At least one Washington state legislator is looking for answers, following a report from the Washington Times alleging that the state Attorney General’s Office did not review critical documents before it exonerated Planned Parenthood, during its investigation of the abortion business.
The report is based on a email exchange between a Washington state deputy attorney general and a University of Washington administrator. The Times reports:
In the email chain, Deputy Attorney General Paige Dietrich asks Ian Goodhew, director of government relations for UW Medicine, for documents pertaining to the relationship between Planned Parenthood and the university’s Birth Defects Research Laboratory.
After Goodhew pushed back, Dietrich backtracked and stated that the documents would not be necessary to the investigation, according to the Times.
State Representative Drew MacEwen was among those in Washington calling for an investigation of Planned Parenthood, following allegations that the abortion business profited from aborted fetal tissue. And now, he’s calling foul on the “investigation.”
“Attorney General Ferguson assured everyone that he would investigate this with the same vigor he investigates other issues in our state that fall on the other side of the political spectrum,” MacEwen said. But apparently, that is not the case – assuming the Washington Attorney General’s office does not routinely allow organizations to withhold potentially crucial evidence in investigations.
“That, to me, doesn’t measure up to the standard of an unbiased investigation,” MacEwen continued. “I don’t know if there is some illegality going on here with the University of Washington and Planned Parenthood. We don’t know that because there’s a stack of papers over here that UW said the attorney general’s office doesn’t need to look at.”
My Northwest reports that the documents may have been withheld due to confidentiality concerns. But MacEwen contends that the Attorney General would need to view the documents to make any determination, rather than simply taking the university at its word.
“I don’t think we are going to let this go away,” said MacEwen. “I am going to consult with my fellow legislators and we’ll come up with a plan.”
