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Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery III to retire this week, return home to Knoxville

Herbert Slatery III moved to Nashville more than 11 years ago with former-Governor Bill Haslam. We spoke with him about the legacy he hopes to leave behind.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery III will retire on Aug. 31 after around eight years as the state's top legal representative.

He said he plans to return home to Knoxville after spending more than a decade in the state capital, originally serving under former-Governor Bill Haslam. 

At the end of May, we spoke to him about the legacy he hopes to leave behind. Some answers have been edited for clarity and length. 

Q: What's it like being Tennessee's Attorney General?

A: I've been in the role since October of 2014, so almost almost eight years. It's been an honor. It's been a fascinating job, really interesting. I've had the chance to work with a lot of really great people in this office, and then obviously had a chance to work with Attorneys General across the country, which is another real privilege.

Q: What has your biggest accomplishment as our State's Attorney General been so far?

A: Not screwing up this office. I chuckle at that, because it's been such a good office for a long time. That was one of the one of the things that occurred to me is — don't mess this up. 

We've accomplished a lot, I think, both in terms of cases that we've won and matters that we've handled. Hopefully, we've really represented the state well, because I really do think we have a great state. I don't think Tennessee is a good state. I think it's a great state. I didn't know that before I came to Nashville, but we've had great leadership in this state for decades. So it's just been an honor to be the attorney general.

Q: One of your big accomplishments was the opioid settlement. Walk us through what went into that and the resolution.

A: The opioid epidemic has been a problem for Tennessee for a long time. In 2021, we had almost 4,000 overdose deaths. So, think about that. That's about 11 people a day who die.

Because it had such an effect on Tennessee, we just felt like we needed to be involved. So we did. We had no idea what we were getting into when we said we would do it. But, it ended up playing out to be probably the most complex set of cases in U.S. history. 

And Purdue Pharma was easily the most complicated bankruptcy that I think the United States has ever seen, with the number of claims that was filed setting a record. It ended up being a lot more than we anticipated. 

But, the good news is that we've had some significant settlements and I think that in the next 30 days, we're going to start getting some money into the state. And hopefully, we've got a structure here to bring some resolution and get some help for the people that are involved in this and prevent a lot of the deaths that we've been experiencing.

Q: Why did you decide to retire now instead of continuing in this role?

A: Well, the A.G. in Tennessee is appointed by the Tennessee Supreme Court, not a lot of people know that. We're the only state that does it that way and it's an eight year term. 

It's a long term, to begin with. As far as my particular situation, I've spent about 11.5 years in Nashville. I came over with Governor Haslam — which was a wonderful opportunity — so I've been 11.5 years away from Knoxville, which is my home. 

We just felt like this was a natural time to pass the baton. Governor Haslam would often say that it makes a difference who's sitting in these seats, but it shouldn't be the same person all the time. 

Q: Tennessee is unique in the way it appoints the Attorney General. Do you think it should stay that way? 

A: I think it ought to stay the way that it is. It's functioned that way since 1870, so we've had over 150 years of great experience. There's been no scandal in the office that I'm aware of. No AG has really gone on to higher office, so it's not really a political stepping stone like it is in so many states. 

I could go down the list of states now where you've got AGs that are running for governor and a lot of times they describe them as aspiring governors, but not in Tennessee. 

Q: It feels like the whole country has become a lot more politicized over the past few years. Do you think that's kind of changed your role at all?

A: Well, it's been difficult to deal with, because it's sort of the everybody's angry, it seems like — the age of rage or whatever.

It's a different one every day. And it's easy to go down that path, it's harder to solve problems. In our world, we're trying to build consensus around settlements, trying to convince people to sign on to things that too quickly remedy a problem. And so that's made it a little more difficult, and so much more is visible these days. 

You've got social media, which just accentuates everything. So it has been difficult, because we're so divided. But in our world, in the AG world, I think it's one of the very few places in our nation where we're solving problems. 

And we do it together — both Republicans and Democrats. Opioids is a great illustration here. We were united in what we wanted to do, we didn't sit there and argue over issues or anything, we tried to make something happen to get some relief to the people who are really suffering. It works in the AG world. I hope it never changes, to be honest with you.

Q: How has your office tried to balance federal mandates versus states' rights?

A: That's a really good question. I didn't realize how important that was going to be, but we represent the state of Tennessee. So when we see the federal government take actions that we think are outside of the law, outside of what Congress has intended, then the AGs are the ones that usually file the lawsuits or challenge what what they're doing. Frankly, this is a huge problem in our society. When they do that, they exclude the people from the process. We spend a lot of our time trying to preserve the right of the legislatures to make the law and to make policy with the executive branch at state government and certainly federal government. That's an issue that states will will fight over for a long, long time. They want to preserve their role and their sovereignty.

Q: Some of your critics say you got too involved in political/cultural fights. What's your response to that?

A: You can't divorce yourself from politics in this office, but I don't think this office is political at all. I think a lot of people misunderstand our role. We are an advocate. We're not a policymaking office. A lot of the comments would be that we're defending laws that our legislature passed. Well, that's what we're supposed to do. We're an advocate for the state that people express themselves through their representatives. And so we have to defend those laws. And, frankly, that's what we're supposed to do. And if we don't do that, we're not doing our job.

Q: The most controversial one recently, was the Texas lawsuit asking other states to invalidate their presidential election results. Why did Tennessee decide to join in on that?

A: Well, that's a great question. And we really hadn't had a chance to voice why we did that. But one of the things most people don't know is these things come hard and fast. You've got to make decisions and you've got to make them quickly because the next big issue is coming down the road. 

They were not asking us to join the lawsuit and that's an important distinction, because we didn't know the facts. We couldn't prove the factual allegations in the complaint. And so we would not have joined the lawsuit in all likelihood.

But, what we did do, is join a friend of the court brief they call it an "amicus brief." When we looked at it, we came to the conclusion that it was a really well-written brief. It was largely on issues that we were already litigating in Tennessee — absentee ballot qualifications, signature verifications — all of those things that we had already been litigating. 

Q: What is your biggest piece of advice to whoever sits in this chair? 

A: That's a great question.  I don't know that it's much of advice or anything, but I think what has really surprised me — and I've been the beneficiary of it — is the quality of people that are around you. Hire people who are smarter, more capable than you are and very accomplished at what they do. And then let them do their work. Those types of people, when you get them around you that makes a lot of difference. I've been blessed to have those folks. 

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