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Martinez Fischer Critical Of Abbott's Legal/Financial Record In Federal Cases

Trey Martinez Fischer

According to the San Antonio Express-News, Attorney General Greg Abbott, who is running for governor in 2014, has spent nearly $4 million on 31 lawsuits against the federal government in the last nine years, ten of which his office counts as wins.

State Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio, who is also a practicing attorney when not at the state capitol, said it’s difficult to build a reputation as an attorney when you have this type of record:

"Attorney General Greg Abbott does nothing to check in with the tax-paying client," Martinez Fischer said. "In fact, he feels he has this blank check that he can write and spend millions of dollars fighting frivolous causes."

Martinez Fischer said many of these cases against the federal government and the Obama administration were not fought by Abbott's office.

"The attorney general’s office is the largest law firm in the State of Texas, but for some reason they can’t handle this work inside the agency," he said. "They go out and hire private law firms to do the work they should be doing, so my advice to Greg Abbott if he wants to get out of this hole, maybe he ought to start doing the work himself."

Martinez Fischer says the attorney general should be looking for ways to partner with the federal government instead of burning bridges and losing taxpayer money.

Ryan started his radio career in 2002 working for Austin’s News Radio KLBJ-AM as a show producer for the station's organic gardening shows. This slowly evolved into a role as the morning show producer and later as the group’s executive producer.