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GA Attorney General Baker Refuses Perdue Healthcare Lawsuit

by Karen Hatter | March 26, 2010 at 05:55 am

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Democrat Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker has refused to comply with a request from Republican Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue, to file a lawsuit challenging the recently enacted Obama administration health care reform bill.

Baker has stated the lawsuit has no merit, saying he'd be unable to justify wasting taxpayers' money. His refusal has resulted in Georgia lawmakers gathering signatures on a petition to impeach him.

Baker stated his reasons for refusing in a two page letter.

I cannot justify a decision to initiate expensive and time-consuming litigation that I believe has no legal merit. In short, this litigation is likely to fail and will consume significant amounts of taxpayers’ hard-earned money in the process.”

This quote inspired a rebuttal from state Republicans, who accused Baker of failing to represent his citizenry and the nation at large. Democrats applauded the attorney general for saving the state money and for standing up to the governor.

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Susan Marie Kovalinsky

at 06:55 on March 26th, 2010

Excellent, Karen. And another thing poor David Frum was correct on: He had said "Let us not be delusional. There are no grounds for repeal".

nanute

at 07:16 on March 26th, 2010

On Thursday, Governor, Sunny Perdue said he would appoint a "special" attorney general to sign on to the lawsuit. Call me a skeptic, but I didn't know the governor could appoint a "special" attorney general.

In related news:

The blog Peach Pundit reports that the resolution to impeach Baker, also a candidate for Georgia governor, now has at least 30 signatures and is still going forward. (huffington post)