IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — An aide to former Iowa Gov. Chet Culver will ask regulators Wednesday to dismiss a complaint that alleges that he committed an ethics violation by filing a major environmental lawsuit against a company over the same pollution issues the Culver administration investigated.
Attorney Jim Larew served as general counsel and chief of staff during Culver's term from 2007 to 2011. After Culver's loss to Terry Branstad in 2010, he opened a law firm and started representing Muscatine residents who are suing Grain Processing Corp. for what they call long-standing air pollution in the Mississippi River city.
GPC, which makes products such as alcohol and corn oil, is seeking to dismiss the case by claiming Larew violated a law that forbids employees from working in the private sector for two years on cases they worked on during their state government careers. GPC attorneys argue that records show Larew was involved in matters related to its air emissions while working for Culver, but Larew says he had limited involvement and didn't violate the law.
The company's request to disqualify Larew — and other attorneys he recruited for the case — is awaiting a judge's ruling after a hearing in Muscatine this month. Separately, the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board will consider whether to investigate GPC's complaint against Larew on Wednesday.
GPC's complaint is part of an aggressive defense against a proposed class-action lawsuit seeking damages for up to 17,000 Muscatine residents allegedly harmed by its pollution. Residents who live within three miles of the corn milling plant say that it spews harmful chemicals and particulate matter for miles when the wind blows, blanketing homes and cars with soot and causing metals to corrode. The plant has repeatedly been sanctioned by state and federal regulators, and GPC says it has a plan to dramatically reduce emissions by 2015.
GPC lawyers have convinced a judge to remove the Texas law firm of prominent environmental attorney Tony Buzbee from the case for what they called ethics violations related to public statements and mailings. Buzbee has appealed the decision, denying wrongdoing, and he denounced GPC's "unprecedented assault against the lawyers."
"Now they are going after Jim Larew, who is a very well-known, very well-respected, highly-credentialed lawyer, just like I am in Texas," Buzbee said. "They are taking some rule and twisting it to try to knock Jim out of the case."
In a letter to the ethics board, Larew said he had minor involvement in GPC issues that were not enough for a violation of the so-called revolving door law, which prohibits earning compensation for "any case, proceeding or application" in which the person participated in government. He said the purpose of the law is to ban corruption in which a person trades government favors for a job, which "is in no way implicated by my representation of citizens alleging damages from the behavior of GPC."
He said Iowans have the right to choose attorneys to represent them and "unfounded allegations advanced in administrative proceedings aimed to interfere with that choice are particularly regrettable."
Former DNR Director Richard Leopold has filed an affidavit saying Larew never represented the agency and had "no material involvement" in its decision-making. Leopold says Larew may have reviewed DNR documents for informational purposes and was kept aware of "legal, policy and political issues."
But GPC lawyers argue Larew is taking advantage of his government service to their detriment and that he was more deeply involved in its regulatory affairs. They point to an email from a DNR official who told colleagues Larew felt regulators were "kowtowing to industry" after reading an article related to GPC's pollution. Records also show Larew participated in meetings and phone calls related to GPC's compliance.
At the time, GPC was under criminal investigation by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources also was investigating the firm for air quality violations and negotiating a settlement. Larew urged DNR officials not to enter into a consent decree with GPC that would be inconsistent with the EPA's findings, records show.
After leaving state government, Larew started representing a group called Clean Air Muscatine. He then was involved in recruiting plaintiffs and assembling a legal team, including attorney Buzbee, to sue GPC.
GPC lawyers claimed in a filing that Larew used his state influence "to try to build a case against GPC on air emissions issues" under Culver and now "seeks to profit from those efforts in private practice."
