Attorney General Josh Kaul outsources the fight against climate change in Wisconsin.
And the second-term Democratic politician is using a source connected to a New York politician with deep pockets to get the job done.
Kaul was hired earlier this year Karen Heineman as the position of the new Special Assistant Attorney General for Environmental Litigation at an annual salary of $90,000 per year. The position is paid by the State Center for Energy and Environmental Impacts (SEEIC) op New York University School of Law.
The center launched in 2017 with a $6 million grant from the charitable foundation led by climate activist and former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg. The idea was to provide attorneys general with help in the fight against the then president Donald Trump’s efforts to roll back renewable energy, environmental protection and climate policies.
Heineman’s appointment will initially be for one year, but could extend to a second year.
Similar environmental officials have been appointed in a dozen other states, prompting a strong backlash from conservative politicians who objected to the arrangements. In Minnesota, the issue has led to lawsuits and a partisan legislative debate that spanned several years.
It looks like the same thing could happen here.
“Wisconsinites should be concerned that Michael Bloomberg is funding his own personal prosecutor to do his bidding,” a Republican Party spokesperson said. Matt Visser. “Out-of-state billionaires have no right to inhabit our legal system to further their own political ends.”
Gillian Drummondcommunications director of Kaul, rejected that characterization.
Drummond said the new position is intended to expand the work of the Justice Department’s Public Protection Unit, which enforces Wisconsin laws that protect consumers and natural resources.
“Attorney General Kaul is committed to protecting clean water and fighting climate change,” Drummond said. “Wisconsin DOJ makes decisions about what is important to address based on its independent judgment of what is in the best interest of the people of Wisconsin.”
The new position is not only embroiled in a debate over the source of funding.
The appointment comes as Wisconsin environmentalists urge Kaul to be more aggressive in prosecuting major oil companies for climate damage.
Over the past year, the U.S. Supreme Court issued three denials in eight cases, rejecting fossil fuel companies’ attempts to take the dispute to federal court.
That has shifted the focus to state courts, where nearly three dozen cases have been filed by attorneys general, cities, counties and tribal nations against companies, including ExxonMobil, BP And Shell. The lawsuits attempt to show that oil companies’ own research predicted climate dangers long ago.
“We’re trying to get more people to say, ‘Now’s the time to get started, Kaul.’” Tom Zierytold a former Wisconsin state lawmaker and Wisconsin environmental justice leader E&E news from Politico last year.
In February, Kaul said WKOW-TV (channel 27) in Madison that his office has limited resources, something that will likely remain true as long as Republicans control the Legislature, to hold polluters accountable.
“We have the advantage here of being able to see what is happening in some other states,” Kaul told Channel 27. “And based on that we will decide what action to take.”
Drummond emphasized that no decision will be made by Bloomberg or others elsewhere.
She said the Department of Justice determines what is important to address based on its independent judgment of what is in the best interest of Wisconsinites.
She also referred to the website of the State Energy and Environmental Impact Center, the group that pays Heineman’s salary. It states: “NYU pays the salaries of the fellows, but the fellows’ only duty of loyalty is to the Attorney General or the commissioners in whose office they serve.”
But Paul Nolettedirector of the Les Aspin Center for Government at Marquette University, said he still saw reason for concern about the arrangement between the state and the Bloomberg-funded center.
“It does raise the question: Who really represents the state?” Nolette said. “It’s not a taxpayer-funded staff member in the AG’s office. Instead, it’s a member or someone who is privately funded or part of an advocacy group — that kind of thing.”
Nolette said attorneys general have retained private attorneys in a number of cases, particularly in their battles with cigarette companies in the late 1990s or, more recently, during the opioid epidemic. But he noted that these were not considered partisan issues.
It’s more troubling, he said, when a prosecutor has to rely for help on someone paid by a group so ideologically motivated. He said it is a growing concern that the state’s top police are becoming increasingly polarized.
In this case, Nolette, who studies attorneys general, said it’s hard to say what Bloomberg’s interest is, NYU’s interest is and the state’s interest is.
“How would you feel if the Republican AGs hired a bunch of conservative activists to run their AG office’s litigation program?” Nolette asked. “There will be a lot of concerns about that.”
The attorney general’s staff is paid by, for example, a foundation that is endorsed by Koch Industries or Exxon Mobil? Yes, imagine that.
Contact Daniel Bice at (414) 313-6684 or dbice@jrn.com. Follow him on X @DanielBice or on Facebook at fb.me/daniel.bice.
This article originally appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Bice: New prosecutor paid for by Bloomberg-funded center
