It's been nearly three years since a coordinated campaign between congressional Republicans and the makers of the fake Planned Parenthood videos prompted a nationwide assault on the health care provider and state taxpayers are still paying for it.
The New Mexico attorney general's office opened an investigation in response to specific accusations made against a local Planned Parenthood clinic by the defunct Select Planned Parenthood Committee and they found nothing.
The committee, in a lengthy report issued nearly a year ago, accused the group of violating U.S. laws by altering abortion procedures to obtain fetal tissue, disclosing patients' private information to firms that procure the tissue and "a general disinterest in clinical integrity." [...]
The allegations were first forwarded to Attorney General Hector Balderas' office in 2016, and similar claims were made by the anti-abortion group New Mexico Alliance for Life.
Balderas, a Democrat, ordered civil and criminal reviews but his office said there was insufficient evidence to indicate state violations. The inquiries were limited to state laws because Balderas has no jurisdiction over federal law.
Unlike the congressional Republicans behind these ridiculous accusations, the state attorney general and other authorities must actually prove accusations in a court room.
The makers of the original videos have been held accountable for their part, but the congressional Republicans behind the select committee haven't been. The mid-term election is our best chance to make them pay.
The former chair of the Select Planned Parenthood Committee, Rep. Marsha Blackburn, is running for Bob Corker's Senate seat in Tennessee.