Ethics? We have none.

An NYT investigation has turned up some disturbing facts about many Republican Attorneys General: they are in bed with big oil and energy, trying to block EPA regulations. Evidence shows there is an

. . . unprecedented, secretive alliance that Mr. Pruitt [AG, Oklahoma] 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.

[snip]

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 the Republicans have the gall to complain about “special interest groups” helping the Democrats. The GOP’s groups have a helluva lot more money than any one of the lobbying outfits that try to influence the Democrats’ thinking or policies.

This may not be an illegal practice, but it skirts the lines of ethics. After all, states’ Attorneys General are supposed to be “the people’s lawyer,” not “the 1-percenters’ lawyer.” Fracking may destroy aquifers and the quality of life for unknown numbers of citizens, but hey, it’s good for energy companies, so the AG is helping “the people,” right?

It’s slimy.

One Comment

  1. Tom Corbett was financially propelled for a decade by Chesapeake Energy.
    First into the job of attorney general, then into becoming the governor.

    I was shocked that the Republican party let him run for a second term. The only possible explanation was that he was sufficiently bankrolled so as not to be stopped.
    I can only think he & his backers really didn’t realize that might’ve worked when he was AG and running for governor… because until the fracking uproar really got going, and until the Penn State scandal broke… nobody really talked about the PA AG. As PA governor, however, Corbett was in the spotlight of the average citizen.

    Our current PA AG apparently endorses newspaper puff pieces touting the zealous police special task force under her office’s command, the commanding police officer quoted in the newspaper as describing drug warrants being served as “wreaking havoc” as if that’s a good thing… and the AG tweeted the headline as if to brag. Heaven knows what other crap she’s into if she thinks police ought to be “wreaking havoc” in communities and that her officers should be telling the press he intends to be “locking up anyone we can”.
    After reading that article, I wondered if she’s been bankrolled by private for-profit prison industries.

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