WASHINGTON -- The nation's state attorneys general are rallying behind Utah Attorney General Jan Graham to fight a new law that would strip her office's authority over civil cases and give it to the governor.
National Association of Attorneys General President Mike Moore said his group will file a friend-of-the-court brief in a case Graham is planning to file soon. It also spent long hours helping her with strategy and research at annual meetings this week.Moore, attorney general of Mississippi, said attorneys general are all too familiar with attempts by other politicians to curb their independence.
"I had a challenge by my governor when I filed the first lawsuit against the tobacco industry," Moore told the Deseret News.
"Thirty-three attorneys general came to my rescue and filed an amicus brief, and I was successful in fighting off that challenge. The attorneys general of this country intend to do the same thing in defense of not only Jan, but the independence of the attorney general. We think that's vitally important to the citizens of Utah," he said.
About challenges to the independence of attorneys general, Moore said, "It happens a lot, and it's unfortunate. And it's usually politically motivated." He added, "Republicans and Democrats alike will stand together on this issue."
Graham said that while some tinkering by governors on individual lawsuit issues is common nationwide, "No one here has ever seen this kind of sweeping taking of authority" -- and it worries them.
Graham intends to challenge in court HB139, the Public Attorneys Act, which Gov. Mike Leavitt signed Tuesday. The new law will transfer decisionmaking power on civil matters from elected public attorneys -- the attorney general and 29 county attorneys -- to the executive branch of their governments -- the governor and county commissions.
At first, HB139 would have applied to Graham, the only statewide elected Democrat in Utah. But GOP legislators amended the bill to make it take effect January 2001 -- after the next election. Graham has said she has no plans to seek re-election in 2000.
Graham said the new law was the main topic of a 1 1/2-hour opening roundtable of attorneys general. They called a second 1 1/2-hour session on it Wednesday.
Besides making plans for a friend-of-the-court brief from the entire group, "I've had offers from many individual state attorneys general to do an additional one as well -- (from both) Republicans and Democrats. This is a real bipartisan group," Graham said. HB139 was the main partisan fight of the 1999 Legislature, with all Democratic lawmakers voting against it, all but two GOP lawmakers voting for it. Leavitt, a Republican, advocated it.
She added that the group also put out an "all points bulletin," seeking information on instances when politicians in their states tried to interfere with their independence, information on their state constitutions and other strategic data.
"We ended up with a stack of information 3 feet high," Graham said. "They've been talking through strategy and timing with us."
Graham added, "We plan to file suit within a month or two."
She said attorneys general are a close-knit group after working together the past three years on lawsuits against the tobacco industry -- often in opposition to other politicians in their states.
"There's concern here that when we unite and step up together and do something kind of courageous like we did, that now this is what happens: we're punished," she said.
"We want attorneys general offices to be strong and to be able to do things like tobacco lawsuits, and we don't want governors to be threatened by that -- and then for political reasons start weakening our powers."
She added that she hopes courts will accept and decide the case before the next election.
"When people vote, they should know what they are voting for. Are they voting for an attorney general who's going to make decisions, are they going to elect a rubber stamp for the governor?" she said.
The attorneys general also had interest in one other Utah development: a Utah Court of Appeals case that set favorable precedent for prosecuting out-of-state firms for illegally selling alcohol via the Internet beyond normal state liquor store systems.
As Graham was about to report on that after a separate session on the law to restrict her office's powers, North Carolina Attorney General Michael Easley joked, "Jan, it seems like Utah is always on the cutting edge of something."