Everybody ought to see Paris.
Particularly if another person is paying for the journey, just like the Massachusetts taxpayer.
It’s what the taxpayer did for Lawyer Common Andrea Campbell, the state’s chief “regulation enforcement officer,” to attend a July 2004 attorneys common convention in Paris, together with two unidentified aides.
Why half of the nation’s lawyer generals met in Paris moderately than any metropolis inside the US remained unexplained, though it has all of the earmarks of a junket.
Campbell gave no announcement of the journey. Nor was there any agenda listed, or discover of conferences held, a summation of accomplishments, or who she met with. Nor have been there any opening or closing statements concerning the convention.
Officers operating the convention even refused to launch the date of the gathering, though it was later discovered to be held from July 29 to August 3, 2024.
The convention was cosponsored by the Nationwide Affiliation of Attorneys Common, a longtime group, and the Lawyer Common Alliance, a nonprofit group whose funding comes from company donors, a few of which the attorneys common are charged with regulating and investigating.
A few the most important donors to the Lawyer Common Alliance, as an example, are Amazon and Pfizer, the pharmaceutical big. Each contributed $500,000 every to AGA in 2021, in response to the Related Press.
That contribution permits its lobbyists, in addition to lobbyists from different huge corporations kicking in, to attend the convention and mingle with the attorneys common.
Christopher Toth, a former NAAG govt director, instructed AP, “Lobbyists primarily fund these journeys. They funnel the cash via AGA after which that insulates the AGs from being criticized that they’re taking cash from lobbyists.”
Value to taxpayers for Campbell’s go to, which included aspect journeys to Brussels and Normandy, got here to $13,627, in response to data obtained by the Herald, $9,000 of which went for transportation via France offered by Avis Chauffeur, a “prime quality” chauffeur service.
Nonetheless, there was no obvious bill for motels, meals or different bills that may usually present up on a bank card. These are bills that will or might not have been picked up by lobbyist donations to AGA.
The revelation of Campbell’s journey got here in a Herald evaluation of Campbell’s taxpayer-funded lawyer common bank card bills for the final fiscal 12 months. They got here to some $300,000.
The playing cards are so-called P-cards, or procurement playing cards, issued to some state workers, the abuse of which has gotten some state officers in hassle through the years.
This isn’t to say that there’s any bank card abuse occurring, or that Campbell benefited from lobbyist largesse on the journey to France.
However it’s to say that Campbell, a former Boston metropolis councilor and unsuccessful mayoral candidate, campaigned for lawyer common speaking about transparency and accountability.
Proper now, the taxpayer might use some, particularly as Campbell, who has rapidly turn out to be a part of the Democrat Social gathering institution on Beacon Hill, shall be searching for reelection to a second four-year time period.
An instance of her partnering with the State Home Democrat institution has been her capability to stymie state Auditor Diana DiZoglio’s try to audit the Democrat-run Massachusetts Legislature, although the general public accepted of the proposal by 72% of the vote.
Whereas it is probably not associated (Yeah, proper), the Legislature gave her a whopping $7 million finances improve to fund her “anti-Trump unit” that may proceed to file lawsuits in opposition to President Donald Trump.
And why not? Suing Trump bought her predecessor, Lawyer Common Maura Healey, elected governor.
Veteran political reporter Peter Lucas could be reached at: peter.lucas@bostonherald.com.
