Attorney General Pam Bondi’s political work with a GOP attorneys general coalition has her weighing-in on battles outside of Florida. (Photo: Flickr.)
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
The Tampa Bay Times/ Miami Herald reported this week on Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi’s work with the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA), which has led to her fighting legal battles across the country– most having nothing to do with the state of Florida. Following this, The New York Times reported that the group, as well as Bondi herself, has been receiving a lot of corporate money and guidance, which has also influenced her work as AG.
According to the Michael Van Sickler with the Times/Herald, RAGA is “a political fundraising organization … that has contributed $750,000 to Bondi’s $5.5 million re-election campaign.”
The legal fights Bondi has weighed-in on with RAGA include opposing bans on semiautomatic weapons in Connecticut and New York, as well as opposing gay marriage, medical marijuana and the supposed “federal overreach” of federal agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency.
In fact, according to the Times/Herald, Bondi even intervened on an EPA matter regarding the cleanup of Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay. Bondi, along with 17 other Republican attorneys general, opposed the cleanup even though the Chesapeake has been ailing from toxic algae blooms and fish kills caused by fertilizer pollution. Bondi’s explanation for her intervention was that she was opposing “federal overreach” in her capacity as a state attorney general.
And these are just a few examples. According the the Times/Herald,
Since taking office in 2011, Bondi has adopted RAGA’s priorities, recited talking points and joined members’ legal battles far beyond Florida.
“Why would we lift or ease the ban on straw buyers?” said Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri when told about Bondi’s position. “Straw buyers are purchasing guns for someone who is either ineligible or is trying to hide the fact that they now have a gun. They reek of impropriety.”
In her bid for re-election, Bondi has focused on a get-tough-on-crime message and her record as a staunch defender of victims’ and states’ rights. But none of these “friend-of-the-court” briefs support that or appear to respond to pressing situations in Florida.
“Attorneys general are supposed to work to protect the laws and safety of residents of their state,” said Jonathan Lowy, director of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence’s legal action project. “How can she contend that the people of Florida are made more safe if there are more assault weapons in Connecticut?”
Bondi’s office refused to answer whether she consulted with law enforcement before signing the briefs or how they would make Floridians safer.
Her only comments were made in a short email sent by her spokeswoman: “I’m proud to be among a bipartisan group of state attorneys general who consistently advocate against government infringement of Americans’ Second Amendment rights.”
Since Bondi took office and began her work with RAGA, the group has only gotten more politically active. It has also experienced a surge in political contributions from private companies, because of the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision Citizens United. The ruling allows groups like RAGA and the Democratic Attorneys General Association to receive unlimited amounts of money from corporations and unions.
And The New York Times reports that corporations are the biggest contributors to the attorneys general groups, giving business interests direct access to those enforcing the law. Bondi was featured prominently in the Times article;
Ms. Bondi, the Florida attorney general, for example, received nearly $25,000 worth of airfare, hotels and meals in the past two years just from events sponsored by the Republican Attorneys General Association, state disclosure reports show. That money came indirectly from corporate donors.
She has charged Florida taxpayers nearly $14,000 since 2011 to take additional trips to meetings of the National Association of Attorneys General and the Conference of Western Attorneys General, including travel to Hawaii. Those events were also attended by dozens of lobbyists. Ms. Bondi, in a statement, said the support she had received — directly or through the Republican Attorneys General Association — had not had an impact on any of her actions as attorney general.
In fact, Bondi and her office have been persuaded by a law firm representing corporate interests to not pursue investigations into various companies. According to the New York Times, Bondi was asked by representatives of Dickstein Shapiro to not investigate Accretive Health, a Chicago-based hospital bill collection company that had been accused of abusive collection practices.
The same situation happened with Bridgepoint Education, a for-profit online school that Iowa’s attorney general alleged had “unconscionable sales practices.” Bondi was also persuaded to not look into Herbalife, which has been investigated by federal and state authorities for its sales practice—and Travelocity and Priceline. According to the Times, Dickstein represented both companies, and urged her not to pursue “allegations that they were conspiring to improperly withhold taxes on hotel rooms booked in the state.”
When asked about several of these instances, Bondi’s office claimed she and her staff didn’t see enough complaints filed against the companies to warrant an investigation.
Furthermore, the Times/Herald reports, “many of RAGA’s biggest donors have a stake in who wins.”
The National Rifle Association, the plaintiff in a lawsuit seeking to eliminate a federal ban on the sale of handguns for buyers between 18 and 21 years old, gave $75,000 this year. That ban was upheld, but Bondi and 20 other attorneys general, all but two Republican, had signed a brief in support of the NRA lawsuit. Tobacco company Altria gave $166,000 and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce gave $2.3 million. Boeing contributed $25,000 after Bondi and 15 other RAGA members signed a brief protesting a National Labor Review Board lawsuit charging that the aerospace giant violated federal labor law — in South Carolina.
In statements to the Times/Herald, Bondi’s office maintains that her work as attorney general has not been influenced by RAGA. When asked why she was weighing-in on legal battles outside of Florida– such as Arizona’s tough immigration law and the Keystone oil pipeline– her office claimed each case had “broader implications for Florida.”