Lawmakers call for Iowa AG to end ‘assault’ on 1st Amendment

DES MOINES - Three dozen Republican legislators are calling on Democratic Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller to withdraw from an effort to use consumer protection laws against energy companies and others that disagree with their positions on climate change and global warming.

While the 36 senators and representatives believe man-made climate change is 'certainly not settled science,” their primary concern is that the effort is a 'potential assault on First Amendment rights of Iowa citizens and businesses that do not embrace the government's conclusion on man-made climate change.”

Reps. Ralph Watts, R-Adel, and Steven Holt, R-Denison, made their remarks late Monday during points of personal privilege in the Iowa House.

Watts predicted more research will prove the 'alarmist claims of man-made climate change appear to be greatly exaggerated.”

Holt acknowledged there is disagreement whether the cause of climate change is 'part of a cycle that has always occurred or is caused by fossil fuels and man's carbon footprint.”

However, Holt said, it is 'vital for this debate to continue and dangerous to attempt to silence differences of opinion on either side.”

Holt and Watts met with one of Miller's staffers to discuss his participation in the effort. According to them, the staffer said the attorneys' general campaign is about protecting consumers from businesses that mislead the public and is not an attempt to stifle dissent.

The Attorney General's Office acknowledged receipt of the letter from the lawmakers but has not opened any investigation as a result of Miller's participation in the attorneys general announcement, according to a department spokesman.

However, Holt and Watts questioned why Miller is involved at all if his concern is consumer protection, not climate change. According to the leader of the attorneys general effort, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, the actions are a 'historic state-based effort to combat climate change.”

The lawmakers concluded their letter by asking Miller to remove himself from the coalition, 'which has chosen a path that could threaten First Amendment rights in pursuit of ‘climate progress.'”