Massachusetts AG Andrea Campbell takes on President Trump: Credit cards underwrite fight

AG Andrea Campbell says dumping taxpayer dollars into her fight against President Trump is protecting Massachusetts residents but critics argue her spending signals a desire to advance her political career Campbell has filed lawsuits against the Trump administration and the Bay State attorney general states she has traveled to Washington D C three times already during the president s second term The AG s office is using taxpayer-funded credit cards to aid its battle with what it describes as the administration s cruel and unlawful actions dropping on D C hotels in the latter half of last fiscal year a Herald analysis shows Campbell is facing heat from the Massachusetts Republican Party and a state fiscal watchdog after an initial Herald review revealed that her office s total spending with state-issued procurement cards or P-cards cost taxpayers specific in Fiscal Year Of that amount the office spent on D C -related expenditures including hotel stays Amtrak train amenity and conference registration fees for staffers to attend trainings at the National Association of Medicaid Fraud Control Units That s on top of the or million budget increase that the AG s office received for fiscal year bringing its total allocation to million to advocacy its fight against the Trump administration While all of its lawsuits are proceeding the AG s office says that the minimal costs spent behind its fight are largely administrative court costs ranging from filing and attorney appearance fees to in chosen cases modest bond payments The office did not provide the Herald with the actual cost that has gone into its wide-ranging legal disputes with the administration Our work countering the Trump Administration has preserved rights freedoms and billions in federal funding against illegal attack Campbell revealed in a report shared with the Herald on Friday The return on the small cost of that work makes it an excellent and historically pivotal financing Going after Trump On Friday a federal judge in Boston blocked the Trump administration from ending birthright citizenship for the children of parents who are in the U S illegally a scenario Campbell s office brought forth in part Campbell and her counterparts behind the suit have argued that Trump s birthright citizenship order is unconstitutional and threatens millions of dollars for wellbeing insurance services that are contingent on citizenship status P-card bills which the Herald obtained through a citizens records request show that Campbell spent on hotel stays at the Hyatt Place in D C on May and when she attended arguments in the birthright citizenship circumstance at the Supreme Court The issue is expected to move speedily back to the nation s highest court following Friday s ruling Critics say Campbell s animosity toward Trump is just as strong as that of her predecessor Gov Maura Healey who as attorney general sued the president s first administration times That mark was more than all but three of Healey s counterparts from other states Healey won of those cases the analysis determined Immigration ranked second with total lawsuits trailing environment-related complaints Attorney General Campbell has done what a large number of thought impossible She is on pace to surpass her predecessor s politicization of an office that once stood for protecting consumers not bilking them with overseas junkets and chauffeured drivers MassGOP Executive Director John Milligan advised the Herald Taxpayers pay Milligan was referring to how the Herald s initial review of P-card spending in the AG s office revealed Campbell racked up about while attending a conference in France last July with of that amount going toward transportation through Avis Chauffeur The Herald also discovered that the AG s office had P-card expenditures stemming from states in FY from California to Disney World in Florida In addition Campbell flew to the Caribbean vacation destination of St Thomas in the U S Virgin Islands last month to attend the Attorney General Alliance s annual conference The AG s office has not provided the total costs of the trips to Paris and St Thomas nor has it shared how often Campbell and her staff use taxpayer-funded P-cards while traveling Of the office s D C -related credit card expenditures last fiscal year registration fees for staffers to attend trainings at the National Association of Attorneys General marked the largest share at according to the Herald s review Hotel stays trailed just behind at with of that amount coming after Trump retook office in January This just perpetuates the notion that the Attorney General has higher political aspirations Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance spokesman Paul Diego Craney declared of Campbell s D C hotel spending Political aspirations Before Bay Staters elected Campbell as attorney general in November the -year-old Democrat served on the Boston City Council from to several of those years as council president Campbell lost a mayoral bid in Campbell s first trip to D C this year came in late February when she testified at a spotlight forum that Bay State Sen Elizabeth Warren held on her brainchild the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Records show that the AG s office spent on hotel stays at the Hyatt Place during the trip when Campbell was in D C on Feb and her office stated the Herald In her testimony Campbell highlighted the impact of soaring housing costs and utility bills on Bay Staters calling affordability the number one issue affecting our constituents In addition to increasing prices she declared there are companies and individuals preying on our consumers and devising methods to steal their money and scam and cheat them out of their hard-earned dollars Republican gubernatorial candidates Mike Kennealy and Brian Shortsleeve are slamming Campbell s fight against the Trump administration and her credit card spending habits They connected their frustrations to how the AG has yet to enforce the audit of the Legislature If she spent less time acting as the President s chief antagonist Kennealy stated in a announcement and more time doing her job as the Commonwealth s top law enforcement officer enforcing the will of her constituents we might have gotten the audit of the Legislature that of Massachusetts citizens voted for Shortsleeve added respectively he believes Campbell should be suing the Legislature to enforce the audit which he explained would be a better use of money Spending nearly on junkets is a slap in the face to the hard-working people of Massachusetts Shortsleeve explained in a report shared with the Herald Campbell has reported that she voted for the ballot question last fall but the AG has raised concerns over whether Auditor Diana DiZoglio can constitutionally review financial and contract documents within the Legislature Lawmakers have also pushed back pointing to routine audits of their work conducted by outside agencies and made constituents online More to come in Campbell s largest part modern trip to D C came last month when she testified at a forum that the Joint Democratic Congressional Judiciary Committee hosted on June The AG highlighted how the lawsuits her office has filed have helped block funding cuts to life-saving curative research and vital state services Campbell spent at a Hilton hotel on that trip P-card records show The AGO is devoted to protecting the people and financial system of the Commonwealth the office mentioned in a declaration shared with the Herald and we have demonstrated that commitment more strongly than ever in Related Articles Massachusetts AG s credit card spending stirs debate between GOP gubernatorial candidates Massachusetts Attorney General travels world on taxpayers dime Expensive junkets AG Andrea Campbell has picked up where her predecessor Gov Maura Healey left off taking on the Trump administration Matt Stone Boston Herald Jacquelyn Martin The Associated PressCampbell has also gone to DC to promotion Sen Elizabeth Warren's agenda AP