Richard Blumenthal
From Ballotpedia
| Richard Blumenthal | |
 | |
| Attorney General of Connecticut | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 1991 | |
| Current term ends 2011 | |
| Political party | Democrat |
| Website | Official Connecticut Attorney General website |
Contents |
Education
- Bachelor's degree, Harvard College (magna cum laude)
- Juris Doctorate degree, Yale Law School
Professional experience
Blumenthal briefly joined The Washington Post as a newspaper reporter working out of the Metro department. Shortly after graduating from law school, he served as administrative assistant to United States Senator Abraham A. Ribicoff, aide to former-United States Senator Daniel P. Moynihan, and as a law clerk for United States Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun. Blumenthal was appointed as United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut in 1977, serving as chief federal prosecutor of that state successfully prosecuting many major cases against drug traffickers, organized crime, white collar criminals, civil rights violators, consumer frauds, and environmental polluters; he remained in the position until 1981. From 1981 to 1986, he was a volunteer counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Before he became Connecticut Attorney General, Blumenthal was a member of the Connecticut State Senate from 1987-1990 and the State House from 1984-1987. He was first elected as the 23rd Attorney General in 1990, being subsequently re-elected in 1994, 1998, 2002, and 2006.
Attorney General
Big East and ACC
The Connecticut Attorney General played a pivotal role in one of the most notable college athletic stories in the first decade of the new century - the expansion of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) with the departures of Boston College, Miami University, and Virginia Tech from the Big East. He led efforts on behalf of several Big East football universities (Connecticut, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, and West Virginia) in legal proceedings against the ACC, the University of Miami, and Boston College "accusing the three schools of conspiring to weaken the Big East." [2]
After a suit against Miami University was thrown out because "attorneys could not prove the conference did enough business in Connecticut to warrant a state suit," [3] ACC Vice President Donn Ward questioned whether the people of Connecticut believed their top law enforcer ought to pursue far more important issues. In time, all of the suits filed in court would fail. Despite this, however, a settlement was reached, which included each school receiving $1 million and the addition of nine football games between 2008 and 2012. [4]
And even though Blumenthal has insisted in a statement that the settlement protected Connecticut taxpayers "critical investment in the UConn football program", press accounts detailed that the amount of the settlement covered less than half of the legal fees that each school incurred from participating in the litigation. [5] Furthermore, the argument that the Big East would be weakened as a result of the expansion of the ACC has fallen apart over the years. Teams such as Rutgers and West Virginia has not only survived, but have thrived as a direct result of the change. [6]
Gay Marriage
On May 17, 2004, Blumenthal released a legal opinion arguing that same-sex couples could not marry in Connecticut because the state's "statutes do not allow or authorize issuance of marriage licenses to same-sex couples." [7] He did suggest, however, that the law could be altered, but that responsibility was left up to the Connecticut General Assembly.
Interstate air pollution
In 1997, Blumenthal, in collaboration with then-Connecticut Governor John G. Rowland, petitioned for the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to address the issue of interstate air pollution from both the Midwest and Southeastern portions of the country. This petition was filed in accordance with Section 126 of the Clean Air Act, which allows a state to request pollution reductions from out-of-state sources that contribute significantly to its air quality problems. [8]
Six years later, Blumenthal, along with eleven other state attorney generals, filed suit to prevent what they argued was the "changes that threaten to gut the New Source Review (NSR) section of the federal Clean Air Act." Specifically, they objected to the "new regulation [that] states that any modification costing up to 20 percent of the replacement cost of the unit will be considered routine maintenance – and therefore exempt from pollution controls, even if the plant modification produces much higher levels of air pollution." [9] A number of local governments, including the New York City and various Connecticut municipalities, were also plaintiffs in the suit.
MySpace
In May 2007, Blumenthal demanded that the social networking website, MySpace, turn over a list of known sex offenders who used the site. After initially refusing, Blumenthal, in conjunction with North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper, both of whom co-chair the state attorney general task force on social networking, issued a subpoena. In response, MySpace announced that "it has identified about 90,000 convicted registered sex offenders on the site, 40,000 more than previously acknowledged" [10] and that it would turn over the information to the Attorney General's Office for further investigation. Republican state chairman Chris Healy, a fervent Blumenthal critic, praised the state attorney general's action in this matter. [11]
Stanley Works
On May 10, 2002, both Blumenthal and Connecticut State Treasurer Denise L. Nappier helped halt a hostile takeover of the New Britain-based hardware manufacturer Stanley Works, a major Connecticut employer, by filing a lawsuit alleging that a shareowner vote to reincorporate the company in Bermuda was ripe with 'irregularities' and that it "misrepresented how the move to Bermuda could affect shareowners." [12] The matter was referred to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on June 3 for further investigation. Twenty-two days later, Blumenthal testified before the United States House Ways and Means Committee arguing that "long-time American corporations with operations in other countries can dodge tens of millions of dollars in federal taxes by the device of reincorporating in another country" by "simply [filing] incorporation papers in a country with friendly tax laws, open a post-office box and hold an annual meeting there" and that Stanley Works, along with "Cooper Industries, Seagate Technologies, Ingersoll-Rand and PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting, to name but a few, have also become pseudo-foreign corporations for the sole purpose of saving tax dollars." He stated that "Corporations proposing to reincorporate to Bermuda, such as Stanley, often tell shareholders that there is no material difference in the law" [13] but said that this was not the case and was misleading to their shareholders. In order to rectify this situation, Blumenthal championed House Resolution 3884: Corporate Patriot Enforcement Act of 2002 to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to prevent corporations from avoiding the United States income tax by reincorporating in a foreign country. [14]
The cooperative efforts of Blumenthal and Nappier were not without criticism. An editorial appearing in the May 9, 2003, edition of the Wall Street Journal stated that "Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and GOP Congresswoman Nancy Johnson will no doubt now want to take some responsibility for the company's decision this week to lay off 1,000 workers and close nine facilities." [15]
Terrorist Surveillance Program
In October 2007, Blumenthal was only one of four state attorney generals lobbying Congress to reject proposals to provide immunity from litigation to telecommunication firms that cooperated with the federal government's terrorist surveillance program following the September 11, 2001 attacks. Speaking before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Blumenthal insisted that "granting immunity would short-circuit pending litigation seeking to allow Connecticut and other states to investigate whether telecommunications companies broke state privacy laws prohibiting release of caller information without warrants." [16] And while liberal political activist groups like the ACLU and MoveOn.org pushed for suits against telecommunications firms, such action was opposed by both Bush administration officials and California Senator Dianne Feinstein, who held the pivotal vote on the Senate Judiciary Committee. [17]
2010 U.S. Senate election
Blumenthal wasted no time declaring his candidacy for the United States Senate directly on the heels of Senator Christopher Dodd's announcement on January 6, 2010, that he would be retiring at the end of the congressional term. [1] And while the Connecticut primary election is not until August 10, it appears likely that the Democratic Attorney General of Connecticut will face off against Republican Rob Simmons, former member of the House of Representatives who lost a re-election campaign in 2006 by eighty-three votes.
Public Policy Polling released information from a survey conducted just prior to Dodd's retirement announcement that showed in a head-to-head matchup, Blumenthal would easily defeat Simmons 59 - 28 percent. [18] Another poll conducted by Quinnipiac University a few days later exhibited Blumenthal's margin of victory over Simmons widening to 62 - 27 percent. [19]
Controversies
ACORN
Blumenthal was one of six state attorney generals, all of whom belonged to the Democratic Party, who received the highest rating, a letter grade of A+, from the June 2008 Survey and Scorecard report published by the embattled liberal political organization, ACORN. The report was published in an effort to shine the spotlight on state attorney generals "leading the fight to protect homeowners from joining the flood of Americans losing their homes to foreclosure," according to the group. [20]
AIG Bonuses
It was revealed in March 2009 that American International Group (AIG), which had "received more than $170 billion in taxpayer bailout money from the Treasury and Federal Reserve," [21] planned to pay out $165 million in bonuses to the same executives who had in the prior year brought the company to the brink of collapse. Three days after this revelation, Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd (D) "confessed to adding language to a spending cap in the stimulus bill last month that specifically excluded executive bonuses included in contracts signed before the bill's passage," [22] including those for executives of AIG. Though he passed the blame on Obama administration officials, specifically Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, for pressuring him to insert the language into the bill in the first place, it was revealed that the previous year Dodd has received over $280,000 in political contributions from AIG employees, making the American insurance company the fourth largest contributor to his campaign. [23]
Blumenthal went after AIG, demanding the insurance company provide his office a list of bonus amounts and recipients, in addition to copies of contracts and other information related to their payment. The Connecticut Attorney General, however, did not file suit against Senator Chris Dodd, despite the fact that AIG Financial Products is based out of their home state of Connecticut. Quizzed as to why he was refusing to go after Senator Dodd for his role in the AIG bonus scandal by conservative personality Glenn Beck on his FOX News television program, Blumenthal replied that it was outside the realm of his authority as Connecticut Attorney General. When pressed to give an answer as to what specific law AIG executives had broken in receiving their bonuses, Blumenthal stammered and was unable to cite the exact statute. Beck slammed Blumenthal's response, calling the Connecticut Attorney General "an insult to George Washington," who, he went to say, "made it very clear that we are a respecter of laws, not of men." [24] The conservative radio/television commentator suggested Blumenthal did it to serve his own political ambitions.
Eddie Perez
In November 2007, Blumenthal appeared at Arch Street Tavern in Hartford, Connecticut in an effort to raise money, approximately $100 per person, in support of Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez. Months before, Perez had announced that police had searched his house after it was alleged that he "allowed a contractor [who had received city business] to spend around $30,000 to fix his bathroom." [25] An arrest warrant was issued for Perez charging him with bribery, fabricating evidence, and conspiracy to fabricate evidence in January 2009. Eight months later, the Hartford Mayor was arrested again, this time facing extortion charges stemming from a no-bid parking lot deal.
Nation's worst AG
In an analysis of state attorney generals published in January 2007, Blumenthal was named The Nation's Worst Attorney General by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI). Judged based on dubious dealings, fabricating law, usurping legislative power, and predatory practices, the Connecticut Attorney General received a letter grade of F in all four categories. CEI called Blumenthal "a tireless crusader for growing the power of his own office and spreading largesse to his cronies." [26]
Campaign contributions
| 2006 Race for Attorney General - Campaign Contributions | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Raised | $520,676 | |||
| Total Raised by Primary Opponent | N/A | |||
| Total Raised by Gen. Election Opponent | $72,851 | |||
| Top 5 Contributors | Richard Blumenthal $150,000 (28.81% of Total) | |||
| Malcolm and Carolyn Wiener $3,000 (0.58%) | ||||
| Robert Simons $1,500 (0.29%) | ||||
| Henry S. Miller $1,500 (0.29%) | ||||
| Paul Warren $1,500 (0.29%) | ||||
| Individuals v. Institutions | $365,463 (70.2%) | |||
| $2,000 (0.4%) | ||||
| In v. Outside State | $457,795 (87.9%) | |||
| $59,865 (11.5%) | ||||
Electoral history
1998
| 1998 Race for Attorney General - General Election [27] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Percentage | |||
 Richard Blumenthal (D)
| 68.5% | |||
| Santa Mendoza (R) | 30.6% | |||
| Richard J. Pober (Libertarian) | 0.9% | |||
| Total votes | 921,414 | |||
2002
- 2002 Race for Attorney General - Democratic Primary
- Richard Blumenthal ran unopposed
| 2002 Race for Attorney General - General Election [28] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Percentage | |||
| Richard Blumenthal (D)
| 65.6% | |||
| Martha Dean (R) | 34.4% | |||
| Total votes | 963,225 | |||
2006
- 2006 Race for Attorney General - Democratic Primary
- Richard Blumenthal ran unopposed
| 2006 Race for Attorney General - General Election [29] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Percentage | |||
| Richard Blumenthal (D)
| 74.1% | |||
| Robert Farr (R) | 24.2% | |||
| Nancy Burton (Green) | 1.7% | |||
| Total votes | 1,055,937 | |||
Family life
Blumenthal currently resides in Greenwich, Connecticut with his wife, Cynthia. The couple has had four children together.
Awards
- Raymond E. Baldwin Award (2002) from the Quinnipiac University School of Law
- Trumpeter Award (2008) from the National Consumers League
Contact Information
Office of the Attorney General
Post Office Box 120
Hartford, CT 06106
Phone: 860-808-5318
Fax: 860-808-5387
E-mail: Attorney.General@po.state.ct.us
External links
- Official Connecticut Attorney General website
- Richard Blumenthal's Facebook profile
- Richard Blumenthal's Twitter account
- Richard Blumenthal for Senate Campaign website
- Project Vote Smart - Richard Blumenthal biography
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The Huffington Post "Richard Blumenthal Will Run To Replace Dodd In Senate" 6 Jan. 2010
- ↑ The New Republic "The Problem With Utah's Bcs Antitrust Claim" 11 Jan. 2009
- ↑ ESPN "Action names BC, ACC officials individually" 13 Oct. 2003
- ↑ ESPN "Conferences schedule games as part of settlement" 4 May, 2005
- ↑ Charleston Daily Post "Legal fees in Big East lawsuit top $2 million" 16 June, 2006
- ↑ ESPN "Once left for dead, Big East thriving in BCS" 22 May, 2008
- ↑ Connecticut Attorney General's Office "Attorney General Releases Opinion On Legality of Same-Sex Marriages in Connecticut" 17 May, 2004
- ↑ Clean Air Act - Section 126
- ↑ Connecticut Attorney General's Office "Blumenthal, Other Attorneys General Warn EPA That Energy Industry Contacts Must Be Disclosed" 7 Feb. 2002
- ↑ Connecticut Attorney General's Office "CT, NC Attorneys General Say MySpace Response To Subpoena Reveals 90,000 Registered Sex Offenders With Profiles" 3 Feb. 2009
- ↑ Make Blue Red "Blumenthal Does Something Good" 21 May, 2007
- ↑ Social Funds "Connecticut Fights to Keep Stanley Works from Disappearing to Bermuda " 9 July, 2002
- ↑ House Ways and Means Committee - June 25, 2002, Testimony
- ↑ GovTrack - H.R. 3884: Corporate Patriot Enforcement Act of 2002
- ↑ Wall Street Journal "Sorry, Stanley" 9 May, 2003
- ↑ Connecticut Attorney General's Office "Attorney General, Four Other States Urge U. S. Senate To Reject Immunity For Telecoms That Cooperated With Warrantless Wiretapping" 5 Nov. 2007
- ↑ San Francisco Chronicle "Feinstein backs legal immunity for telecom firms in wiretap cases" 9 Nov. 2007
- ↑ Public Policy Polling "Blumenthal starts with commanding lead" 6 Jan. 2010
- ↑ Quinnipiac University "Blumenthal Body Slams Republicans In Connecticut, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Lieberman Approval Plummets" 14 Jan. 2010
- ↑ ACORN "Attorneys General Take Action: Real Leadership in Fighting Foreclosures" June 2008
- ↑ New York Times "A.I.G. Planning Huge Bonuses After $170 Billion Bailout" 14 March, 2009
- ↑ FOX News ""Sen. Dodd Admits Adding Bonus Provision to Stimulus Package" 18 March, 2009
- ↑ Open Secrets "Before the Fall, AIG Payouts Went to Washington" 16 March, 2009
- ↑ Newsbusters "Fox News Host Beck Slams Connecticut AG: 'You are an Insult to George Washington'" 30 March, 2009
- ↑ The Everyday Republican "The Company That Dick Blumenthal Keeps" 11 Nov. 2007
- ↑ Competitive Enterprise Institute "Issue Analysis: The Nation’s Top Ten Worst State Attorneys General" 24 Jan. 2007
- ↑ Connecticut Attorney General - Vote for Attorney General 1998
- ↑ Connecticut Attorney General - Vote for Attorney General 2002
- ↑ Connecticut Attorney General - Vote for Attorney General 2006
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by NA | Connecticut House of Representatives - District 145 1984–1987 | Succeeded by NA |
| Preceded by Anthony D. Truglia | Connecticut State Senate - District 27 1987–1990 | Succeeded by George Jepson |
| Preceded by Clarine Nardi Riddle | Connecticut Attorney General 1991–present | Succeeded by NA |
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