HSUS’s Legal Rep Has a Bad Rap

It was a bit of a head-scratcher when the Humane Society of the United States announced it had retained lawyer and failed gubernatorial candidate Drew Edmondson to help*stonewall an investigation*by the Oklahoma Attorney General*Scott Pruitt*into its deceptive fundraising practices.*While HSUS alleges Pruitt is abusing his power with his (quite legitimate) inquiry, HSUS shouldn*t be so quick to point fingers: Edmondson himself is a former AG who*was named the*third-worst attorney general in the country*while he held the office.

In a 2010 report entitled “The Nation’s Worst Attorney Generals,” the Competitive Enterprise Institute evaluated four criteria and gave Edmondson a failing grade in each of them: Ethical Breaches and Selective Application of the Law, Fabricating Law, Usurping Legislative Powers, and Predatory Practices.

Noting that Edmondson’s time as Oklahoma’s attorney general was “marked by a pattern of political bullying and hypocrisy,” the report went on to criticize Edmondson for accepting campaign cash from “out-of-state lawyers, wealthy special interests, and even felons.” Read the full report*here.

HSUS asking a former officeholder who was given a failing grade for “predatory practices” to help avoid accountability for*its own deceptive fundraising*techniques is certainly an interesting choice, but Edmonson and HSUS seemed well-suited for each other. Considering his record as attorney general, it’s not entirely surprising that Edmondson would help HSUS*avoid accountability for*misleading its own donors.*And given HSUS’s history of irresponsible spending, potentially*misleading federal courts, and*fundraising off of natural disasters, we’re not shocked they asked the nation’s “third worst attorney general” for help.





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HSUS’s Legal Rep Has a Bad Rap