<p class="p1"><span class="s1">As reported by <i>Fox News</i>, Michael Bloomberg is paying the salaries of 10 climate change lawyers who work in the offices of Democratic state attorneys general. </span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">This unique arrangement began in 2017 when Bloomberg’s non-profit donated $5.6 million to create an environmental center at the New York School of Law. </span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">The State Energy &; Environmental Impact Center hires mid-career lawyers as “research fellows” and then sends them to work for state attorneys general. </span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">“Under terms of the arrangement, the fellows work solely to advance progressive environmental policy at a time when Democratic state AGs have investigated and sued ExxonMobil and other energy companies over alleged damages due to climate change.”</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">In other words, these “fellows” promote state legal action to advance Bloomberg’s views, primarily climate change lawsuits and regulatory actions. They are obligated to report their activities back to NYU, but are asked to keep their reports private. </span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">In August 2017, the State Impact Center’s Executive Director, David Hayes, sent an email to state AGs letting them know the requirements for hiring an NYU Fellow. </span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">“The opportunity to potentially hire an NUY Fellow is open to all state attorneys general who demonstrate a need and commitment to defending environmental values and advancing progressive clean energy, climate change, and environmental legal positions.”</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Bloomberg currently has &#8220;fellows&#8221; working for AGs in Delaware, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, and Washington, DC. </span><span class="s1">In what critics describe as a “conflict of interest,” two of Bloomberg’s fellows participated in the lengthy ExxonMobil trial in New York last December. </span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">“This is a fundamental question of ethics and who’s running our government,” argues West Virginia AG Patrick Morrisey. “When you actually get to place someone in under a specific agenda and then pay them and they’re within the office, that starts to call into question whether there are multiple masters within an attorney general office and that starts to really stink.”</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">“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,” adds Indiana AG Curtis Hill.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">The State Impact Center, which describes itself as “nonpartisan,” is currently celebrating on social media the fact that state AGs have taken 300 legal actions against the Trump Administration. </span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">“Maryland AG @BrianFrosh has led his state in 132+ actions on the environment since the start of the Trump Administration &#8211; part of the #300andcounting AG actions detailed in our new report,” tweeted the State Impact Center on January 1st, 2020.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">“Imagine if the shoe was on the other foot and if the Republican AGs were saying that ExxonMobil was going to be paying for 25 full-time lawyers to be working out of the office…Why is that any different? The reality is it’s not,” argues Morrisey. </span><span class="s1">“It’s also very clear that this is being used to attack the presidency of Donald Trump&#8230;And that raises other questions when the benefactor of this organization is running against the president.”</span></p>
<p class="p1"><strong>Author&#8217;s Note:</strong></p>
<p class="p1"><span style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;">Micael Bloomberg, a presidential candidate, has infiltrated at least 10 states at the highest level of law enforcement to pursue his own goals. This is pure corruption and Americans should be more than concerned.</span></p>