John Klar Alleges Improper Activity by Office of the Attorney General

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Brookfield, Vermont, August 7, 2020: Republican Gubernatorial candidate John Klar has reviewed hundreds of pages of the documents obtained (for fees of $3,244.28) in response to his request to the Vermont Attorney General’s Office for its email records with Planned Parenthood.

Attorney Klar summarized his initial review of these communications between Vermont’s chief law enforcement officer, his staff, legislators and Planned Parenthood: “Vermont is surely first in the nation with this degree of collaboration between its Attorney General and a special interest organization. So far this correspondence involves some 12 members from the AG’s Office, three prominent Planned Parenthood employees, three legislators, as well as a representative from the Office of the Speaker of the House. Planned Parenthood and staff from the Attorney General’s Office regularly met as the “Protecting Abortion Rights Working Group” at the Attorney General’s offices, and coordinated the social media, twitter, and other resources of both organizations to advance shared political objectives relating to abortion legislation. Through this taxpayer-supported collusion, Planned Parenthood appears to have been directly involved in the drafting of legislation, as well as allocating Vermont AG staff resources in national litigation to advance Planned Parenthood’s national efforts. Resources of the Office of Legislative Council were also employed.

Planned Parenthood had privileged access to the Vermont Attorney General’s website, including drafting content and tracking visits to a page set up to generate opposition to new rules on Title X. Planned Parenthood proposed and contributed content for the Vermont Attorney General to issue in Press Releases; in turn the Attorney General’s Office solicited quotes from Planned Parenthood to incorporate into Press Releases. The documents also reveal that the Vermont Attorney General’s Office invested a massive amount of time and resources attending Legislative Committee sessions to advance abortion ‘rights’ legislation.

It is as though Planned Parenthood had the Attorney General’s Office on retainer. Attorney General TJ Donovan’s use of public resources for the benefit of his favored special interest group is inappropriate.”