On October 26, the Republican nominee for Connecticut Attorney General, Martha Dean, brought a lawsuit in state court to disqualify her Democratic opponent, George Jepsen. See this story.
Earlier this year, the Connecticut Supreme Court had ruled that Susan Bysiewicz, the Democratic Secretary of State who wanted to run for Attorney General this year, does not meet the statutory qualifications to be Attorney General. Although the Supreme Court issued its conclusion in May, it didn’t explain itself until last week. When the decision came down, it said that no one is qualified to be Attorney General unless the person has litigated cases in court for ten years. Dean charges that Jepsen does not qualify because he allegedly does not have ten years of experience trying cases. He is an attorney who has been “of counsel” for many lawsuits. That means he advises the attorneys who are actually doing the litigating.
The ballots have already been printed, so Dean is asking that the election for Attorney General be postponed. There is a third nominee on the ballot for Attorney General, Stephen Fournier. He is the Green Party nominee.