My fellow AGs from across the country are coming to Phoenix this week to attend the winter meeting of the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG).  

The three-day program at the Arizona Biltmore will address high-priority topics, including several issues of particular importance to Arizona. They include multi-state strategies for combating border violence, strengthening bi-national partnerships with Mexican law enforcement, and efforts at both the state and federal level to fight mortgage fraud. The attorneys general will also hear advice from three members of the Arizona Supreme Court -- Chief Justice Rebecca White Berch, and Justices Andrew Hurwitz and W. Scott Bales -- on representing the state most effectively.    

Another session will include for the first time at a NAAG meeting representatives of more than two dozen Native American communities for a discussion on increasing collaboration between Native American legal systems and the states. Larry Echo Hawk, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs with the U.S. Department of Interior, will be the evening's featured dinner speaker.  

Other speakers on the program include David Ogden, Deputy Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice; Jon Bruning, Nebraska Attorney General and president of NAAG; and Paul Berman, dean of the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University.

While this is a working meeting closed to the pubic and press, I and some of my colleagues will be talking with reporters after the program ends on Tuesday and Thursday.

I'm proud to welcome all the attorneys general, distinguished speakers and panelists to the Grand Canyon State and look forward to highly productive give-and-take discussions.

 

Terry Goddard