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This scathing 2005 report from a nationally recognized think tank basically accuses W.A.D. Edmondson of using his office in manner that more resembles a plaintiff’s law firm than as the state’s top legal official.
Capital Research Center:
Summary: Oklahoma’s Drew Edmondson, Connecticut’s Richard Blumenthal, Illinois’ Lisa Madigan and Michigan’s Mike Cox are little known outside their states. But as their states’ attorney general they exercise an extraordinary power that can be easily abused.
State Attorneys General: A National Association of Aspiring Governors?
The office of state attorney general reached its high-water mark in prestige in March 1999, when eleven tobacco companies reached a settlement with the attorney generals of 46 states and agreed to pay the states $246 billion dollars over the next 25 years. State attorneys general were the new giant-killers and anti-smoking advocacy groups were overjoyed.
In the past half-dozen years many other nonprofit advocacy groups have attempted to emulate the strategy used by the anti-smoking groups. They are looking to state AGs to help them bring all sorts of corporations to heel. The most targeted businesses are gun-makers, which have been sued for “gun violence,” and fast-food restaurants, blamed for the “epidemic of obesity.” But ambitious state attorneys general are devising creative theories of liability as they seek out new targets of opportunity. The private sector is a bulging piñata and the AGs wield a big stick.
An aggressive and veteran attorney general is Oklahoma Democrat W.A. “Drew” Edmondson, now in his eleventh year in office. Last June he received the highest award conferred by the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) and was touted by Vermont attorney general William Sorrell, NAAG’s president, as “a star in our ranks.” Edmondson was born to politics and has pursued a career in public life from an early age.
The tobacco settlement for Oklahoma generated $250 million in private attorneys’ fees. Edmondson hired two out-of-state firms (that got $150 million), which then selected four Oklahoma firms from a list he gave them (they split the other $100 million). Earlier Edmondson had gotten Oklahoma law changed to permit him to file lawsuits independently of the request of a state agency.
The connections between Edmondson and those local law firms raised some eyebrows. The Daily Oklahoman reported that the law firm Riggs, Abney, Neal, Turpen, Orbison & Lewis received $30 million for its participation in the suit and that 29 attorneys and employees of the firm contributed thousands of dollars to Edmondson’s campaign for attorney general in the years following the settlement. Many also contributed to Edmondson’s election campaign before the firm was awarded the tobacco contract. After the suit, Edmondson also received campaign donations from Preston Trimble and Norman & Edem; they received $10 million and $30 million, respectively, for their work on the case. The choice of Trimble, a former district attorney and judge who had only been in private practice for a few years, also struck some as favoritism. Trimble had been a special prosecutor appointed to investigate donations to Edmondson’s opponent in his 1994 campaign for AG. Read more…
Perhaps this explains why Edmondson is publicly pushing for a settlement in the poultry lawsuits.
By CHRIS RIZO
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| W.A. Drew Edmondson (D) |
OKLAHOMA CITY (Legal Newsline) – Oklahoma Attorney General W.A. Drew Edmondson has said he is considering running to replace Gov. Brad Henry, who is barred by term limits from seeking another term.
In an interview with the Tulsa (Okla.) World, the four-term Democratic attorney general said he is “leaning more and more” towards a run in 2010.
Edmondson, 61, has about $300,000 in his 2010 re-election coffers. He could use that money to help bankroll a gubernatorial run instead.
Other potential candidates for the Democratic nomination include Lt. Governor Jari Askins and state Treasurer Scott Meacham. On the Republican side, U.S. Rep. Mary Fallin is often mentioned as a possible contender for the GOP nomination. Read more…
Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson is making noises about a settlement in the poultry lawsuits. Taking a menacing tone, Edmondson says the companies may go broke if they lose to him in federal court. The trial is scheduled to go before a jury in September of 2009.There was no mention of how much his buddy Mike Turpen will receive for doing nothing, but Turpen will need more cash as he is exhausting the proceeds from his share of doing nothing for the phony tobacco settlement to buy his way into polite Oklahoma City society. From LegalNewsline.com:
Tyson Foods has made yet another publicity miscalculation, but this time it has nothing to do with Oklahoma. As the Tyson v. Edmondson trial date draws near, here is yet another public blemish on Tyson’s reputation: Tyson has canceled Labor Day and added a Muslim holiday! Then, a week later Tyson says ‘OOPS!’, and recants the holiday replacement.
Tyson Foods is represented in Oklahoma by the Schnake-Turnbo-Frank PR firm. One observer of the Oklahoma case says STF’s botched handling of the publicity is a major roadblock in getting a favorable ruling by a jury. “Drew Edmondson’s publicity team has overwhelmed the Tyson PR firm, mostly because they’re a standard PR company in over their head when it comes to litigation support. Why in the world Tyson has let this go on I’ll never understand because the lawyers and their trial consultants know this botched aspect of the case is going to be very difficult to overcome,” she says.
Last week, Oklahoma Attorney General (W. A. D. Edmondson) asked the court for a continuance to postpone the preliminary hearing for Paul Jacob, Susan Johnson, and Rick Carpenter, originally scheduled for Wednesday, July 23 in Oklahoma City. A new date for the hearing has not yet been set.
“This will be a long fight. Now a little longer,” Paul said in reaction to the delay. “But we are prepared, with the help of family, friends, and supporters, to battle as long and hard as we must. The continuance requested by the attorney general’s office means only a slight delay, as this politically-motivated prosecution, unfortunately, will continue. We take comfort in knowing that we will ultimately get our day in court. And we will be vindicated.
Related:
FreePaulJacob.com: 9th Circuit Court strikes down residency requirements for petitioners
LegalNewsline.com: Oklahoma AG featured in anti-gay campaign flyer
Picture courtesy of Conium
The website www.oklittermarket.org has been deactivated. Why is this important you ask? This is the website which promotes animal manure transfer programs and puts buyers and sellers of poultry litter together to move poultry litter out of nutrient-threatened watersheds. More strong arming from W.A.D.?
Related:
FLASHBACK: The Means Justifies the Ends Mr. Attorney General?
Hat tip: Norman Transcript
“Anyone who votes Republican in a national race and who is a member of organized labor, or a friend of organized labor, well, that’s like a chicken voting for Col. Sanders.”- W.A.D. Edmondson
No word yet if this was a joke or threat from the over aggressive Attorney General!
Courtesy of Conium
“…82% of the (Oklahoma) streams tested statewide did not meet the (bacteria) standards for primary body contact…EPA is investigating to see if it is a criteria issue or if there is actually a public health risk.” – Bill Cauthron, Oklahoma Water Resources Board, June 20, 2006.
Almost two years have passed since Mr. Cauthron made those comments to the Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Commission. In 2007 The Water Resources Board had bacteria sampling stations at 102 locations on 44 streams across the state of Oklahoma. Only 11 of those stations reported bacteria levels appropriate for primary body contact for people recreating in Oklahoma streams. Anecdotal reports suggest Oklahoma’s lakes may be just as bad, if not worse.
Ed Fite of the Scenic Rivers Commission has initiated a bacteria sampling program for the Illinois River for this summer with samples being taken from 8 locations twice weekly – a truly comprehensive effort.
Some of those samples have shown normal bacteria levels. Some of those samples have shown higher levels.
The higher bacteria samples from last week were trumpeted by the press, and the result was predictable – the coverage caused visitors to cancel reservations to float on the Illinois River. Those tourists probably recreated on other streams and lakes – streams and lakes we know 8 out of 10 times also exceed the bacteria levels for primary body contact.
To focus only on the Illinois River appears to be an act of economic terrorism against the small business community of the Illinois River watershed. Those businesses should not be asked to shoulder the burden of what is without question a statewide problem – periodic high levels of bacteria in our lakes and streams.
On the one hand, Ed Fite should be commended for having the initiative to build a weekly data base for bacteria levels this summer on the Illinois for future study and analysis. On the other hand, the selective use of that information as a weapon to hurt small family business is reprehensible. Hopefully this incident will prompt the State Chamber of Commerce to begin work now with state water quality agencies to develop a public information system based on knowledge, not hysteria.
The Illinois River may be our state’s most discussed stream, but it is only one stream of many that people use for recreation. Water quality is a statewide issue that demands statewide focus and resources.
The 2007 Oklahoma Water Resources Board Beneficial Use Monitoring Program can be viewed on their website, www.owrb.ok.gov – the 177-page document is listed under the water quality section.
Rick Stubblefield
Adair County Representative
Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Commission
Hearing that Edmondson and Turpen were again using a once-respected public affairs show to dissemble on the Oklahoma public reminds us of the fat (no pun intended) payout Turpen received as the result of his alliance with the attorney general.
Oklahoma will eventually receive $2.6 billion dollars in the national tobacco settlement. Edmondson appointed several law firms to walk off with the lottery earnings while the firms pretended to litigate on behalf of the citizens of the state. The hard working lawyers, who according to most reports spent no time in the courtroom, got $268 million in fees for their “strategic contribution.”
Six national law firms, including movie-lawyer-turned-criminal defendant Richard Scruggs, shared the winnings with among others, Riggs Abney of Tulsa. The law firms attempted to charge the taxpayers a rate of $6000 per hour, but gave the citizens a break since they are such good guys.
Scruggs has been busy these days, but Edmondson was able to bring Scruggs’ buddy Ron Motley into the poultry suit, which we’re sure he’s doing for the children and not in hopes of another obscene profit safari.
Related:
FreePaulJacob.com: Edmondson helps block term limits on himself
Excerpt from Speaker Benge’s press release:
OKLAHOMA CITY (May 12, 2008) –House Democrats voted in lock step with the trial lawyer lobby today when an attempt to override the governor’s veto of reasonable lawsuit reform failed on the House floor.
Gov. Brad Henry vetoed House Bill 2458 last week, claiming the bill is unconstitutional. The bill would require a plaintiff in a civil lawsuit for professional negligence to attach to the petition an affidavit attesting that a “reasonable interpretation of the facts supports a finding that the acts or omissions of the defendant….constituted professional negligence.”
Rep. Colby Schwartz, author of the bill, called the legislation a meaningful step in reducing frivolous lawsuits in Oklahoma and criticized House Democrats for locking up on a bill that passed the Senate unanimously in its current form.
“The governor of Oklahoma does not get to decide if legislation is constitutional; that job is left to our court system,” said Schwartz, R-Yukon. “This bill would have cleared the courts of frivolous lawsuits to make way for those with legitimate cases, but instead House Democrats voted today to keep our court system clogged with expensive lawsuits without merit.”
The House Democrats actions today reminded us of a website our readers should be familiar with that deals with legal extortionists: www.overlawyered.com.
A massive archive there helps you follow the major league offenders, such as Ron Motley, the Charleston-based legal pirate that Edmondson has brought in to work the poultry cases on behalf of the, ahem, taxpayers since his other buddy Dickie Scruggs has been unavoidably detained.