DENVER - Fossil-fuel companies Murray Energy and Southern Co. paid for private meetings with Republican state attorneys general to discuss opposition to the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan less than two weeks before the same officials asked a federal judge to block the measure, according to documents obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy.

Nick Surgey, director of research for the center, said the meetings took place at a Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA) summit, where companies can pay higher conference fees in exchange for closed-door meetings.

"Though that might not be quid pro quo," Surgey said, "it's certainly concerning for our highest law-enforcement officers to be essentially party to selling access in return for money that's going to help keep them in office."

Surgey said most of the money raised by RAGA, much like its Democratic-Party counterpart DAGA, is used to buy advertising to support attorney general election campaigns. Murray Energy told Bloomberg the meeting was a useful strategy session on blocking the EPA's plan, but maintained that the AGs acted on their own. Southern Co. did not respond to requests for comments.

Surgey argued that the documents, some of which were labeled confidential, reveal a coordinated effort between GOP attorneys general and industry to undermine the Obama administration's signature climate initiative to reduce pollution from existing coal-fired power plants.

"Unless you got hold of these public-records requests, you would never have any clue as to what was happening at these meetings - where elected officials are meeting with corporate representatives - and it seems like that's crucial information that we should know about."

Energy companies and 26 state attorneys general have joined a suit against the EPA to block implementation and ultimately reject the Clean Power Plan. A federal appeals court is expected to hear oral arguments in the case later this month.

The documents are online at exposedbycmd.org.


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New York's Public Campaign Finance Program is facing delays from the very people who approved it - New York legislators. The program was approved by the Legislature in 2020 and aims to level the playing field of campaign donations for everyday New Yorkers and special-interest groups. One element of the program is a matching system, which allows contributions of less than $250 to be matched by a public fund. This means candidates would have to interact more with constituents for campaign funding instead of dialing for dollars. Legislators feel the uncertainty surrounding the state's redistricting process is why the program needs to be delayed.

Christina Harvey, executive director of Stand Up America said there is another reason why legislators want to delay the program's rollout.

"I think that they're nervous, first about having a little competition because this will mean folks who aren't necessarily connected to money donors in the same way you often need to be in New York to get elected to begin with, will also have access to funding that they need to run campaigns and win, " she said.

This means grassroots candidates, low-income, minority and women candidates have better access to funding they need to get their message out. Most New Yorkers support the program, according to a poll by Data for Progress and Stand Up America. 61% of New York voters support the small-dollar matching program, the poll said.

According to an analysis from the Brennan Center for Justice, the 200 largest donors in New York's 2022 elections gave almost $16-million while 206,000 of the state's small donors raised about $13.5 million.

Karen Wharton, democracy coalition coordinator with Citizen Action of New York, said this is not what democracy is about.

"We know that this system will bring some equity, equalize that a little bit so that we all have a say in our democracy. An equal say in our democracy," she said. "Democracies shouldn't be just for the wealthy."

The Brennan Center's analysis also notes the financial power of small donors would increase sixfold under this program - from 11% in 2022 to about 67% percent in state Senate and Assembly elections due to all the small donors who live in each candidate's district, the analysis said.

Control of the U.S. Senate could once again be decided in Georgia as a tight race between Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker heads to a runoff.

Peach State voters are bracing for a four-week blitz of campaigning and massive spending as each candidate and his supporters pump record cash into the race.

So far, Warnock's campaign has spent $135.8 million, while Walker's has spent $32.4 million, according to data from the Federal Election Commission. Millions in outside spending are also expected to keep flooding the state.

Sarah Bryner, director of research and strategy for the group OpenSecrets, said the expenditure is par for the course.

"Georgia being a purple state is going to likely see huge amounts of spending in the future," Bryner projected. "So long as those races are the ones that have the potential to make or break the outcome."

This will be the second runoff for Warnock, who first won his seat in January 2021 in the most expensive congressional elections to date, drawing nearly $363 million. Other close-call contests in Arizona and Nevada could tip the scale for control of the Senate but for now, the Georgia race will be decided Dec. 6.

Neither candidate surpassed the 50% threshold to win the race outright, so they will be making their pitch yet again and Bryner pointed out it will take a lot of money to do so in Georgia and other contests around the country.

"Huge amounts of money, especially if this again is the race that makes the difference between a Democratic majority and a Republican majority," Bryner explained. "Every eye in the country is going to be on it and that means that the money will follow. "

As the race advances, voters can expect more high-profile notables to barnstorm the state including former President Donald Trump, who endorsed Walker, and President Joe Biden, who is supporting Warnock's return to Washington.

Instances of voter fraud are few and far between, but Ohio election officials want to ensure voters have confidence in the integrity of the system.

Frank LaRose, Ohio's Secretary of State, is launching a new Public Integrity Division to consolidate the office's current investigative work into campaign finance, voter registration, election law and cybersecurity irregularities.

LaRose explained his office lacks a dedicated team of professional investigators, and those tasks often fall upon local county boards of election.

"Elections administrators responsible for training poll workers and arranging voting locations and mailing out absentee ballots could tomorrow be asked to put on the investigator's hat and do an investigation," LaRose pointed out. "Naturally, that's not their skill set, and it's not what they're trained to do."

Some 31 contests in Ohio have ended in ties since 2020, with many others decided by a single vote. LaRose argued strengthening investigative capabilities will give voters greater confidence in a secure election system. The Secretary of State's Office has referred more than six dozen potential voter-fraud cases this year to local prosecutors. Democrats have criticized Republican LaRose for "wasting taxpayer dollars on a problem that doesn't exist."

The new division starts operations one day before Ohio's voter registration deadline of Oct. 11. LaRose noted a large number of absentee ballot requests are coming in, and voter registrations recently topped eight million.

"We're always working to encourage voter registration, but we also make sure that the rolls stay accurate," LaRose asserted. "So, it kind of ebbs and flows. We remove deceased voters from the rolls on a monthly basis; we make sure that people get removed from the rolls when they move out of state. So, going over eight million is something that we're really proud of."

He is also encouraging Ohioans to assist on Election Day. Ohio has close to 4,000 polling locations open for more than 12 hours, staffed by more than 50,000 volunteers.

"I always tell people, 'Think about how big Ohio Stadium is. If you're watching a Buckeyes game. That's half the seating capacity of that stadium just in poll workers.' Half of them are Republicans, half of them are Democrats, all of them are patriots that do this work of running elections," LaRose remarked. "And we need more people all the time."

Ohio has poll-worker recruitment initiatives targeting high school seniors, veterans, attorneys and others. LaRose also encouraged companies to give employees a day off work to volunteer, or nonprofit groups to create a fundraiser where volunteers donate their poll-worker pay to a charity.

Support for this reporting was provided by The Carnegie Corporation of New York.