Day 012 - 18 Jul 94 - Page 14
1 letter written by McDonald's attorneys in Washington to
the Attorneys General of Texas and California dated July
2 21st 1986 -- do you have that?
A. Yes.
3
Q. Again it may be best if you read it to yourself?
4 A. Thank you.
5 Q. Tell me when you have finished, then I will ask you some
questions about it.
6 A. Thank you. I have finished.
7 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Is the State Attorney General an elected
office?
8 A. The Attorney General himself, the senior person, is
an elected office; everyone else is appointed.
9
MR. RAMPTON: If I may follow that up, should the Attorney
10 General himself be de-elected, or whatever the word is,
not re-elected, what happens to his staff? Do they stay
11 in position?
A. Oftentime in the more senior positions the new
12 Attorney General brings in people that he is comfortable
with, and if there are people in the office who have done
13 a terrific job, they would also be allowed to remain.
Usually, in my experience, the transition does not really
14 effect the junior staff- middle or junior staff.
15 Q. How senior or junior is the post of Attorney General in
the Consumer Affairs Department?
16 A. All of the attorneys within the Attorney Generals'
office will be called Assistant Attorney General for the
17 most part. There are some at the very senior level which
might be called Chief Assistant or Deputy Attorney
18 General, but that is only two or three. An Assistant
Attorney General could be someone has just a year's
19 experience or someone who has 30 years of experience.
20 Q. What about Mr. Steven Gardner? He is described at one
point as the Texas Attorney General's office. Consumer
21 Section and in a later document which we will look at in a
moment as an Assistant Attorney General?
22 A. Yes. He was not a high level member of the Attorney
General's staff. I believe he was one of the people in
23 charge of a small consumer affairs office in one of the
Attorney General's offices, and I believe he had been
24 practising in the Attorney General's office under eight or
nine years, is my recollection.
25
Q. Did he come in before Mr. Jim Maddox, the Attorney General
26 at that time?
A. I do not know that.
27
Q. Perhaps we will come back to that.
28
MR. JUSTICE BELL: If I understand you, when a new Attorney
29 General is elected, if it is a different person to the
previous one, it is entirely up to him what his staff
30 consist of?
A. That is correct.
