A liberal advocacy group released a statement Wednesday criticizing Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen for receiving campaign contributions from the GOP group he consulted on a lawsuit to block health care reforms in Wisconsin.

One Wisconsin Now claims e-mails the group acquired show Van Hollen’s top aide Deputy Attorney General Ray Taffora “consulted with and sought advice” from Ben Cannatti, political director of the Republican State Leadership Committee in Texas. South Carolina Deputy Attorney General Bryan Stirling was also involved in the e-mail exchange.

The e-mails were sent just days before Van Hollen requested permission from Gov. Jim Doyle and the state Legislature to file a lawsuit alongside 13 other Republican attorneys general to challenge the constitutionality of the federal health care reform law. Doyle denied his request.

“Now, we know why Van Hollen’s top lieutenant calls this same group, and not legal or constitutional experts, for guidance on the GOP lawsuit,” Scot Ross, executive director for One Wisconsin Now, said in a statement.

With Van Hollen to announce his campaign Monday, the group also consulted campaign finance records showing the GOP group also donated $10,000 to Van Hollen’s re-election campaign in June 2008, according to the statement.

The attorney general’s office maintains the decision to recommend the state join the lawsuit was purely a result of Van Hollen’s analysis of the constitutionality of the health care reforms, said Bill Cosh, spokesman for Van Hollen’s office.

“The e-mail in question shows that the Deputy Attorney General was attempting to get information from another state’s Attorney General’s office relating to their legal claims,” Kevin St. John, the special assistant attorney general, said in an e-mail. “It shows nothing more than staff at the Department of Justice gathering information that would be relevant to the Attorney General’s independent legal analysis.”

However, Wisconsin Democrat groups are taking the news Van Hollen’s office was in contact with national GOP leaders who also donated to his campaign as evidence of partisanship and policies in favor of the Republican Party rather than Wisconsin families.

“He is a partisan hack. These actions show that,” Graeme Zielinski, spokesperson for Democratic Party of Wisconsin, said. “He can take money from whoever he wants and he can coordinate with whoever he wants, the law allows that. The thing he can’t do is go around pretending he’s nonpartisan.”

DPW Chair Mike Tate said he believes Van Hollen joined the lawsuit in exchange for the campaign contribution from the GOP.

Van Hollen’s re-election campaign calls the accusation an attempt to detract from Van Hollen’s strong record on public safety.