Brewer asked for costs of her reckless lawsuits

Lawmaker asks Governor for costs of lawsuits to defend her “extremist agenda”

STATE CAPITOL, PHOENIX -- State Rep. Daniel Patterson (D-Tucson) filed a public records request today with Governor Jan Brewer’s office, asking for an accounting of the taxpayer dollars that have been spent litigating the Governor’s various policy positions and actions.

“This state is in an economic crisis. The Governor’s attention should be focused on creating jobs and the public’s money should be dedicated to schools and kids,” Patterson said.

“In every case below, the Governor and her partisan supporters in the Legislature had ample warning of the cost that would ensue from potential lawsuits. But they moved forward with their reckless and extremist agenda and now it is the taxpayer that is paying the bill,” Patterson said.

A copy of the letter, detailing the specific lawsuits Patterson has asked for information about, is below:

ARIZONA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Representative Daniel Patterson

November 22, 2011

Matthew Benson, Director of Communications
The Office of Governor Janice K. Brewer
1700 West Washington Street
Phoenix, Arizona 85007

Dear Mr. Benson,

Pursuant to A.R.S. § 39-121 et seq., I am writing to request copies, or the right to examine and make copies, of any and all public records evidencing the costs, including attorneys’ fees, of the following litigation:

1. Arizona Early Childhood Development and Health Board v. Brewer, CV-09-0078-SA (Ariz. Supreme Ct.)
2. State of Arizona v. United States, cv-01072-SRB (Ariz. Dist. Ct.)
3. United States v. State of Arizona, cv-01413-NVW (Ariz. Dist. Ct.)
4. Brewer v. Burns, CV-09-0168-SA (Ariz. Supreme Ct.)
5. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission v. Brewer, CV-11-0313-SA (Ariz. Supreme Ct.)
6. Collins v. Brewer, cv-02402-JWS (Ariz. Dist. Ct.)
7. Fogliano v. Betlach, CV2011-010965 (Ariz. Superior Ct.)
8. State of Florida v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 3:10 cv-91 RV/EMT (N.D. Florida)

This request includes, but is not limited to, any and all documents (whether written or electronic, including text messages, emails, phone records, audio, video, CD Rom or any other format) and includes costs for the entire span of the litigation, including appeals (interlocutory or otherwise) and any judgments for damages, including payment of the prevailing party’s attorneys’ fees, as well as any costs for cases associated or consolidated with the above-named cases. Summaries of these costs may be provided in lieu of copies of billing statements in order to minimize any dispute over withholding attorney-client confidential information.

These records are not sought for any commercial purpose, and therefore I do not agree to pay for any costs associated with locating these public records. See A.R.S. § 39-121.03.

Please comply with this request on or before November 28, 2011. See id. § 121.01(D)(1) & (E) (requiring prompt compliance with public records requests). If for any reason you refuse to provide any of the requested public records, pursuant to A.R.S. § 39-121.01(D)(2), please provide an index of the items withheld and the reasons for which you are withholding them.

Sincerely,
Representative Daniel Patterson