Montgomery&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Betty Montgomery (page does not exist)">Betty Montgomery</a>.</li>

<li>Nebraska Attorney General <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Don_Stenberg&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Don Stenberg (page does not exist)">Don Stenberg</a>.</li>

</ul>

<h2>Known Contributers</h2>

Due to a lack of any public disclosure, a complete list of contributers is not available:

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Aetna_U.S._Healthcare&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Aetna U.S. Healthcare (page does not exist)">Aetna U.S. Healthcare</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Brown_%26_Williamson" title="Brown & Williamson" class="mw-redirect">Brown & Williamson</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Microsoft_Corporation" title="Microsoft Corporation" class="mw-redirect">Microsoft Corporation</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/National_Rifle_Association" title="National Rifle Association">National Rifle Association</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=SBC_Communications_Inc.&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="SBC Communications Inc. (page does not exist)">SBC Communications Inc.</a></li>

</ul>

<h2>External links</h2>

<ul>

<li>March 30, 2000, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A41820-2000Mar29?language=printer">Attorneys General Raise Funds for GOP</a>, by George Lardner Jr. and Susan Schmidt, Washington Post.</li>

<li>May 11, 2001, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.texasobserver.org/showArticle.asp?ArticleID=64">Corporate AGs: Attorney, Restrain Thyself!'</a>, by Andrew Wheat, The Texas Observer.</li>

<li>July 17, 2003, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A3050-2003Jul16?language=printer">GOP Attorneys General Asked For Corporate Contributions</a>, by R. Jeffrey Smith and Tania Branigan, Washington Post.</li>

</ul>

<hr />

<h2>Other Related SourceWatch Resources</h2>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Political_organizations" title="Political organizations">Political organizations</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Soft_money" title="Soft money">Soft money</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Soft_money_groups" title="Soft money groups">Soft money groups</a></li>

</ul>

</div>

<div id="mw-normal-catlinks" class="mw-normal-catlinks"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Special:Categories" title="Special:Categories">Category</a>:

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Category:Republican_Party_%28USA%29" title="Category:Republican Party (USA)">Republican Party (USA)</a></li>

</ul>

</div>

=

precursor to AG scandal: Dan Morales

<div id="node-body-top" class="clear-block">Texas Attorney General Dan Morales broadcast a clear message last fall: If tobacco companies were making millions in Texas, then they could help contribute to the billions in Medicaid costs spent in Texas for smoking-related illnesses. Several other attorneys general already had filed lawsuits against the tobacco industry to recover such health care costs. But before Morales could follow their lead, half a dozen tobacco industry lobbyists visited him and delivered a private <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/news/special_reports/1996/05/push_poll.html">poll</a> from the political consulting firm Public Opinion Strategies.</div>

<a href="http://www.motherjones.com/about/advertising/contact-form">Advertise on MotherJones.com</a>

</div>

The poll, commissioned in January by the Covington & Burling law firm on behalf of the four largest tobacco firms and the industry's advocacy group, The Tobacco Institute, claimed the people of Texas wouldn't support Morales if he filed the suit. The proof? Two-thirds of the more than 800 Texans polled had said they wouldn't favor the proposed lawsuit.

But then Morales took a closer look at the poll. He discovered it was actually a "push-poll," designed not to gauge public opinion but sway it. The poll's telemarketing script began with <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/news/special_reports/1996/05/push_poll.html#1">basic, unobtrusive political questions</a>--then quickly zeroed in on Morales. "Elected officials are held to high standards in public life," the script read. "Here are some <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/news/special_reports/1996/05/push_poll.html#next">reasons</a> people are giving to vote against Dan Morales."

Among the reasons: Morales was <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/news/special_reports/1996/05/push_poll.html#24">"pro-affirmative action"</a>; he <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/news/special_reports/1996/05/push_poll.html#25">"supports gun control"</a>; and his <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/news/special_reports/1996/05/push_poll.html#26">1994 campaign contributed money</a> to Louis Farrakhan's Nation of Islam. (Morales' staffers had purchased two tickets to a dinner thrown by a local chapter of the Nation of Islam.) Those polled were also told that Morales' proposed lawsuit could cost thousands of jobs, prevent the attorney general from fighting crime, and reward only a few wealthy personal injury lawyers. Finally--the spin complete--those polled were asked what they thought of the suit. It's hardly surprising that they <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/news/special_reports/1996/05/push_poll.html#45">overwhelmingly opposed it</a>.

Despite its bias, the poll served its purpose: to deliver a not-so-veiled threat that, on a moment's notice, the tobacco companies could make many more such calls throughout Texas and, through strategies such as push-polling, mobilize an untold number of voters against the suit--and against Morales.

Still, Morales proceeded with the suit.

And the man who runs the polling firm, William McInturff, went back to his day job--as chief pollster for Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole.

<h1 class="title">Tobacco Dole (cont'd)</h1>

</div>

—By <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/authors/sheila-kaplan" rel="author">Sheila Kaplan</a>

<div id="dateline">| <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/toc/1996/05">May/June 1996 Issue</a></div>

</div>

This particular tie between tobacco and the Dole campaign ended in February when Dole fired McInturff because of his failure to predict the majority leader's embarrassing loss to Steve Forbes in the Delaware primary--not because of his tobacco connections.

Dole and the tobacco industry share the need to win at all costs, which has forged a mutually beneficial relationship. By March, nearly every major media outlet reported the increase in Big Tobacco's contributions to the Republican Party: from $546,224 in "soft" donations in 1993 to $2.4 million in 1995. But few have investigated Dole's current ties to the industry. As one of tobacco's top congressional allies, the powerful Kansas senator has helped the industry broaden its overseas markets and battle domestic foes, such as Food and Drug Administration Commissioner David Kessler.

</div>

Now, as Dole wages his campaign for the presidency, many of the tobacco industry's biggest hitters are whispering in his ear.

Lobbyists for businesses, trade groups, and other special interests often attach themselves to presidential campaigns, seeking future jobs and political chits. Tobacco operatives are no exception. But the sheer number of tobacco lobbyists, lawyers, and pollsters working for the Dole team sets a new standard. For example:

<li>Roderick DeArment, a former Dole chief of staff, is chairman of Lawyers for Dole, a group of about 700 lawyers raising funds for Dole's campaign. DeArment is a law partner at Covington & Burling, which represents the major tobacco companies (Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds, Lorillard, and Brown & Williamson), as well as The Tobacco Institute. Covington & Burling spent more than $1 million in Philip Morris money to fund Healthy Buildings, an international magazine using phony science to promote the tobacco industry's idea that indoor smoking bans are unnecessary. Covington & Burling also commissioned a dubious 1996 study purporting federal tobacco restrictions could cost the nation 92,000 jobs and $7.9 billion in lost output. Another Covington & Burling partner, Keith Teel, commissioned the push-poll used to threaten Morales, and is traveling the country trying to strong-arm other attorneys general . (see <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/news/special_reports/1996/05/stone1.html">"Our Good Friend, the Governor"</a>)</li>

<li>Paul Manafort, Dole's convention manager, was co-founder of the Washington lobbying firm Black, Manafort, Stone, and Kelly, which represents Philip Morris. Black, Manafort is a subsidiary of Burson-Marsteller, the public relations firm for Philip Morris and the headquarters for the National Smokers Alliance. Last year, Manafort launched DMS, a consulting firm in Virginia, with Rick Davis, also from Black, Manafort and a Dole convention official.</li>

<li>Tom Collamore, a Dole campaign fundraiser and assistant secretary of commerce during the Bush presidency, is vice president of corporate affairs for Philip Morris. "Mr. Collamore," confirms Philip Morris spokeswoman Darienne Dennis, "is an avid supporter of Sen. Dole, and I know that on his personal time he has done work with the Dole campaign."</li>

<li>Jeanie Austin, one of Dole's national co-chairs, is an active member of the National Smokers Alliance advisory board.</li>

</ul>

Others working for Dole are less well-known within the Beltway, but play important roles in the tobacco industry's emerging national strategy. Steve Merksamer, for example, joined the Dole campaign last fall as a senior adviser and California strategist. His Sacramento law firm, Nielson, Merksamer, Parrinello, Mueller & Naylor, has collected $1.9 million from the industry since 1988, more than any other California firm.

In 1994, Nielson, Merksamer was paid an additional $350,000 to write Proposition 188, called the Tobacco Control Act. The proposition promised tough statewide restrictions, but its language actually weakened state law by acting as a "pre-emption law" to kill dozens of tougher local restrictions throughout the state. When the media exposed Proposition 188 as a tobacco industry ploy, voters defeated it.

But the tobacco industry's behind-the-scenes maneuvers in California may well be the model for a national strategy under a Dole presidency and a Republican Congress: Defeat popular grassroots anti-smoking measures with secret legislative and executive overrides, pre-emptions, and subversions. For example, the tobacco industry is using California Gov. Pete Wilson and the Republican California Assembly to gut anti-smoking education efforts financed by the state's 25-cent-per-pack cigarette tax. Tobacco companies, in a convenient alliance with the California Medical Association, lobbied legislators to divert money out of California's anti-smoking efforts (which activists call the single greatest threat to the tobacco industry) and into low-income health care programs--effectively using financially needy programs as a cover to derail anti-smoking campaigns.

Other operatives link Dole to the tobacco industry's secretive grassroots campaign, specifically, Midwest strategist Tom Synhorst and Alaska campaign coordinator Frank Bickford, who were both field coordinators for RJR's "grassroots" efforts in the states.

Synhorst has particularly close ties to Dole. A star in the majority leader's 1988 presidential campaign, Synhorst masterminded Dole's primary win in Iowa. In between stints for Dole's two presidential campaigns, Synhorst has been a grassroots organizer for RJR. He co-founded his telemarketing firm, Direct Connect, with top RJR lobbyist Read deButts.

Direct Connect is the Dole campaign's telemarketing firm of choice, with monthly billings exceeding $60,000. Dole's former leadership PAC, Campaign America, also paid Direct Connect more than $20,000 a month last year.

Synhorst and Bickford illustrate an important aspect of the tobacco industry's survival plan: Create grassroots front groups to make pro-tobacco legislation handed down by state and national politicians appear to be the public's will. These groups, many posing as "anti-tax" organizations, are key to the tobacco industry's efforts to win over the anti-big government segment of the electorate. This is also a crucial audience for Dole, who writes in his campaign brochure's "personal message": "My mandate as President would be to rein in the Federal government in order to set free the spirit of the American people."

Tobacco doesn't seem an obvious benefactor for a senator from Kansas, where there are plenty of wheat fields but few tobacco farms. Still, Dole has received more than $330,000 directly from RJR, Philip Morris, and U.S. Tobacco during his career, in addition to untold tobacco soft money through the Republican National Committee. Meanwhile, Dole has consistently fought tobacco tax increases--even when proposed by fellow Republicans.

During this presidential campaign, Dole has gone after FDA Commissioner David Kessler, promising an audience of pharmaceutical giants at a GOP fundraiser last September that Kessler would be out of a job if Dole were elected. Three months later, Dole was one of 32 senators who signed a letter to the FDA protesting its proposed crackdown on tobacco advertising. Dole also spoke out against Kessler's plans to limit cigarette advertising at sporting events. Before an appreciative crowd at a NASCAR auto race in Darlington, S.C., he waved a T-shirt that read, "Let Winston Cup make the rules for NASCAR, not the FDA."

In less dramatic fashion, Elizabeth Dole has also earned Big Tobacco's appreciation. In 1987, while serving as secretary of transportation, she refused to ban smoking on airplanes, ignoring recommendations from Surgeon General C. Everett Koop and the National Academy of Sciences. Perhaps coincidentally, tobacco contributions to the American Red Cross, which she heads, have escalated. Philip Morris, Brown & Williamson, and RJR gave the charity a combined $265,530 in 1995, compared to a total over the previous five years of $231,427.

But Bob Dole's friendship with the tobacco companies is not limited to the industry's domestic battles. With tobacco's popularity dying in the United States, companies must hook foreign populations. For this, the industry needs unfettered access to large global markets. Dole has been crucial in helping them get it.

In 1985, Reagan trade representatives focused their attention on Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand, threatening retaliatory tariffs on their exports if they declined to open their tobacco markets. Tobacco lobbyists actually sat in on the official trade negotiations.

During talks with South Korea in 1987, Brown & Williamson's lobbyist, Thomas Humber (now the chief of Philip Morris' National Smokers Alliance), wrote the office of the U.S. trade representative corporate liaison Sandy Kristoff to inform her of a favorable meeting between South Korea's U.S. ambassador, Dole, Sen. Jesse Helms, and senators from four other tobacco states. According to the letter, the senators expressed "their support for fair market conditions in Korea" during the meeting. The ambassador, in return, thanked Dole and Helms for voting against threatened trade sanctions against Korea. Then, Humber wrote, "[The ambassador] assured the Senators of Ôbest efforts' toward market expansion" for U.S. tobacco companies.

Trade agreements on tobacco have shifted under Clinton. Last year, U.S. trade representatives allowed South Korea to enact tobacco advertising restrictions after approval from the Department of Health and Human Services and the Environmental Protection Agency. Officials from both agencies now sit in on trade proceedings to decide whether tobacco restrictions reflect health and environmental concerns.

Under a Dole presidency, this would probably change. Helms would play a dominant role in foreign trade policy, as would Robert Lighthizer, a former top Dole aide and Dole's rumored choice for his chief of staff or U.S. trade representative. Lighthizer, currently an attorney with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, used to work for Covington & Burling and served as deputy U.S. trade representative from 1983 to 1985. During that period, the United States began bullying countries to open their tobacco markets. Should Lighthizer have a prominent trade role, he might turn back the clock to a time when tobacco lobbyists, not health officials, sat in on trade negotiations.

The GOP convention in San Diego this August promises to be even more of a tobacco-fest than the 1992 convention. Ken Rietz, president and CEO of the Washington, D.C., office of the public relations firm Burson-Marsteller, is a vice chairman of this year's convention host committee. Rietz oversaw the California chapter of the National Smokers Alliance, which worked against tobacco control ordinances in Los Angeles and San Diego.

Rietz candidly admits convention sponsors get opportunities for private meetings with political bigwigs. But he calls the high number of tobacco lobbyists involved with the convention and the Dole campaign pure coincidence. "If you look at Burson-Marsteller, [tobacco is] only one of thousands of clients," Rietz says. But of those thousands, Philip Morris and NSA sit comfortably among the firm's top five Washington clients.

As Mother Jones went to press, GOP convention plans were still being negotiated, but Philip Morris had already scored one coup, signing a letter of intent to rent the sought-after space at the San Diego Museum of Art, and was reportedly trying to book the San Diego Zoo for another event. The company has yet to decide on specific receptions but is likely to sponsor the high-profile reception for the GOP's Team 100 (party contributors who give $100,000 or more) and the reception for the Republican Governors Association.

But ultimately, if the tobacco industry achieves what it wants, these festivities will be only a warm-up. The real tobacco party will come in January, at Bob Dole's inauguration.

Sheila Kaplan is a Washington, D.C.-based journalist.

The dismissal of U.S. Attorneys controversy was initiated by the unprecedented<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-1" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[1]</a> midterm dismissal of seven <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Attorney" title="United States Attorney" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">United States Attorneys</a> on December 7, 2006, by the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidency_of_George_W.Bush" title="Presidency of George W. Bush" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">George W. Bush administration</a>'s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Justice" title="United States Department of Justice" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Department of Justice</a>. Congressional investigations focused on whether the Department of Justice and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Office_of_the_President" title="Executive Office of the President" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">White House</a> were using the U.S. Attorney positions for political advantage. Allegations were that some of the attorneys were targeted for dismissal to impede investigations of<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party(United_States)" title="Republican Party (United States)" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Republican</a> politicians or that some were targeted for their failure to initiate investigations that would damage <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party(United_States)" title="Democratic Party (United States)" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Democratic</a> politicians or hamper Democratic-leaning voters.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-Bowermaster-2" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[2]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-WashingtonPost-20070513-3" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[3]</a> The U.S. attorneys were replaced with interim appointees, under provisions in the 2005 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA_PATRIOT_Act" title="USA PATRIOT Act" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">USA PATRIOT Act</a> reauthorization.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-Newsweek-Sceifo-2007-03-15-4" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[4]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-WP-Eggen-2007-03-14-5" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[5]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-WP-Graphic-2007-03-06-6" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[6]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-CBS-Public-Eye-2007-03-14-7" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[7]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S._attorneys_controversy#cite_note-Boston-Globe-AP-Jordan-2007-09-15-8" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[8]</a>

The dismissed U.S. Attorneys had all been appointed by President <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W.Bush" title="George W. Bush" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">George W. Bush</a> and confirmed by the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate" title="United States Senate" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Senate</a>, more than four years earlier.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-WP-Gonzaales-2007-04-15-9" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[9]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-NPR-ME-2007-03-14-10" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[10]</a> Two other attorneys were dismissed in controversial circumstances in 2005–2006. Twenty-six or more U.S. Attorneys had been under consideration for dismissal during this time period.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-11" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[11]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-12" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[12]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-WP-Memos-List-2007-05-28-13" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[13]</a> The firings received attention via hearings in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Congress" title="United States Congress" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Congress</a> in January 2007, and by March 2007 the controversy had national visibility. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Attorney_General" title="United States Attorney General" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Attorney General</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberto_Gonzales" title="Alberto Gonzales" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Alberto Gonzales</a> stated that the U.S. Attorneys "serve at the pleasure of the president" and described the affair as "an overblown personnel matter".<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-Gonzales-03-06-07-14" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[14]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-15" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[15]</a>

By mid-September 2007, nine of the highest-level officers of the Department of Justice associated with the controversy had resigned,<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-WPost-Eggen-2007-09-19-16" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[16]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-Jordan-17" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[17]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-WP-Eggen-2007-06-23-18" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[18]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-McClatchy-Gordon-2007-08-22-19" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[19]</a> most prominently, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-TalkingPointsMemo-Gonzales_Resignation_Letter-2007-08-27-20" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[20]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-NYTimes-Nizza-2007-08-27-21" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[21]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-NY_Times-Myers-2007-08-27-22" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[22]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-NY_Times-Phillips-2007-08-27-23" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[23]</a>

A subsequent report by the Justice Department Inspector General in October 2008 found that the process used to fire the first seven attorneys and two others dismissed around the same time was "arbitrary", "fundamentally flawed", and "raised doubts about the integrity of Department prosecution decisions".<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-USDOJ-IG-24" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[24]</a> In July 2010, the Department of Justice prosecutors closed the two-year investigation without filing charges after determining that the firing was inappropriately political, but not criminal, saying "Evidence did not demonstrate that any prosecutable criminal offense was committed with regard to the removal of David Iglesias. The investigative team also determined that the evidence did not warrant expanding the scope of the investigation beyond the removal of Iglesias."<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-25" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[25]</a>

<h2 style="margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border: none; display: inline; line-height: 1.3; background-image: none;">Contents</h2>

[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S._attorneys_controversy#" class="internal" id="togglelink" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">hide</a>] </div>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S._attorneys_controversy#Issues_in_brief" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">1 Issues in brief</a>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-2" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S._attorneys_controversy#Changed_interim_appointment_law_in_2006" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">1.1 Changed interim appointment law in 2006</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-3" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S._attorneys_controversy#Administration_rationale_unclear" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">1.2 Administration rationale unclear</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-4" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S._attorneys_controversy#Administration_testimony_contradicted_by_documents" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">1.3 Administration testimony contradicted by documents</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-5" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S._attorneys_controversy#Politicization_of_hiring_at_the_Department_of_Justice" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">1.4 Politicization of hiring at the Department of Justice</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-6" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S._attorneys_controversy#Dismissed_attorneys_and_elections" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">1.5 Dismissed attorneys and elections</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-7" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S._attorneys_controversy#Fallout" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">2 Fallout</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-8" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#Replacement_of_the_U.S.Attorneys" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">3 Replacement of the U.S. Attorneys</a>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-9" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S._attorneys_controversy#Initial_planning" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">3.1 Initial planning</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-10" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S._attorneys_controversy#Kyle_Sampson" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">3.2 Kyle Sampson</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-11" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S._attorneys_controversy#Implementing_the_plan" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">3.3 Implementing the plan</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-12" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S._attorneys_controversy#Reactions_and_congressional_investigation" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">4 Reactions and congressional investigation</a>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-13" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#January_2007:Initial_reaction" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">4.1 January 2007: Initial reaction</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-14" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#February_2007:The_controversy_grows" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">4.2 February 2007: The controversy grows</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-15" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#March_2007:Transition_to_scandal" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">4.3 March 2007: Transition to scandal</a>

<li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-16" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S._attorneys_controversy#Battle_resignation" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">4.3.1 Battle resignation</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-17" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S._attorneys_controversy#Sampson_resignation" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">4.3.2 Sampson resignation</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-18" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S._attorneys_controversy#Executive_Privilege_claims" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">4.3.3 Executive Privilege claims</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-19" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S._attorneys_controversy#Goodling_resignation" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">4.3.4 Goodling resignation</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

</ul>

</li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-20" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S._attorneys_controversy#Congressional_hearings" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">5 Congressional hearings</a>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-21" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#Testimony_of_Sara_Taylor:Claims_of_executive_privilege" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">5.1 Testimony of Sara Taylor: Claims of executive privilege</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-22" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S._attorneys_controversy#Contempt_of_Congress_charges" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">5.2 Contempt of Congress charges</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-23" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S._attorneys_controversy#Subpoenas_and_lost_emails" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">6 Subpoenas and lost emails</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-24" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#March.E2.80.93August_2007:Gonzales_resignation" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">7 March–August 2007: Gonzales resignation</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-25" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#Status_of_interim_U.S.Attorneys.2C_through_June_2007" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">8 Status of interim U.S. Attorneys, through June 2007</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-26" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S._attorneys_controversy#Inspector_General_Report_and_Special_Prosecutor" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">9 Inspector General Report and Special Prosecutor</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-27" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#Appointment_of_U.S.Attorneys_and_the_2005_Patriot_Act_reauthorization" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">10 Appointment of U.S. Attorneys and the 2005 Patriot Act reauthorization</a>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-28" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#The_appointment_process_for_U.S.Attorneys" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">10.1 The appointment process for U.S. Attorneys</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-29" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S._attorneys_controversy#Revised_interim_appointment_process_in_March_2006" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">10.2 Revised interim appointment process in March 2006</a>

<li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-30" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S._attorneys_controversy#Related_USA_Patriot_Act_provision" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">10.2.1 Related USA Patriot Act provision</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-31" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#Dismissal_of_U.S.Attorneys_under_previous_administrations" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">10.3 Dismissal of U.S. Attorneys under previous administrations</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-32" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S._attorneys_controversy#Law_references" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">11 Law references</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-34" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S._attorneys_controversy#Notes" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">13 Notes</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-35" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S._attorneys_controversy#References_and_external_links" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">14 References and external links</a>  </li>

</ul>

</div>

</div>

</div>

<h3 style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 1.6; background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Administration rationale unclear<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; padding-right: 0.25em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;">[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dismissal_of_U.S._attorneys_controversy&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: Administration rationale unclear" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">edit</a>]</h3>

<div class="dablink boilerplate seealso" style="font-style: italic; padding-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; line-height: 22.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">See also: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#Inspector_General_Report_and_Special_Prosecutor" title="Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Inspector General Report and Special Prosecutor</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carol_Lam" title="Carol Lam" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Carol Lam</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Renzi" title="Rick Renzi" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Rick Renzi</a>, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_K.Charlton" title="Paul K. Charlton" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Paul K. Charlton</a></div>

The reasons for the dismissal of each individual U.S. Attorney were unclear. Two suggested motivations were that the administration wanted to make room for U.S. Attorneys who would be more sympathetic to the administration's political agenda, and the administration wanted to advance the careers of promising conservatives.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-Bowermaster-2" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[2]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-JaneAnnMorrison-31" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[31]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-Taylor-Gordon20070126-32" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[32]</a> Critics said that the attorneys were fired for failing to prosecute <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party(United_States)" title="Democratic Party (United States)" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Democratic</a> politicians, for failing to prosecute claims of election fraud that would hamper Democratic voter registration, as retribution for prosecuting <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party(United_States)" title="Republican Party (United States)" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Republican</a> politicians, or for failing to pursue adult obscenity prosecutions.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-33" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[33]</a> The administration and its supporters said that the attorneys were dismissed for job-performance reasons "related to policy, priorities and management", and that U.S. Attorneys serve at the pleasure of the President.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-Gonzales-03-06-07-14" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[14]</a>However, at least six attorneys had recently received positive evaluations of their performance from the Department of Justice.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-34" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[34]</a> In September 2008, the Department of Justice Inspector General's investigation concluded that the dismissals were politically motivated and improper.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S._attorneys_controversy#cite_note-USDOJ-IG-24" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[24]</a>

<h3 style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 1.6; background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Administration testimony contradicted by documents<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; padding-right: 0.25em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;">[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dismissal_of_U.S._attorneys_controversy&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: Administration testimony contradicted by documents" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">edit</a>]</h3>

Members of Congress investigating the dismissals found that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sworn_testimony" title="Sworn testimony" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">sworn testimony</a> from Department of Justice officials appeared to be contradicted by internal Department memoranda and e-mail, and that possibly Congress was deliberately misled. The White House role in the dismissals remained unclear despite hours of testimony by Attorney General Gonzales and senior Department of Justice staff in congressional committee hearings.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-35" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[35]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-NYT-Lipton-2007-05-03-36" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[36]</a> The Bush administration issued changing and contradictory statements about the timeline of the planning of the firings, persons who ordered the firings, and reasons for the firings.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-NYT-Stolberg-2007-03-17-37" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[37]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-38" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[38]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-39" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[39]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-40" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[40]</a> The origin and evolution of the list of attorneys to be dismissed remained unclear.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-WP-Senate-Judiciary-Transcript-Gonzales-2007-04-19-41" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[41]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-WP-AP-Jordan-2007-05-15-42" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[42]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-Salon-Scherer-McNulty-2007-05-23-43" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[43]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-WP-AP-Jordan-2007-05-29-44" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[44]</a> In response the Inspector General's report in September 2008, Attorney General <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Mukasey" title="Michael Mukasey" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Michael Mukasey</a> appointed a special prosecutor to determine if administration officials had perjured themselves in testimony to Congress.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S._attorneys_controversy#cite_note-IHT-09-29-2008-45" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[45]</a>

<h3 style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 1.6; background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Politicization of hiring at the Department of Justice<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; padding-right: 0.25em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;">[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dismissal_of_U.S._attorneys_controversy&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: Politicization of hiring at the Department of Justice" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">edit</a>]</h3>

Attorney General Gonzales, in a confidential order dated March 1, 2006, not published in the Federal Register, formally delegated authority to senior DOJ staff <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monica_Goodling" title="Monica Goodling" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Monica Goodling</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyle_Sampson" title="Kyle Sampson" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Kyle Sampson</a> to hire and dismiss political appointees and some civil service positions.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-Nat-Jnl-Waas-2007-04-30-46" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[46]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-47" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[47]</a> On May 2, 2007, the Department of Justice announced two separate investigations into hirings conducted by Goodling: one by the department's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inspector_General" title="Inspector General" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Inspector General</a>, and a second by the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Professional_Responsibility" title="Office of Professional Responsibility" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Office of Professional Responsibility</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-NYT-Lipton-2007-05-03-36" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[36]</a> In testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, on May 23, 2007, Goodling stated that she had "crossed the line" and broken civil service laws regulating hiring for civil service positions, and had improperly weighed political factors in assessing applicants.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-NYT-Stout-2007-05-23-48" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[48]</a>

According to a January 2009 Justice Department report, investigators found that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradley_Schlozman" title="Bradley Schlozman" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Bradley Schlozman</a>, as interim head of the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice, "favored applicants with conservative political or ideological affiliations and disfavored applicants with civil rights or human rights experience whom he considered to be overly liberal". The positions under consideration were not political, but career, for which the political and ideological views of candidates are not to be considered, according to federal law and guidelines.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S._attorneys_controversy#cite_note-49" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[49]</a>

In a letter of May 30, 2007, to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senate_Judiciary_Committee" title="Senate Judiciary Committee" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Senate Judiciary Committee</a>, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Justice_Office_of_the_Inspector_General" title="United States Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">United States Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General</a> and Counsel for the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Professional_Responsibility" title="Office of Professional Responsibility" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Office of Professional Responsibility</a> confirmed that they were expanding their investigation beyond "the removals of United States Attorneys" to include "DOJ hiring and personnel decisions" by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monica_Goodling" title="Monica Goodling" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Monica Goodling</a> and other Justice Department employees.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-May_30.2C_2007_Letter_to_Senate_Judiciary_Committee-50" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[50]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-WaPo-Eggen-2007-05-30-51" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[51]</a>

<h3 style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 1.6; background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Dismissed attorneys and elections<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; padding-right: 0.25em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;">[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dismissal_of_U.S._attorneys_controversy&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: Dismissed attorneys and elections" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">edit</a>]</h3>

<div class="dablink boilerplate seealso" style="font-style: italic; padding-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; line-height: 22.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">See also: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Domenici" title="Pete Domenici" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Pete Domenici</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heather_Wilson" title="Heather Wilson" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Heather Wilson</a>, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradley_Schlozman" title="Bradley Schlozman" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Bradley Schlozman</a></div>

The controversy surrounding the U.S. Attorneys dismissals was often linked to elections or voter-fraud issues. Allegations were that some of the U.S. Attorneys were dismissed for failing to instigate investigations damaging to Democratic politicians, or for failing to more aggressively pursue voter-fraud cases.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-WashingtonPost-20070513-3" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[3]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-52" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[52]</a> Such allegations were made by some of the dismissed U.S. Attorneys themselves to suggest reasons they may have been dismissed.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-53" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[53]</a> The background to the allegations is the recent tendency for elections in parts of the United States to be very close; an election outcome can be affected by an announced investigation of a politician. It is explicit policy of the Department of Justice to avoid bringing voter-related cases during an election for this reason.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-54" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[54]</a> By 2006, the pursuit of voter fraud cases was an acknowledged political strategy of the Republican Party, although most had little substance.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-55" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[55]</a> The use of U.S. Attorneys for partisan purposes is highly improper, particularly given the strong non-partisan traditions of the U.S. Attorneys. In September 2008, the Inspector General for the Department of Justice concluded that some of the dismissals were motivated by the refusal of some of the U.S. Attorneys to prosecute voter fraud cases during the 2006 election cycle.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-USDOJ-IG-24" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[24]</a>

<h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; background-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Fallout<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select: none; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; padding-right: 0.25em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;">[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dismissal_of_U.S._attorneys_controversy&action=edit&section=7" title="Edit section: Fallout" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">edit</a>]</h2>

By April 2007, the apparent politicization of the Department of Justice, the influence of politics on the appointment of some of the U.S. Attorneys, and the alleged politically motivated prosecutions by some of the U.S. Attorneys began to affect cases of public corruption and voter fraud nationwide. According to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Law_Journal" title="National Law Journal" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">National Law Journal</a>,

"Just the appearance of political influence in cases related to those firings, combined with the recent, unusual reversal of a federal public corruption conviction in Wisconsin [c.f., <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_Thompson" title="Georgia Thompson" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Georgia Thompson</a>], some say, will spur aggressive defense lawyers to question the political motivation of prosecutors in certain cases; make magistrates and judges more skeptical of the evidence before them; and perhaps even chill line prosecutors in their pursuit of some indictments."<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S._attorneys_controversy#cite_note-NLJ-Coyle-2007-04-27-26" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[26]</a>

</blockquote>

By mid-September 2007, nine senior staff of the Department of Justice associated with the controversy had resigned.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-WPost-Eggen-2007-09-19-16" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[16]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-Jordan-17" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[17]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-WP-Eggen-2007-06-23-18" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[18]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-McClatchy-Gordon-2007-08-22-19" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[19]</a> The most prominent resignations include:

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberto_Gonzales" title="Alberto Gonzales" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Alberto Gonzales</a></div>

</div>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Attorney General <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberto_Gonzales" title="Alberto Gonzales" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Alberto Gonzales</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-TalkingPointsMemo-Gonzales_Resignation_Letter-2007-08-27-20" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[20]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-NYTimes-Nizza-2007-08-27-21" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[21]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-NY_Times-Myers-2007-08-27-22" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[22]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S.attorneys_controversy#cite_note-NY_Times-Phillips-2007-08-27-23" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[23]</a></li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Deputy_Attorney_General" title="United States Deputy Attorney General" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Deputy Attorney General</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_McNulty" title="Paul McNulty" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Paul McNulty</a>;</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Acting <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Associate_Attorney_General" title="United States Associate Attorney General" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Associate Attorney General</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_W._Mercer" title="William W. Mercer" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">William W. Mercer</a> resigned from the acting office prior to Senate confirmation hearings for the same position, and returned to his post as U.S. Attorney for Montana (he held dual positions);</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chief_of_staff" title="Chief of staff" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Chief of staff</a> for the Attorney General <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyle_Sampson" title="Kyle Sampson" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Kyle Sampson</a></li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Chief of Staff for the Deputy Attorney General <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Elston" title="Michael Elston" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Michael Elston</a>;</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Director of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_attorney#Executive_Office_for_United_States_Attorneys" title="United States attorney" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys (EOUSA)</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_A._Battle" title="Michael A. Battle" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Michael A. Battle</a>;</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">the subsequently appointed Director to the EOUSA, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradley_Schlozman" title="Bradley Schlozman" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Bradley Schlozman</a>, also the former acting Assistant Attorney General for the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Justice_Civil_Rights_Division" title="United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Civil Rights Division</a>;</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">the Department of Justice's White House Liaison <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monica_Goodling" title="Monica Goodling" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none;">Monica Goodling</a></li>

</ul>

</dd>

</dl>

In June 2008, a grand jury was empaneled to consider criminal indictments against officials involved in the firings. The grand jury was presented evidence from ongoing investigations at the Department of Justice Inspector General's office and at the DOJ's Office of Professional Responsibility.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dismissal_of_U.S._attorneys_controversy#cite_note-NYT-Lichtblau-2008-06-17-56" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; white-space: nowrap;">[56]</a>

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eric lipton nyt? pt 3

WASHINGTON — When they met at the J. W. Marriott Hotel two blocks from the White House, Linda Singer, a former attorney general turned plaintiffs’ lawyer, approached Attorney General Gary King of New Mexico with an unusual proposition.

Ms. Singer wanted him to sue the owner of a nursing home in rural New Mexico that Mr. King had never heard of and Ms. Singer had never set foot in. She later presented him with a proposed lawsuit that did not cite any specific complaints about care. What she shared with him were numbers on staffing levels gleaned from records suggesting that residents were being mistreated there and at other facilities.

“Do you have 10 minutes at any point today?” Ms. Singer, who had served as attorney general in the District of Columbia, wrote to to Mr. King in a March 2012 email, to set up a meeting. “I finally got the numbers on the nursing home case and would love to discuss it with you briefly.”

“I’m in the lobby, near the reception desk,” Mr. King later replied, signing the message “GK.”

The casual nature of the exchange between the two Democrats, which was among thousands of pages of emails obtained by The New York Times, belied the enormous potential payoff for Ms. Singer’s firm if she could persuade Mr. King to hire her and use his state powers to investigate and sue, which he did.

The partnership is part of a flourishing industry that pairs plaintiffs’ lawyers with state attorneys general to sue companies, a collaboration that has set off a furious competition between trial lawyers and corporate lobbyists to influence these officials.

Much as big industries have found natural allies in Republican attorneys general to combat federal regulations, plaintiffs’ lawyers working on a contingency-fee basis have teamed up mostly with Democratic state attorneys general to file hundreds of lawsuits against businesses that make anything from pharmaceuticals to snack foods.
Courting Favor

Articles in this series examine the explosion in lobbying of state attorneys general by corporate interests and the millions in campaign donations they now provide.

The lawsuits follow a pattern: Private lawyers, who scour the news media and public records looking for potential cases in which a state or its consumers have been harmed, approach attorneys general. The attorneys general hire the private firms to do the necessary work, with the understanding that the firms will front most of the cost of the investigation and the litigation. The firms take a fee, typically 20 percent, and the state takes the rest of any money won from the defendants.

While prospecting for contracts, the private lawyers have also donated tens of thousands of dollars to campaigns of individual attorneys general, as well as party-backed organizations that they run. The donations often come in large chunks just before or after the firms sign contracts to represent the state, campaign finance records and more than 240 contracts examined by The Times show.

“This has gotten out of hand,” said Scott Harshbarger, a Democrat who was the attorney general of Massachusetts in the 1990s, when this practice first burst into prominence as a result of the litigation against tobacco companies. “And it seriously threatens the perception of integrity and professionalism of the office, as it raises the question of whether attorneys are taking up these cases because they are important public matters, or they are being driven more by potential for private financial gain.”

Emails and contingency lawyer contract documents obtained by The Times from attorneys general in 15 states show how these alliances have scrambled roles in the legal profession.

Private lawyers whose traditional work has been filing class-action tort claims or securities fraud cases on behalf of individuals or groups are now often operating with the power of the state, substantially increasing their chance for success by bringing claims on behalf of “the people.”

State attorneys general defend the practice, saying that with tight budgets, hiring outside lawyers is often the only tool they have to achieve rough parity with the army of corporate lawyers who are aggressively trying to blunt the lawsuits — in court, through legislation and in elections in which they target certain attorneys general for defeat.

In no place has the contingency-fee practice flourished more than in Mississippi, where lawyers hired by Attorney General Jim Hood, a Democrat, have collected $57.5 million in fees during the last two years — three times as much as Mr. Hood has spent on running his state office during the same period.
Document
An Alliance That Enriches All Sides: Plaintiffs’ Lawyers and Attorneys General

Documents from more than a dozen states offer an inside look at the multibillion-dollar industry that has emerged as plaintiffs’ lawyers team up with state attorneys general ?to sue corporations.
OPEN Document

Mr. Hood has taken in $395,000 in campaign contributions from trial law firms over the last decade, more than any other attorney general.

In one case, a senior partner at the Houston-based firm Bailey Peavy Bailey donated $125,000 to Mr. Hood after the firm filed a lawsuit on behalf of the state against Eli Lilly, the pharmaceutical company, litigation that in 2010 generated a $3.7 million payment to the outside lawyers. Mr. Hood has now signed a second contract with the firm, to sue the drug company Bristol-Myers Squibb.

Mr. Hood’s office rejected any suggestion that the contracts are given out in exchange for donations. “Whether or not an individual makes a campaign contribution during an election cycle has no bearing on any decisions made by the office of attorney general or its career attorneys who adhere to the highest standards of professionalism,” the office said in a statement.

Over all, plaintiffs’ firms have donated at least $9.8 million directly to state attorneys general and political groups related to attorneys general over the last decade, according to an analysis of campaign finance data by The Times, with more than 76 percent of that money going to Democrats.
Continue reading the main story
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Continue reading the main story

The financial benefit to Mississippi’s treasury is also clear. Mr. Hood’s office has brought in $400 million over the last decade from lawsuits filed with the help of outside lawyers, state records show.

The boom in the contingency law business has been driven in part by former attorneys general like Ms. Singer who have capitalized on personal relationships with former colleagues that they have nurtured since leaving office, often at resort destination conferences where they pay to gain access.

Ms. Singer herself has made dozens of pitches, presenting attorneys general with a shopping list of possible litigation topics, like defective highway guardrails and abuses by for-profit colleges, emails show.
Photo
Ms. Singer is shown with Markus Green, a top lawyer at the drug company Pfizer, as they made their way to a holiday party hosted by the Democratic Attorneys General Association in Washington this month. Credit Jabin Botsford/The New York Times

“I fear that I’m now stalking you with my voice mail messages and thought I’d switch media,” Ms. Singer wrote in an email late last year to the Washington State attorney general’s office. “Do you have time to talk in the next few weeks? I’d love to pick up the thread of our conversation and get your reaction to the cases we suggested.”

Mr. King and other attorneys general say lawsuits against major corporations or industry sectors can require the hiring of expert witnesses and produce hundreds of thousands of pages of documents that must be reviewed. All of this comes at a high cost, and outside lawyers can foot the bills upfront.

“It’s one of the only tools I have to level the playing field on behalf of consumers, given the significant financial firepower that big pharma, big banking and any number of other industries have,” Mr. King said. “The attorney general is virtually the only protection the consumer has against abuse by those industries.”

But some of his colleagues remain sharply critical of the practice.

“Farming out the police powers of the state to a private firm with a profit incentive is a very, very bad thing,” said Attorney General John Suthers of Colorado, a Republican and a former United States attorney.

A Lawyer’s Plea

For Ellen F. Rosenblum, a Democrat who was the newly elected attorney general of Oregon, November 2012 had been a particularly busy month. She was investigating allegations of ballot tampering, and, on a personal level, her daughter’s wedding was approaching.

But Ms. Singer was determined to get on the attorney general’s calendar to pitch her cases.

“I am delighted to be able to write with congratulations on your election, as well as a more mundane follow-up,” Ms. Singer said in an email during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend in 2012. “I am eager to pick up our conversation at your convenience.”

The exchange echoed pleas that Ms. Singer sent to attorneys general — almost all Democrats — in Arizona, Connecticut, Nevada, New Mexico, New York and Washington State as she worked to team up with them on major civil cases with her firm, Cohen Milstein. Many of the pitches generated no new deals. Ms. Rosenblum, for example, has not given her a contract so far. But a single case can generate millions in payments to her firm.
Photo
The Gallup nursing home. Credit Mark Holm for The New York Times

Though Ms. Singer, 48, served just a year as attorney general in the District of Columbia, she had a long prior tenure in public service jobs, and she referred to her work at Cohen Milstein as an extension of her commitment to serving the public good.

“There is not a bit of shame about anything we do here,” she said in an interview in her Washington office.

Hers is an expansive portfolio of cases. Mississippi hired her to handle an investigation by the state of the credit ratings agencies Experian and TransUnion, which was based on an allegation that they knowingly included errors in their credit files. The relationship was made clear in a subpoena issued to TransUnion in July 2013.

“Please direct any questions regarding our requests or your production to our outside counsel,” said a cover letter on the subpoena, emblazoned with the state seal. It also listed Ms. Singer’s telephone number and address in Washington, in addition to information for a state official helping to supervise the case.

Nevada hired her firm in 2009, under a contract that had an exceptionally broad mandate: to seek compensation for anyone in the state who was harmed as a result of fraudulent mortgage lending practices. And Ms. Singer negotiated a settlement with Bank of America that generated an extra $38 million for Nevada, and $5.6 million for her firm — reflecting a 15 percent fee.

She was also successful in adding to her nursing home case in New Mexico by persuading the attorney general of Pennsylvania to sign a contingency-fee contract pressing similar claims.

In many of those cases, Ms. Singer’s legal theory, at least initially, had a generic quality. In New Mexico, she and the state ended up suing a different company altogether — one based in Texas, instead of the Pennsylvania-based chain that Ms. Singer had identified in a draft complaint she initially provided to Mr. King.
Graphic
Political Gifts from Plaintiffs’ Lawyers

How much plaintiffs’ law firms have contributed to benefit state attorneys general.
OPEN Graphic

“We go where the evidence leads, and no place else,” Ms. Singer said, explaining the change.

The new case still relies primarily on a calculation suggesting that the 11 nursing homes did not have enough staff members. But the complaint, which named Preferred Care Partners Management Group of Plano, Tex., among others, is now backed up with specific allegations of mistreatment of patients, based on “confidential witnesses.”

Mr. King acknowledged that the lawsuit relied on a novel claim, developed through the use of a software program, that estimated resident harm based on the ratio between nurse’s aides and residents. But Mr. King said that because Cohen Milstein was covering most of the cost, there was little risk to the state, adding that he was receptive to this approach because of what he said had been a disturbing pattern of abuse in his state’s nursing homes.

“The court system in America is a good way to determine if that is a sufficient argument,” Mr. King said.

Ms. Singer’s firm does not have the field to itself. Former attorneys general, including Patricia A. Madrid of New Mexico, Walter W. Cohen of Pennsylvania, Grant Woods of Arizona, Patrick C. Lynch of Rhode Island, Steve Six of Kansas, Drew Edmondson of Oklahoma, Peg Lautenschlager of Wisconsin and Mike Moore of Mississippi, have also pursued or struck deals with states, documents obtained by The Times show. Several of them work simply as brokers, earning a commission just for helping to pitch a case.

Ms. Madrid has flown around the country with her husband (also a lawyer), acting as a broker to solicit business. They traveled early this year to Vermont on behalf of the Texas-based law firm Baron & Budd and successfully pitched the firm to the staff of the attorney general, an old friend, to represent the state in a lawsuit against oil companies over allegations that a fuel additive caused groundwater contamination. Ms. Madrid will earn a fee for helping to sell the job.

“It just gives credibility when you are dealing with someone that you know,” Mike Messina, Ms. Madrid’s husband, said this month while sitting on a couch in the lobby of the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where the couple were attending a dinner for newly elected attorneys general. “It gets you past a lot of difficult questions.”

Vermont’s attorney general, William H. Sorrell, said he first developed a friendship with Ms. Madrid when they traveled to Israel together as part of an official delegation of attorneys general. He acknowledged that Ms. Madrid played a role in pitching the case, but said he agreed to the deal only because it will help Vermont bring in the largest possible recovery.
Photo
BROKER Patricia A. Madrid, a former New Mexico attorney general, with her husband, Mike Messina, helps law firms get state business. Credit Benjamin Rusnak for The New York Times

“An office my size to take on a major company or a whole industry, like the oil industry, is David versus Goliath, times 10,” said Mr. Sorrell, who has a staff of about 80 lawyers.

‘Like a Family Party’

One night last week at the restaurant Rosa Mexicano in Washington, as margaritas flowed and trays of shrimp and chicken skewers were passed, the network between contingency-fee lawyers and Democratic attorneys general was on vivid display.

The restaurant was closed for a private holiday party hosted by the Democratic Attorneys General Association. These plaintiffs’ firms have donated more than $3.8 million to the group over the last decade, money that has been passed on in chunks to Democrats to help them with their re-election bids.

Ms. Singer, along with lawyers from at least nine other firms, worked the crowd, chatting up the attorneys general from Vermont, Virginia and other states, while Marlon E. Kimpson, a lawyer from Motley Rice, which focuses on securities litigation, introduced himself to the new attorneys general from Maryland and New Mexico. The event was co-sponsored by the law firm Kaplan Fox, which just secured a multimillion-dollar payout after suing the mortgage giant Fannie Mae on behalf of the State of Tennessee.

“It was like a family party,” said one lawyer who attended and who requested anonymity because it was a private event.

That is precisely the kind of coziness that has driven corporations to marshal a counteroffensive by challenging on multiple fronts attorneys general who hire contingency lawyers.

Darrell McGraw, who collected more than $2 billion worth of settlements in partnership with contingency-fee lawyers during his tenure as West Virginia’s attorney general, was one of the early targets.
Photo
CROWDED FIELD From left, former Attorneys General Peg Lautenschlager of Wisconsin, Mike Moore of Mississippi and Steve Six of Kansas, who have helped pursue or strike deals with states on suits. Credit Left to right: Morry Gash/Associated Press; Rogelio V. Solis/Associated Press; Orlin Wagner/Associated Press.

“McGraw diverted millions to pet projects and to campaign donors he hired,” said one 2012 television advertisement during his re-election campaign, a reference to a settlement his office had negotiated with Purdue Pharma over its sale of painkillers. That deal included a $2 million payment to contingency-fee law firms whose partners were past campaign donors.

His campaign bought its own advertisement defending his efforts, as did an independent group called the Mountaineer Committee for Justice and Fairness that is funded in part by plaintiffs’ lawyers.

But Mr. McGraw said the assault was overwhelming, and he was defeated after two decades in office.

“They are simply able to eliminate people,” Mr. McGraw said.

The attempts to push back have come in federal and state courts as well. Companies as diverse as Diamond Foods, the snack food maker, and Merck, the pharmaceutical giant, have filed lawsuits or counterclaims arguing that the attorneys general improperly turned over state law enforcement powers to private parties, citing their financial incentive to push ahead with cases against them, even if the facts did not support the claims.

The court challenges have yet to be successful, but some federal judges have at least been receptive to the argument.

Judge William Alsup of Federal District Court for the Northern District of California, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton, wrote last year that cases filed by attorneys general should not become “a vehicle for keeping elected officials in office by allowing them to extract campaign contributions from lawyers selected to serve as class counsel.”

The appeal to state legislatures is the most intensive part of the campaign. Since 2012, at least 14 states have adopted new rules that generally require attorneys general to make a specific “finding of need for outside counsel” and often to have an open competition for the work. In several states, limits have also been placed on fees.
Photo
OUTSIDE COUNSEL The office of Attorney General Jim Hood of Mississippi hired Ms. Singer to handle an investigation of credit ratings agencies. Credit Rogelio V. Solis/Associated Press

Perhaps the most important victory for the corporate lawyers came this year in Louisiana, where Attorney General Buddy Caldwell, a Republican, has collected $294 million in settlements since 2011 against pharmaceutical companies with the help of outside law firms, which in turn have earned $54 million in fees. The legislation, Mr. Caldwell said in a statement, was devised by the companies to “restrict and destroy the attorney general’s ability to hold them accountable.”

As Gov. Bobby Jindal signed the legislation in June, Pete Martinez, the senior director for state government affairs at Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, stood directly behind the governor, with a slight smile.

“The way these issues really get done is a result of the grass-roots effort,” Lisa A. Rickard, the head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for Legal Reform, said in October as she presented an award to the business leaders from Louisiana who led the fight.

But the grass roots had high-powered allies. Mr. Martinez was there again as the award — a small glass gavel that Ms. Rickard referred to as the chamber’s version of the Oscar — was bestowed.

Plaintiffs’ lawyers said they were not surprised by the onslaught.

“You look at the results, and I can see why the business community is organizing to fight this,” said Blair A. Nicholas, managing partner at the firm Bernstein Litowitz. “The attorneys general are getting significant results. They speak for themselves.”

The plaintiffs’ bar — and its allies in the offices of attorneys general — have tried to fight back.

Mr. Lynch, the former Rhode Island attorney general, who represents three of the nation’s largest plaintiffs’ firms, sent a confidential appeal to half a dozen state attorneys general in January, asking them to intervene in the matter with the United States Supreme Court to protect their ability to file federal securities fraud cases, typically handled by outside lawyers.

“Based on our conversation last night, I write to get confirmation that you will sign this brief today,” Mr. Lynch wrote to Ms. Rosenblum, the Oregon attorney general. He added that he already had a tentative commitment from Mr. Hood, as well as from Attorney General Bob Ferguson of Washington State and Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane of Pennsylvania, all Democrats who have taken contributions from the contingency-fee lawyers.

A spokeswoman for Ms. Rosenblum said the contributions played no role in the decision. Instead, her staff agreed to adopt the brief as its own, after making some editing changes, because it agreed with it.

Still, the counterattack by big business has had its impact. Ms. Madrid said some newly elected Democrats were reluctant to hire outside firms, fearful that they were going to be targeted for defeat in elections.

But the sales pitches are still taking place, with Ms. Singer, in particular, urging attorneys general to join her firm for a new round of possible cases, including ones against makers of furniture that has a chemical additive that some consider harmful, and drug companies that sell certain painkillers. In fact, at least three former attorneys general are pitching painkiller abuse cases to states nationwide, although no state has yet publicly signed up.

“The chamber has made the bar so high, attorneys general understand there is a cost politically to hiring outside counsel,” she said. “So it is not something they do lightly or freely.”

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Democrat Andy Beshear and Republican Whitney Westerfield are the men

publicly running to be Kentucky's next attorney general. But behind the

scenes, scores of corporations, wealthy businessmen, lawyers, lobbyists

and labor unions have given several million dollars to two independent

groups loosely affiliated with the Democratic and Republican parties,

which are spending that money on a barrage of attack ads meant to

influence voters.

Many donors hedge their bets, not knowing who will win. Among those

giving heavily to independent groups on both sides of the attorney

general's race — simultaneously underwriting attacks on Beshear and

Westerfield — are 21st Century Fox, the American Gaming Association,

Golden Living nursing homes, Duke Energy, distiller Brown-Forman,

pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, the American Petroleum Institute, eBay, the

American Beverage Association, discount cigarette maker XCaliber

International, brewer Anheuser Busch and Monster Energy caffeine drinks.

The deep-pocketed donors, mostly from outside Kentucky, have an

interest in not getting sued or prosecuted by attorneys general

representing the 50 states. This fall, they can focus their efforts on

the three states choosing a top lawyer in this off-year election:

Kentucky, Louisiana and Mississippi.

Golden Living, for instance, based in Plano, Texas, gave $25,000 each

this year to both of the independent groups involved in Kentucky's

attorney general's race. The company is no stranger to statehouse legal

problems. Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane is targeting its

nursing homes in her state for allegedly failing to provide basic

services to elderly residents, a charge the company denies. In 2013, the

company agreed to pay $613,300 to settle claims of "inadequate and

worthless wound care services to residents" brought by the state of

Georgia and the U.S. Department of Justice.

"Golden Living fraudulently billed Medicaid for nursing services

which were substandard and, tragically, resulted in harm to patients,"

Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens said at that time.

Money flows from these contributors to two national groups, neither

of which is allowed by law to coordinate with its favored candidate.

The Republican Attorneys General Association is running ads that say

Beshear would do the bidding of his "special-interest" campaign donors

and Democratic President Barack Obama, who is hugely unpopular in

Kentucky. The Bluegrass Alliance for Consumer Rights — largely funded by

the Democratic Attorneys General Association — is airing a commercial

that shows a man in a bathrobe, supposedly Westerfield, enjoying a

pedicure and a facial at a spa instead of doing his duty prosecuting

criminals.

Beshear and Westerfield have complained about the accuracy of attacks

made by the independent groups, while each insists he has no control

over the independent group assailing his opponent.

The Democratic group said it bought $630,000 of television air time

on Oct. 5. The Republican group reported spending $2.2 million in

Kentucky as of Oct. 2. More money could come in the campaign's final

weeks.

Most of the donors give $10,000 to $50,000 per contribution, with

some giving multiple times. In exchange, donors get to meet the state

attorneys general and their top legal aides at private conferences

organized by the independent groups throughout the year.

Last June, for example, the Republican Attorneys General Association

hosted its summer meeting at a luxury oceanfront resort in San Diego,

according to conference documents available online. Eighteen attorneys

general and seven candidates for attorney general spent the weekend

golfing, dining, holding campaign fund-raisers and attending

business-friendly panel discussions. They were joined by hundreds of

executives from banks, payday lenders, tobacco companies, health

insurers and technology firms, among many others who paid the RAGA for

the access.

For $10,000, "gold sponsor" donors were promised admission to "the

private appreciation dinner" with attorneys general at last year's three

national RAGA meetings. For $50,000, donors got that same deal, plus

admission to even more intimate "host committee dinners" at national

meetings, and an "annual opportunity to lead private briefings with

Republican attorneys general."

The two attorneys general groups did not return calls last week seeking comment on their Kentucky efforts.

Several U.S. Supreme Court decisions since 2010 allow donors,

including corporations and unions, to make unlimited payments to such

independent groups. Much of this can be passed along anonymously as

"dark money" by organizations that can conceal who funds them. For

instance, the conservative group Judicial Crisis Network gave $100,000

on June 1 to the RAGA; because of the way it's organized, it does not

have to explain its funding.

"We're seeing these outside groups getting involved more and more in

state races, even in down-ticket state races and state legislative

races," said Jordan Libowitz of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics

in Washington.

"It's particularly bad with an attorney general's race, because then

you've got these conflict-of-interest concerns given the very nature of

what an attorney general does," Libowitz said. "He's supposed to be the

attorney for the people. But these same corporations who get to do

back-door lobbying with the attorney general with big campaign donations

often have business before the attorney general's office."

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Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article42644670.html#storylink=cpy</div>==
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