Tom Udall: “The lawsuits that were brought by State attorneys general were brought by Democrats and Republicans. Attorney General…”

“The lawsuits that were brought by State attorneys general were brought by Democrats and Republicans. Attorney General Gale Norton, who is now Secretary of the Interior, she brought a lawsuit in the State of Colorado against the tobacco companies. She was part of the master settlement. She, like everyone else, was very concerned about the situation with women, the targeting of young people and trying to addict them over a lifetime. So she was out there as a Republican, very active, and there were many other Republican attorneys general around the country that were involved. So this was a bipartisan effort. I cannot think of a worse individual to be in charge of the Nation's lawsuit against the tobacco companies. It is really like putting the fox in charge of the hen house. This gentleman has condemned these lawsuits. He fought the tobacco settlement. He was the only one in the committee. The vote in the committee was 19 to 1. And now we have him as Attorney General and he is the head litigator. One of the first things he did was to announce, well, I think we have a weak lawsuit; we better settle. That is no way to go into a lawsuit.”