An organization financed by 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg is secretly underwriting an effort to plant left-leaning lawyers in state offices around the country, Republican attorneys general say.
“Bloomberg Philanthropies financed a group that is planting private attorneys into state attorneys general offices for the explicit purpose of pushing back against Trump’s regulatory rollbacks,” the Daily Caller reported over the weekend.
According to the publication, New York University’s State Energy and Environmental Impact Center, which Bloomberg’s philanthropy supported the center with a $6 million grant, is working to “identify and hire NYU Law Fellows who serve as special assistant attorneys general in state attorney general offices, focusing on clean energy, climate and environmental matters.”
“What’s problematic is the arrangement through which a private organization or individual can promote an overtly political agenda by paying the salaries of government employees,” Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill, a Republican, told the outlet.
“The ethical problems with this scheme are obvious,” Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton added. “Democratic state AG offices are taking on seasoned attorneys being paid by a radical liberal Democratic Presidential primary candidate.”
The organization has, in the pas,t helped fund attorneys general who are fighting the Trump administration’s push to deregulate the energy industry.
Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City, has launched a new ad campaign saying he is uniquely qualified to take on Trump but has not spent much time on the campaign trail and has yet to appear in a Democratic debate.
The Iowa caucuses, the first primary-deciding challenge, are set to be held on Feb. 3.
