In an unusual move without precedent in recent Connecticut political history, Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz is filing a lawsuit in state Superior Court in an attempt to receive a ruling on whether she is qualified to be attorney general.<\/p>\n
“It is clear that I more than meet the requirements to serve as attorney general and this effort will confirm that once and for all,” Bysiewicz said Thursday.<\/p>\n
The controversy over Bysiewicz’s qualifications has been raging for the past month, and it focuses on the state law that says anyone serving as attorney general must be “an attorney of at least ten years’ active practice at the bar of this state.”<\/p>\n
Bysiewicz argues that her 11 years as Secretary of the State qualifies her because she says she is essentially running a public-interest law firm and regularly dispenses legal advice on the state’s election laws.<\/p>\n
The lawsuit also states that the 10-year requirement is unconstitutional under both the state and federal Constitutions.<\/p>\n
“I am proud to stand with Susan as she takes this important step to resolving a critical issue not just for this election, but for all future elections for Attorney General,” said Nancy DiNardo, the state Democratic Party’s chairwoman.<\/p>\n
George Jepsen, one of Bysiewicz’s Democratic rivals in the race, said, “Today’s announcement acknowledges what should have been clear all along – that only in court can Bysiewicz clear up questions of her legal qualifications to serve as attorney general. Perhaps she finally got around to reading Attorney General Blumenthal’s opinion. The fact that she has to go to court at all underscores how paper thin her actual, real world experience is as a practicing attorney.”<\/p>\n
Jepsen added, “Win or lose in court, the issue of her qualifications will not go away. Republicans can be expected to appeal any favorable decision to the State Supreme Court.
The Democratic Party cannot afford a nominee whose legal fitness to serve remains in doubt.”<\/p>\n
Political observers have been anticipating a battle between Bysiewicz and Jepsen for attorney general for years. State Rep. Cameron Staples, a New Haven lawmaker who co-chairs the legislature’s powerful finance committee, said he expects to qualify for the Democratic primary in a three-way race with Bysiewicz and Jepsen in August.<\/p>\n
Republican John Pavia, a well-known party activist, law school professor, attorney, and fundraiser, is seeking the GOP nomination.<\/p>\n
“Having the judiciary decide the constitutionality of the law and whether she meets the standard is the right course of action,” Pavia told Capitol Watch on Thursday. “I give her and Chairwoman DeNardis credit for moving the issue forward.”<\/p>\n
Before the controversy started, Bysiewicz was far ahead in the Quinnipiac University poll for AG last month with 62 percent of the Democrats polled. Jepsen had 10 percent, and Waterbury Mayor Michael Jarjura – who has not officially announced his plans – had 3 percent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In an unusual move without precedent in recent Connecticut political history, Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz is filing a lawsuit in state Superior Court in an attempt to receive a ruling on whether she is qualified to be attorney general. “It is clear that I more than meet the requirements to serve as attorney general and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4001,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-336901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4001"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=336901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336901\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=336901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=336901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=336901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}