In her role with the DOJ, Heineman regularly represents the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the state of Wisconsin in judicial proceedings. According to the complaint, the special assistant attorney general is currently representing the DNR in Wisconsin circuit court in multiple active cases including an enforcement action brought against a rural Clark County farmer for a ditching project that the DNR argued impacted wetlands and required a permit.

Dairy groups troubled by ‘for-hire’ attorney’s authority

The for-hire assistant district attorney has the same authority as any other assistant attorneys general at DOJ, including initiating investigations, bringing enforcement actions, prosecuting cases, advising the governor and state agencies and representing state agencies in administrative and judicial proceedings.

Cindy Leitner, president of the Wisconsin Dairy Alliance, says it’s troubling that a privately funded attorney has the authority to impose fines and pursue criminal charges against the group’s farmer members.

“This agreement between AG Kaul and NYU’s climate center raises serious questions about the influence of special interest groups on state attorneys,” Leitner wrote. “We must ask: is this attorney working in the public’s best interest, or serving the interests of private funders?”

The complaint alleges the Center’s mission is to incentivize “state attorneys general to defend, enforce, and promote strong laws and policies in the areas of climate change, environmental justice, environmental protection and clean energy.”

GOP looks to bar DOJ employees funded by outside organizations

Wisconsin Republican lawmakers introduced a bill earlier this month in an attempt to keep Kaul from hiring staff with funding from outside groups.

The bill would prohibit Kaul and the DOJ from using the legal services of any person who is not a state employee or federal agent or employee to assist in the investigation or prosecution of any civil or criminal cause or matter, unless there is a specific process already outlined in state law for contracting legal fees, or the person is a legal intern who earns no more than $10,000 annually from their internship employer.

Kaul released a statement after the bill was introduced that he was “proud of the work Wisconsin DOJ does to help ensure that Wisconsinites are able to drink safe and clean water.”

“With a federal administration that’s seeking to freeze federal funding and weaken environmental protection, Republicans in the legislature should be supporting Wisconsin DOJ’s ability to enforce our environmental laws, not trying to undermine it,” he stated.

Similar environmental fellows have been appointed in a dozen other states. Kaul’s office last year said NYU pays the salaries, but the positions’ loyalty is to the attorney general whose office the fellows serve.

Groups allege Kaul violates constitutional principles

Kim Bremmer, executive director of Venture Dairy Cooperative, says Kaul lacked the authority to enter into this agreement, asserting that it violates constitutional principles by denying due process and equal protection under the law to the groups and their members.

“Our farmers are committed to following strict state regulations and simply seek a fair opportunity to do so. The presence of a special interest attorney with the power to influence government actions undermines this process and places additional challenges on farmers,” said Bremmer, whose group’s membership is comprised of modern regulated dairy farms in Wisconsin including CAFOs. “Not only are we defending our members against the resources of the government, but now we have to protect our members against a billionaire with an agenda.”

Bremmer said the lawsuit follows a recent ethics complaint filed by Lane Ruhland, a Wisconsin lawyer who formerly served as special counsel and deputy chief of staff in the Wisconsin DOJ, regarding the attorney general’s acceptance of an improper gift from a special interest group in the form of a privately funded attorney.

Former DOJ employee files ethics complaint against AG, DOJ

Ruhland, who filed a complaint with the Wisconsin Ethics Commission, says the Ethics Commission should investigate and stop the unethical practice of accepting free legal services from the Center.

She wrote that “Michael Bloomberg opened the Center which then offered state Attorneys General prepaid attorneys ‒ for ‘free’ ‒ with an understanding that they would be used to pursue ideologically driven litigation.”

“Neither corporations nor ‘climate justice’ groups should be buying Assistant Attorneys General. But Attorney General Kaul has done exactly what the law forbids, accepting the services of a privately funded attorney – even giving her the authority to act on behalf of the state of Wisconsin – the provision of whom reasonably can be expected to cause Kaul and his office to pursue the kind of litigation desired by the funder,” she wrote in her complaint.

Laura Shulte of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel contributed to this report.

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