(01) RAGA as a Money Machine

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Resort Destination Events (p. 1)

Note by News Documents

RAGA holds at least four closed-door events each year — typically at elite resort destinations that attract dozens of corporate executives, lawyers and lobbyists. Here are excerpts from a program booklet distributed in June 2014.

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RAGA, like the Democratic Attorneys General Association, essentially sells higher levels of access to state attorneys general in exchange for bigger payments. The most elite level is the so-called Edmund Randolph Club.

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A Thank You to Our Sponsors (p. 4)

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Every corporate sponsor has a story. The American Petroleum Institute has sought help to challenge environmental regulations. Comcast needs support for its proposed merger with Time Warner Cable. Entities affiliated with the owner of 5-Hour Energy, the caffeine drink targeted in a consumer fraud investigation, has also been a major donor, listed here as ETC Capital. And the list goes on.

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Welcome New RAGA Members (p. 7)

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The new-members list is a tipsheet of companies that have stepped up an effort to lobby attorneys general or been targeted for possible investigation, like the food industry, related to obesity in America, or retailers, related to data breaches.

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The individual attorney general candidates also take direct donations at these events from the lobbyists. Here is a list of fund-raising events during the June 2014 gathering at the Hotel Del Coronado event.

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At least 18 Republican attorneys general were scheduled to attend the California event, in June, some with their spouses and children.

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Here is a confidential list of the lobbyists, lawyers and corporate executives, who attended the RAGA event in June, organized by the companies or law firms they represent. Several former attorneys general were also present, and representatives from law firms like Dickstein Shapiro, who are in most cases now representatives for corporations that have agenda items before the state attorneys general.

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RAGA as of January 2014 was established as its own legal entity, breaking away from a larger Republican group. Here is a list of donors that contributed at least $10,000 this year to its main fund-raising arm. The tally, totalling $11.7 million, was prepared by The New York Times based on disclosures filed with the Internal Revenue Service.

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John Swallow, who as of March 2011 was Utah’s chief deputy attorney general, sent this email to D. Lynn DeVault, president of the Tennessee-based Check Into Cash, a payday lending company, as Mr. Swallow prepared to run for attorney general. Mr. Swallow won the 2012 election, but later resigned and was arrested in July 2014, along with his predecessor, Mark L. Shurtleff, on felony corruption charges. The email refers to Wayne (Jabo) Covert, another Check Into Cash executive.

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In this June 2011 email, Mr. Swallow, then serving as chief deputy in Utah, promises to “help create a critical mass of support among conservative AGs.” The goal was to protect the industry against enforcement actions or legislation, as he seeks the industry’s financial support. This email does not mention RAGA, but provides context for Mr. Swallow's appeals to the payday lending industry.

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RAGA was so determined to have lobbyists, lawyers and corporate executives come to its events — and donate money that it can then send back to individual law enforcement officials — that it offered in 2013 to charter a Boeing 737-800 to fly them, along with eight attorneys general, from Washington to a retreat on Mackinac Island in Michigan, for a $4,500 round trip.

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RAGA at MacKinac Island (p. 31)

Note by News Documents

Here is a photograph of the 15 Republican attorneys general who attended the retreat at the resort island, an event that also featured dozens of lobbyists, lawyers and corporate executives, many of whom had flown on the private jet with the law enforcement officials.

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RAGA Hits Washington Too (p. 32)

Note by News Documents

RAGA typically holds one major event in Washington each year, timed to coincide with the annual meeting of the nonpartisan National Association of Attorneys General. Here is a photo by The Times of the reception area — dominated by a list of the corporate sponsors. Bernie Nash, the head of the attorney general lobbying and legal practice at Dickstein Shapiro, is on the far left.

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Here is a list of the fund-raising events from the February 2014 event — as it was easy for the lobbyists and corporate executives to walk from one to the other, some writing checks right there in person.

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This event, by Attorney General Bill Schuette of Michigan, who is running a competitive race for re-election this year, had co-sponsors that included an executive from Facebook, a lawyer from Dickstein Shapiro, and former attorneys general turned corporate consultants, such as former Attorney General Mike Moore of Mississippi and former Attorney General Mike Turpen of Oklahoma.

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Some of the biggest dollar amounts go to sitting attorneys general who use their post to run for governor, such as Attorney General Jon Bruning of Nebraska. Here is an invitation from a fund-raiser he did in March 2014, where contributions of up to $25,000 apiece were encouraged. Mr. Bruning lost the primary, but he is still now serving as attorney general.

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Here is a list of contributions that came in to Mr. Bruning around the time of this March 2014 event — many of which have direct ties to his work as attorney general, such as a $10,000 contribution from Dickstein Shapiro, which has an attorney general practice, and $15,000 from Herbalife, which is being investigated by some attorneys general. Check Into Cash, the company mentioned by the former Utah attorney general, is a donor too.

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