When Connecticut Republican Party Chairman Chris Healy showed members of the state party the bill for their successful effort at knocking Susan Bysiewicz out of the race for attorney general, some jaws hit the floor.
Its decision to fight a lawsuit Bysiewicz filed against herself in an effort to show she was qualified for the office cost the Republican Party $140,000.
“We have no regrets about it,” Healy said Thursday. “Well worth the investment.”
Healy said he presented the state committee with the bill from their lawyer, Eliot Gersten, on Tuesday at its meeting and just one person voted against it.
“No one gasped,” Healy said Thursday.
However, a few Republican sources have said they were surprised at the final bill, which was much higher than they initially anticipated.
“The integrity of the election had to be maintained,” Healy said. “Eliot Gersten did an incredible job.”
It doesn’t hurt that the Republican Party was successful in its efforts, which took the case all the way to the Supreme Court. Healy said the party has already paid some of the legal fees and plans on making good on the rest.
Bysiewicz, a popular Democrat who’s secretary of the state, convinced a lower court that even though she hasn’t been appearing before judges or doing technical legal work, her job as secretary of the state could still meet the legal definition of being a lawyer.
But the Republican Party appealed that lower court decision to the state’s highest court. The court ruled from the bench before the Democratic convention in May that Bysiewicz has in fact not been working as a lawyer, and is therefore ineligible to run for attorney general.
Headlines from the Bysiewicz court case.
Supreme Court Says Bysiewicz is Not Qualified
GOP Pressed To Make Additional Argument
Is She Practicing Law? Or Is She Just In Charge of a State Agency?
Bysiewicz Is Actively Practicing Law At Press Conferences
Bysiewicz Takes the Stand; Says Running For AG Is Her Civil Right