Taxpayers are funding expensive international travel of state attorneys general and family members—or what some critics call “junkets”—by paying for their membership in the Attorney General Alliance, a group that has come under scrutiny for ties to lobbyists and corporate donors in recent years.
States pay annual $18,000 membership dues to the AGA, which covers “travel scholarships,” as well as “continuing legal education,” according to documents obtained by The Daily Signal from Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown’s office.
The documents provide information about Brown, a Democrat, attending trips along with other state attorneys general from both parties sponsored by the AGA in France in 2024 and South Africa in 2023.
The AGA has been accused of granting access for lobbyists to the state attorneys that could in some cases be the watchdogs.
“Each member state pays an annual dues that allow us to provide scholarships for travel and CLE [continuing legal education] learning,” Tania Maestes, the deputy executive director and general counsel of the Attorney General Alliance, said in a letter to an aide to Brown’s office. “The membership dues are all part of the AGA General Fund. Maryland pays $18,000 in dues annual to cover flights, lodging, meals, transportation, continuing legal education certification, instruction, training, etc.”
In the case of the South Africa trip in 2023, each attorney general had a travel allowance of $26,000, according to the guidance from the AGA.
“As part of your AGA membership, you are provided a travel scholarship to cover the cost of flight, lodging and meals for you and your guest during the delegation,” the 2023 guidance says. “Each Attorney General has a $26,000 flight allowance. This allowance may be used for you and any guest(s) you designate, Flight arrangements must be made by Monday July 31, 2023.”
The travel allowance was less for the trip to Normandy, France, in July 2024, according to the documents. The French trip was co-sponsored by the AGA and the National Association of Attorneys General.
“Each Attorney General is encouraged to bring one guest of their choice. Each AG is provided a travel scholarship to cover the cost of flight, lodging and meals for you and your guest during the delegation,” the letter states. “Each Attorney General has a $15,000 flight allowance. This allowance may be used for both you and your guest.”
Brown, the Maryland attorney general, spent $12,857.40 for the French flight.
Accepting travel from a nonprofit membership organization allows public officials to avoid reporting reimbursements, while also potentially averting various gift limits in state laws, said Tom Jones, president of the American Accountability Foundation, a watchdog group.
“There is always some type of continuing education element at these junkets. It’s a complete perversion of how these nonprofit organizations pay for the travel of government officials,” Jones told The Daily Signal.
Reimbursement requests for expensive flights and luxury hotels for the attorney general and family members have the potential to raise red flags if filed directly with a state treasury, but perhaps less so when the reimbursement is filed with the membership organization, Jones noted.
“The attorneys general bring their wives who can shop in Paris, while they attend a junket in Normandy,” Jones said. “The attorney general offices pay the AGA, and the AGA pays for these huge trips.”
The AAF separately filed an ethics complaint with the Internal Revenue Service and the state of Maryland against the Attorney General Association, alleging the 501(c)(3) organization that is prohibited from engaging in politics shared a list of law firms and companies with Brown’s office for a political fundraiser.
A spokesperson for Brown’s office told The Daily Signal, “As authorized by state law, the Office of the Attorney General pays $18,000 for annual membership to the Attorney General Alliance.”
The spokesperson declined to answer other questions about the AGA, and referred questions to the American Accountability Foundation ethics complaint to the AGA.
Maestas, of the AGA, confirmed state attorneys generals pay for travel through membership dues.
“Yes, the Attorney General Alliance provides travel scholarships to all AGA member states who attend our training,” Maestas told The Daily Signal. “All trainings are submitted for continuing legal education (CLE) credits, and the member dues that attorney general offices provide support the AGA’s general fund that covers all AGA programming and expenses.”
The AGA is bipartisan. Similar to other organizations such as the National Association of Attorneys General and the National Governors Association, the chairmanship of the groups swings back and forth from parties. The new chairman is a Republican, Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor.
“AGA is an educational organization built to serve the needs of our 51-member attorneys general and their offices,” Maestas continued. “AGA as a bipartisan forum where attorneys general work in cooperation to foster collaboration, enhance expertise, and strengthen enforcement efforts.”
Maestas dismissed the complaint by the watchdog group, saying it “appears to merely be a partisan attack on AG Brown.”
“The American Accountability Foundation’s reputation for such an attack is well documented,” Maestas said. “The allegation alleged in the complaint is not grounded in fact nor law. AGA is an educational organization and does not engage in any political activity.”
Brown’s predecessor as Maryland attorney general, Brian Frosh, also a Democrat, criticized AGA after attending the group’s sponsored trips to China, Morocco, and Ireland.
“The dinners that I went to, you would sit next to a lobbyist for a different interest,” Frosh told the Associated Press. “And then you’d get up and move to another table. I didn’t find that to be enjoyable or educational.”
Attorneys general from 46 states, as well as the District of Columbia, Guam, the Virgin Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands, and America Samoa are members of the AGA.
As The Daily Signal previously reported, sponsors of previous AGA conferences included Meta (the parent company of Facebook), Amazon, TikTok, and Target. It also included the Center for Secure and Modern Elections, one of the left-leaning nonprofits started through the Arabella Advisors network.
The AGA has also come under fire for links to foreign governments. Shortly after the French trip, an Associated Press headline said, “About half of US state AGs went on France trip sponsored by group with lobbyist and corporate funds.”
According to the Maryland documents, from Nov. 25 to Dec. 3, 2023, Brown visited South Africa and stayed at luxury hotels. He and other attorneys general visited a game preserve, and a tour of wine country. From July 28 to Aug. 3, 2024, Brown and his wife visited Paris and Normandy with AGA.
This article was originally published at www.dailysignal.com
