Bob Dreher, the General Counsel of the Defenders of Wildlife, a litigious lobbying group that has sued the US Government hundreds of times, has been appointed Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General to oversee the Natural Resources and Wildlife and Marine Resources sections of the US Dept. of Justice. Dreher has also previously served as co-managing director of the Washington, D.C. office of the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund (now Earthjustice). Defenders and Earthjustice are among the groups that have bled the American taxpayer for $4.7 billion in legal fees through the Equal Opportunity to Justice Act [here]. Defenders has ongoing lawsuits currently in Federal courts regarding wolves, plovers, turtles, caribou, wolverines, right whales, jaguars, sage-grouse, and who knows what else. Now the Obama Administration has hired the Defenders General Counsel to oppose the very lawsuits he brought against the government...read moreCOMMENT: Make no mistake, this puts Dreher in a key position to do much damage to the West. There is not the traditional lawyer-client relationship between the DOJ and the federal agencies. DOJ can ignore the position of their clients (the federal agencies) and take whatever position they want in a court case. Expect a return to the Clinton years: Enviros sue, DOJ settles, enviros take their legal fees and go sue somewhere else.
Mike D., the blogger of this story, likens it to putting Bernie Madoff over the Federal Reserve System!
2 comments:
You are quoting a number w.out basis. The 4.7 billion is all claims against the feds, not the environmental claims.
It says they "are among the groups." Where's the singling out there? Uncle Sam, of course, does not line-item the settlements. How convenient. Legislation has been introduced that would do precisely that (posted aways back on this blog). It is absurd that it is not line-itemed out now. Asking the feds to do that is no more than they ask of me every April on my tax return.
At any rate, I am sure that all these groups will join with us in advocating for transparency, so we can quit this silliness of he said/she said over these settlements. I'm not holding my breath, though.
Post a Comment