AG Accountability Needed

Attorney Generals have a tendency to appeal to the lowest common denominator in an attempt to build their own status. Demagoguery is par for the course. From Giuliani to Spitzer, AGs shamelessly manipulate the press and abuse their office for personal political gain. To restore dignity to the office of Attorney General, these mutts must be curbed.

The Wall Street Journal has endorsed a minimal code of ethics for AG’s, which won’t keep most politician wannabes from gaining the office, just from blatantly abusing it:

But it wouldn't hurt to have some common legal parameters that also protect the due process rights of their targets. To that end, the Institute for Legal Reform has proposed a code of conduct for state AGs.

The code includes nothing that shouldn't already be Legal Ethics 101, such as refraining from public comments that could prejudice a case, and not threatening companies with criminal action to gain advantage in a civil suit....

These guidelines ought to be more than acceptable to public servants who wield great power and claim to be ethical watchdogs themselves. That they are consistently ignored -- from coast to coast -- suggests that the political system needs to start imposing some accountability on AGs gone wild.