Hawley’s Mismanagement of One Taxpayer-Funded Office Hurts His Campaign for Another

A series of eye-popping reports detail Josh Hawley’s mismanagement of the Attorney General’s office – with his staff unable to confirm he puts in 40 hours a week at his taxpayer-funded job, evidence his tenure is costing taxpayers, and a trend of pursuing headlines to boost his own personal brand.

From Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesman David Bergstein: “Josh Hawley has always been out for himself and what these new reports show is how he’s used his taxpayer-funded office to get ahead – at the expense of Missourians. From leading a lawsuit to eliminate protections for the 2.5 million Missourians with a pre-existing condition to spending millions more on litigation, Hawley’s proven he cannot be trusted to the job Missourians hired him to do.”

Here’s what they’re saying about Hawley’s “turbulent” tenure as Attorney General:

St. Louis Dispatch: How Josh Hawley shook up the Missouri attorney general’s office — and what happened next

Key Points:

• “Critics say Hawley’s administration bled staffers and dedicated limited resources to firing salvos toward the federal government. They say he carried a lighter load than his predecessors.”
• “The fourth attorney said Hawley was more hands-off than his predecessor. “I think the attorney general position is being short-changed, without question,” the attorney said.”
• “The first attorney added that Hawley’s litigation section was plagued by departures and one particularly bad hire, Michael Quinlan, who left after less than a year.”
• “Quinlan, who said he led the litigation section from March to November 2017, said there was a “mass exodus” of high-ranking Koster loyalists during Hawley’s early days. Quinlan blamed other departures on attorneys’ being underpaid and overworked. He said that once young attorneys gained experience, they left.”
• “The effect of departures, low morale and restructuring may have manifested itself in the courtroom. At least two judges have scolded the agency for failing to provide documents to opposing counsel.”
• “Former employees say the emphasis on federal issues diverted attention away from state business.”
• “Hawley’s office did not directly answer whether the attorney general was putting in 40 hours per week or whether he was increasingly absent as his Senate campaign heated up.”

New York Times: Josh Hawley, Missouri Senate Candidate, Oversees an Office in Turmoil
Key Points:

• “…a review of public records and internal documents, as well as interviews with current and former employees, reveals a chaotic tenure as attorney general that has been costly for state taxpayers. Judges have criticized the office over its slow pace of discovery, and Mr. Hawley’s staff had to renege on a settlement in a high-profile civil case.”
• “After promising he would not be the typical career politician who was “climbing the ladder,” he announced he would run for the Senate only nine months after taking office.”
• “Democrats — and even some Republicans — in Missouri have accused him of being a political opportunist uninterested in his official duties as the state’s top prosecutor, and the turmoil in the attorney general’s office has added to the questions about his leadership skills.”
• “The biggest problems in the office under Mr. Hawley have come in the civil litigation division, which defends the state against lawsuits. Only a single litigator who worked under Mr. Hawley’s predecessor is left in the main office in Jefferson City, Missouri’s capital. And the problem extends beyond the transition; eight civil litigation attorneys hired under Mr. Hawley have already left, in a division typically staffed by 25 to 30 lawyers.”
• “Without experienced lawyers, settlement and judgment costs climbed. The state paid $35 million out of its legal expense fund for the 2018 fiscal year, compared with roughly $22 million combined in 2015 and 2016, the last two full fiscal years under the previous attorney general, Chris Koster. (The 2017 fiscal year straddled both administrations.)”
• “Those costs could soar further, depending how much of a recent $113.7 million judgment against the state survives appeal, in a suit involving allegations that prison guards were systematically underpaid.”

St. Louis Post Dispatch: Josh Hawley has announced multiple lawsuits and investigations. What has he accomplished?
Key Points:

• “But Greitens is not the only person to question Hawley’s motivations and effectiveness. Adversaries portray Hawley, 38, as a young man in a hurry — someone more interested in headlines than results.”
• “When he took office in early 2017, Hawley oversaw a chaotic office-wide restructuring that was followed by high turnover, the Post-Dispatch reported Sunday.”
• “Hawley’s new Federalism Unit took 14 actions to torpedo federal laws and regulations, including the Affordable Care Act, the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau and several environmental protections. Some former employees complain the emphasis diverted attention away from more pressing (and less glamorous) state business.”
• “Joseph Bindbeutel, who served three of Hawley’s predecessors, said he was struck by how many times Hawley has publicized his probes.”
• “’Those investigations are going to take years to complete,’ Bindbeutel said, referring specifically to the tech probes. ‘When you yell them (investigation announcements) from the mountaintops, it makes one wonder, ‘Is this about yelling from the mountaintops, or is this about doing a straight up, legitimate, thorough investigation of an issue?’”

McClatchy DC: Hawley champions open government. So why doesn’t he use email the public can see?
Key Points:

• “Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley portrays himself as champion of openness in government, proclaiming ‘the people of Missouri deserve an open, honest and transparent government.’”
• “But Hawley, 38, is one of two statewide officials who do not use email on the job, making it difficult for voters — or his political opponents — to know how he conducts official business.”
• “First Amendment advocates say it’s concerning to see public officials such as the attorney general purposely avoiding the creation of public records while giving public “lip service” to government accountability and transparency.”

Politico: Air wars: Hawley flies on lobbyist’s plane after blasting McCaskill
Key Points:

• “Josh Hawley has criticized Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill repeatedly for using a private plane to travel around Missouri. But the Republican Senate hopeful isn’t above taking a ride in a private plane himself.”
• “Hawley received an in-kind contribution of $5,225 for a charter flight in September on a plane owned by lobbyist Travis Brown and his wife, according to public records.”
• “In campaign finance disclosures, Hawley also reported charter plane expenses of $8,732 for a flight in August and three flights in September. It is unclear who owned those planes or where Hawley went; his campaign declined to provide details about the flights.”
• “But McCaskill campaign spokeswoman Meira Bernstein said Hawley’s own plane ride shows his insincerity. ‘As if Missourians needed more evidence that Hawley is beholden to his billionaire backers. There’s no hypocritical level to which Hawley won’t stoop,’ she said.”

 

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