Effort grows to curb lobbyists' influence on AGs

WASHINGTON -- In state legislatures and major professional associations, a bipartisan effort is emerging to change the way that state attorneys general interact with lobbyists, campaign donors and other corporate representatives.

This month, during a closed meeting of the National Association of Attorneys General, officials voted to stop accepting corporate sponsorships. In Missouri, a bill has been introduced that would require the attorney general as well as certain other state officials to disclose within 48 hours any political contribution worth more than $500. And in Washington state, legislation is being drafted to bar attorneys general who leave office from lobbying their former colleagues for a year.

Perhaps most significant, a White House ethics lawyer in the administration of George W. Bush has asked the American Bar Association to change its national code of conduct to prohibit attorneys general from discussing continuing investigations or other official matters while participating in fundraising events at resort destinations, as they often now do. Those measures could be adopted in individual states.

The actions follow a series of articles in The New York Times that examined how lawyers and lobbyists from major corporations, energy companies and even plaintiffs' law firms have increasingly tried to influence state attorneys general.

These outside players have tried to shut down investigations, enlist the attorneys general as partners in litigation or use their clout to try to block or strengthen regulations emerging from Washington, the investigation found.

A debate has started among state attorneys general -- even those who believe that the problem is more about the perception of a possible conflict of interest than about any real conflicts -- over steps that could be taken to insulate them from outside influence.

"There is a heightened awareness that people need to be very careful how and where they are raising money," said Attorney General George Jepsen of Connecticut, who is a co-chairman of the Democratic Attorneys General Association. "There is an important dialogue that has gotten started."

The most definitive action so far was the unanimous vote by the bipartisan executive committee of the National Association of Attorneys General to stop accepting corporate donations to cover the cost of its Presidential Initiative Summit, an event, typically held annually, that focuses on emerging legal issues such as Internet privacy. Last year, the meeting was sponsored in part by Google and Facebook -- corporations that have been targeted recently in privacy investigations.

"I felt like we need to be free of the perception that was created by companies and corporation groups funding that meeting," said Jim McPherson, the executive director of the association.

But that group is far less reliant on donations from corporations and other outside groups than the other three main associations of attorneys general: the Republican and Democratic Attorneys General Associations and the Conference of Western Attorneys General. Those groups regularly convene attorneys general at resort hotels for closed-door events with lobbyists, who make donations in exchange for greater access.

A $125,000 donation to the Republican Attorneys General Association, for example, gives a corporate representative the right to participate in a weekend retreat with the nation's Republican attorneys general, as well as an opportunity to make special, private presentations to them. Democrats have a similar, although somewhat lower-priced, arrangement that grants big donors "a unique opportunity for focused conversation with specific AGs in a small setting."

The list of companies that participated this year in closed-door events sponsored by the Republican and Democratic Attorneys General Associations, according to documents obtained by The Times, includes some that are targets of investigations or regulatory reviews. Among them are Trinity Industries, the manufacturer of guardrails that have been blamed in a series of fatal car accidents, and Comcast, which is seeking the consent of state attorneys general for a merger with Time Warner Cable.

Richard Painter, a University of Minnesota law professor who served as the chief White House ethics lawyer during the Bush administration, said the events should be considered fundraisers and that official business should not be discussed.

"We need some specific rules, and one of them should be that prosecutors, whether state officials or federal, whether elected or appointed, never discuss specific pending investigations or cases, or the possibility of bringing cases, at political fundraisers," said Painter, who is now a fellow at the Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard.

A Section on 12/27/2014

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