AG Reviews Bysiewicz’s Qualifications

The attorney general will soon weigh in on whether Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz is qualified to run for his seat now that he won't run.

Last Thursday, Bysiewicz's campaign defended her qualifications to run as attorney general after a blogger in her own party questioned whether she met the legal requirements to serve.

Last Friday, she called Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, and asked his to issue a legal opinion on the matter. He did, and followed up on Wednesday once the Secretary of State made a formal request.

“My office today received a request from Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz for a formal legal opinion regarding statutes and constitutional provisions relating to eligibility requirements for the Office of Attorney General," Blumenthal said in a statement. “My office will carefully review Secretary Bysiewicz’s request, and I will respond as promptly as possible.”

Ryan McKeen, East Hartford lawyer and fellow Democrat, started the debate when he questioned whether Bysiewicz met the 10-year requirement in his "A Connecticut Law Blog."

In his blog. McKeen maintains that he is a lawyer who devotes some free time to his blog, and “not Bob Woodward.”

Local

Manchester 37 mins ago

Crews extinguish fire at scrap yard in Manchester

Norwalk 1 hour ago

Car merging onto I-95 South hit fuel truck before fiery crash in Norwalk: state police

Connecticut law requires that the attorney general be "an attorney of law of at least 10 years' active practice" in the state.

Bysiewicz told the Hartford Courant that she had researched the question back to 1899 and that she qualifies. She has been an attorney since 1986 and practiced law as a private attorney and government official since then, the paper reports.

Bysiewicz worked as an attorney in Connecticut from 1988 to 1994, according to Bysiewicz's campaign spokeswoman, Tanya Meck. And the 11 years Bysiewicz spent supervising attorneys while serving as Secretary of State also counts toward the requirement, Meck said.

Last Thursday, Christopher Healy, chairman of the state Republican party, tells NBC Connecticut that his office is investigating the matter and will decide shortly whether to pursue it.