SACRAMENTO, Calif.: Democratic leaders in the California legislature said Wednesday they have hired former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to advise them on a legal strategy as they gird for a fight against President-elect Donald Trump.
The precise role of the high-profile lawyer remained unclear, but his politically connected firm will be paid $25,000 a month plus expenses from the legislature’s budget to help lawmakers develop strategies “regarding potential actions of the federal government that may be of concern to the state of California,” according to the contract with Holder.
The initial agreement runs for three months beginning Feb. 1. After that, the parties will renegotiate the deal, said Kevin Liao, a spokesman for Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Paramount.
Republicans in the legislature blasted the decision to sidestep lawyers already on California’s payroll and hire Holder, who many conservatives view as polarizing.
California Gov. Jerry Brown and legislative leaders have talked tough since Trump’s election in November, vowing to aggressively confront the Republican president who pledged during the campaign to repeal “Obamacare” and deport immigrants living in the U.S. illegally.
“We have an obligation to defend the people who elected us and the policies and diversity that make California an example of what truly makes a nation great,” Rendon and Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles, said in a prepared statement.
The hiring of outside consultants is not unusual, but the decision to contract with such a high-profile figure made it a remarkable move with clear political overtones.
As the nation’s top lawyer from 2009 to 2015, Holder aggressively defended President Barack Obama’s policies and took heat over “Fast and Furious,” a gun-smuggling investigation in which federal agents allowed weapons to be delivered to drug cartels in Mexico.
“The goal of the California Democrats is clear: an open border with no restrictions on human traffickers, gun runners and drug smugglers,” Assemblyman Travis Allen, R-Huntington Beach, said in a statement.
Sen. Patricia Bates, R-Laguna Niguel, called Holder’s hiring “a waste,” noting that the California Department of Justice has a staff of 4,300 people and an annual budget of $830 million.
The arrangement with Holder was first reported by the Los Angeles Times.
The legislature wanted its own legal representative independent of the executive branch, Liao said.
“It’s to supplement the AG’s work, not replace it,” Liao said.
Asked about the propriety of Holder’s new position, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said he saw nothing inappropriate.