Conservative spotlight: Wayne Stenehjem

Republican Attorneys General Association

Beginning with Ronald Reagan and the conservative movement backing him, America has gradually realigned Republican over the past 20 years. During the 1990s, Republicans reached parity in state legislatures and governorships for the first time in decades, not to mention majorities in both houses of Congress. Though Republicans have slipped a bit in some areas-most prominenty losing control of the U.S Senate after a GOP senator turned his back on his colleagues-the Republican Party has done remarkably well.

But one area in which it has not done well is on down-ticket statewide offices, and that's where the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA) comes in. Founded in 1999, the group works to elect Republicans in the 43 states where attorneys general are chosen by the voters. Right now, only 16 state attorneys general are Republicans. Contrast that with the success of the GOP in other statewide offices, such as U.S. senators (49 of 100 are Republican) and governors.

"Twenty-seven states, including some of the nation's most populous states (such as Florida, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas), now have Republican governors," reports the Republican Governors Association. "A majority of Americans now live in a state with a Republican governor. The 2000 elections marked the first time since the 1950s that Republicans achieved control of the White House, U.S. House of.Representatives and a majority House of Representatives and a majority of governorships at the same time."

Why are there so few GOP AGs when there are so many Republican governors? "I don't know that the same amount of attention has been paid as to electing Republican governors," said Wayne Stenehjem (R.), attorney general of North Dakota and chairman of RAGA. "Now we're paying more attention, because of the increased role of attorneys general."

Indeed, Americans who smoke cigarettes cannot fail to have noticed the effect that liberal Democratic attorneys general have had on the cost of their habit. Conservatives hope that more Republican AGs will lead to less regulation at the state level, fewer activist lawsuits filed by state governments, and a farm team of candidates for higher office with statewide name recognition.

"They say AG stands for `aspiring governor,"' said Tim Barnes, executive director of RAGA.

Barnes noted that there are 29 state AG races this year. "We're focused on our ten incumbent states and on our six Democratic open seats," he said. Of the ten incumbent GOP seats, two have Republicans running for reelection and eight have Republicans running to succeed Republicans. Stenehjem said that he hoped Republican AGs could become the majority after this fall.

"Our victories have allowed us to recruit better candidates for 2002," said Barnes. When RAGA began, there were only 12 Republican AGs. "In 2000, we picked up a net of four seats," Barnes said. "In 2001, there was one race." The Virginia AG seat stayed in Republican hands.

When RAGA was founded three years ago, "No one was concentrating on a national level on getting more AGs elected," said Barnes. Now RAGA offers advice and money to candidates and holds three national meetings a year "and some smaller regional events," he said. Just last week, Democrats announced that they are beginning an effort similar to RAGA.

Before RAGA came on the scene, curious things could happen. For example, Oklahoma-which has a Republican governor and two Republican U.S. senators-- did not field a Republican AG candidate in 1998, leaving the office to a Democrat. One obstacle for conservative candidates for AG is plaintiffs' lawyers. "The trial bar is no fool;" said Barnes. "They contribute to AG candidates."

Seven states do not have elected AGs. Tennessee, said Barnes, has a unique system. "The state supreme court appoints the attorney general."

Stenehjem said that without help from RAGA, he would not be North Dakota's attorney general today. "I was running against our lone congressman's brother who had been elected as state insurance commissioner," he said. "I could not compete head-to-head in terms of fundraising with my opponent because of his name recognition and connections to the insurance industry."

Stenehjem and his fellow RAGA board members "provide direction for the organization itself. We will be sitting down at crunch time to see which races we can help in," he said. RAGA is affiliated with and cooperates with the Republican National Committee (RNC), but may be forced to pursue a closer association "now that campaign finance reform has passed," he said. "We will have to work more closely with them." RAGA may be reached at 310 First St. S.E., Washington, D. C. 20003 (202-863-8673; fax: 202842-4447).

Copyright Human Events Publishing, Inc. Jul 29, 2002
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