In a 20-minute speech on the steps of the state Capitol, Republican lawyer Martha Dean outlined her platform for attorney general and talked how she plans on ridding the state of government interference, while upholding the constitution.
Dean, an Avon resident, said Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, whom she challenged in 2002, has stifled the state’s economy by intimidating “law abiding businesses in Connecticut to the point where they too give up, close down, and depart.”
Dean promised to entice businesses and allow opportunity for “fortune” in the state by making sure law enforcement is fair, just, and the minimum required.
“No more politicized lawsuits or grandstanding against companies,“ Dean said.
She said she would work with state agencies to focus on prevention and eliminate “gotcha” lawsuits. She will also end the money making function of the attorney general’s office. “There should never be pressure for the attorney general to sue and hold up companies, in essence practicing extortion, to generate a revenue stream,” Dean said.
Instead Dean said she would reduce the attorney general’s staff and continuously review the need to contract legal work out to private law firms.
In addition, Dean said the state should also end the practice of choosing which bus and taxi cab companies get to enter the market by offering only a few licenses and permits. She said she would also seek the end the practice of the state’s licensing of certain hospitals for certain medical procedures.
Dean said she will also work to end eminent domain abuse “so that never again is private property taken from citizens where there is no bonafide public purpose.”
Toward the middle of her speech, Dean talked about how she believes those in government “must recognize and never deny these truths that we are endowed with these unalienable rights by our creator and not by government.”
“Government can never take away these rights,” Dean said. “Much of what is best and the greatest enduring value in America arose from or was built on the foundation of our Judeo-Christian values.”
Separation of church and state never meant elimination of religion from public ceremonies, public places, or public things, Dean said. She said public schools shouldn’t be intimidated into canceling their graduation ceremonies just because the only space they could find for the celebration was in a church.
Dean is the first Republican to announce her candidacy for the office. Sen. Andrew Roraback of Goshen and John Pavia, an attorney from Easton, have both formed exploratory committees. Democratic candidates include Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz, Rep. Cam Staples of New Haven, and former state Sen. George Jepsen of Stamford.
Blumenthal is running for retiring U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd’s seat and won’t be seeking another term as attorney general.
Dean, who has practiced law for 22 years, is a founder of the state chapter of the Federalist Society, a graduate of Wellesley College and of the University of Connecticut Law School.
