Defending his administration’s legal contract with a top fundraiser, Gov. John Bel Edwards on Wednesday said he would not allow the oil and gas industry to decide who represents the state in litigation against the industry.
Edwards also accused state Attorney General Jeff Landry of fabricating politically motivated reasons for rejecting the contract to hire Natchitoches attorney Taylor Townsend to represent Louisiana in litigation against oil and gas companies over coastal wetland loss, The Associated Press reports. Townsend is a former lawmaker and Edwards’ top fundraiser.
The Democratic governor said Landry either doesn’t understand or is intentionally misrepresenting the contract that his administration signed with Townsend.
“Anybody who suggests that I’m picking my friends in order to do this rather than looking for the most experienced, most qualified people to bring this litigation, I would just tell you I dispute that,” Edwards said during a press briefing in his Capitol office.
In a letter to the governor’s office dated Sept. 6, Landry’s chief deputy counsel rejected the contract as “unacceptable on multiple grounds” and said the scope of it is “entirely too vague and overly broad.” The letter also claimed the contract created “an illegal and unconstitutional contingency fee arrangement” for Townsend.
In a statement, Landry said his office told the governor about the “serious issues” with his proposed contract. “We have yet to hear a response from the parties who proposed it,” he said.
Edwards also took aim at the oil and gas industry. He claimed the industry is financially backing other critics of the contract.
The Louisiana Oil and Gas Association and the Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association issued a statement implying Edwards comments were an attempt to deflect from the issues raised about Townsend’s contract.
“Rather than working to address these issues, it seems the governor is doubling down on this flawed attempt to hire private lawyers to attack Louisiana’s energy industry,” the groups’ statement said. “That’s alarming, particularly given that the first two lawsuits to proceed to major decisions have been dismissed by federal and state courts.”
