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Editorial: Big money calls tune in key cases

 
Published Oct. 29, 2014

Partisanship has no place in law enforcement. But the rising influence of two national attorneys general groups, including one in which Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi is a key player, indicates corporations are routinely spending big money to access and influence the state's top law enforcement officers. Bondi has never hidden her partisan ideological bent, but her heavy involvement in the Republican Attorneys General Association and embrace of its agenda calls into question whether she is looking out for Floridians' interests with the same vigor that she addresses the corporate interests funneling money through the association to her re-election campaign.

The Tampa Bay Times' Michael Van Sickler on Sunday and the New York Times on Wednesday detailed the growing, under-the-radar influence of RAGA and its Democratic counterpart, DAGA. Most state attorneys general from around the country belong to one association or the other, and both associations have taken advantage of the 2010 Citizens United Supreme Court ruling to accept unlimited contributions, mostly from corporations. The money is then funneled into election campaigns of members or spent for meetings at fancy resorts where members who attend can get many of their expenses underwritten. Bondi has received $750,000 for her re-election and another $25,000 in travel expenses from RAGA or its super PAC.

But what are billed as meetings aimed at keeping attorneys general up to speed on legal issues are little more than closed-door gatherings with pay-to-play access. Company executives and lobbyists can buy their way onto panel discussions or secure a golf date or sailing expedition for face-to-face time with elected officials.

The access doesn't stop there. Email records show lobbyists for those interests then follow up regularly with attorneys general to press for favorable treatment for their clients. That may finally explain why Bondi last year abruptly dropped her predecessor's pledge to take on online travel companies who aren't collecting and remitting bed taxes on hotel stays. The New York Times cited that case and three instances in which Bondi was contacted by a law firm active in RAGA and ended up taking no action. Bondi's office says that in all cases the decision was made on the merits of the issue, not a well-placed lobbyist. Yet 17 Florida counties continue to press for hotel tax collection from the likes of Travelocity or Expedia.

The RAGA connection doesn't stop there. The Tampa Bay Times found Bondi has at least 10 times in four years joined RAGA colleagues to pursue out-of-state actions, starting with the continuation of the lawsuit her predecessor filed against the Affordable Care Act. But they have also fought the cleanup of Chesapeake Bay in Maryland, urged the federal government to permit the Keystone oil pipeline from Canada, intervened in five state or federal gun enforcement issues and even intervened in labor disputes for Seattle's Boeing. Her office says that's because such cases could have far-reaching legal ramifications. They also have big corporate donors backing them and often little or no connection to Florida.

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Bondi and other state attorneys general are expected to be independent advocates acting in the best interests of their constituents. It now appears she and her colleagues from both political parties too often are working in concert on behalf of the corporate interests funneling money to their campaigns.