Kansas AG Kris Kobach Demands Answers from NAAG on ESG Investment

by Breccan F. Thies, Breitbart

The National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG), an organization that purports to be a “nonpartisan national forum” for state attorneys general, has seen conservative attorneys general disassociate themselves due to NAAG’s left-wing bias.

In a letter to NAAG executive director Brian Kane exclusively obtained by Breitbart News, Kobach appears to be auditing the organization, which is funded by taxpayers, for its potential involvement in leftist environmental, social, and governance policy (ESG) prescriptions.

Kobach’s office is asking NAAG for a list of specific funds and private equity holdings, saying ESG practices “destroy shareholder value in pursuit of faddish ideological aims, often without proper disclosure to investors.”

Top concerns for the Kansas Republican are allowing NAAG funds to be managed by organizations like BlackRock — an entity that, among other things, amasses American properties and makes houses unaffordable to American families — or NAAG funds being used to fund left-wing, ESG-oriented policy goals like diminishing domestic fossil fuel production and enforcing diversity quotas in corporations.

Consistent with ESG ideology, part of NAAG’s focus appears to be forcing economic and social change through consumer protection lawsuits. Conservative AG offices are poised to demand a return of their money if NAAG is pursuing an agenda that furthers the ESG movement.

According to leaked financial documents, NAAG also lost $37 million in taxpayer dollars through investments in 2022.

Despite that loss, a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request obtained by Breitbart News shows NAAG funded all-expenses-paid trips to London and Berlin for attorneys general and their families.

Kobach, a new member of NAAG’s executive committee, does not go as far as his colleagues in Montana, Arizona, and Texas; he says that he “strongly believe[s] in NAAG’s mission” but finds “merit in some of the criticisms my colleagues have launched at the organization.”

He said he is dedicated to “reforming NAAG rather than abandoning it.”

Ohio Attorney General David Yost (R), who now also serves as president of NAAG and is carbon copied on the letter, has come under fire from conservatives who believe he is allowing the organization to prop up left-wing policy goals.

In an ad obtained exclusively by Breitbart News, the Alliance for Consumers targeted Yost in his home state of Ohio that began January 26, slamming NAAG as a “left-wing racket taking millions from state consumer cases.”

The ad points out that NAAG has spent tens of millions it has gained from public settlements on overseas investments and funding the aforementioned European trips for “liberal politicians.”

“Conservatives want the money to come home,” it continues. “Not Dave Yost. Yost is protecting NAAG’s cash stash, signing up for European trips with his liberal pals.”

The ad first aired during “Tucker Carlson Tonight” on Fox News

As Breitbart News has reported, the attorneys general of Alabama, Texas, Missouri, Montana, and Arizona have left NAAG over its “liberal bent” that “fundamentally undermined NAAG’s role as a ‘nonpartisan national forum’ that ‘provides a community…to collaboratively address’ important issues.” ▫