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===Big East and ACC===
===Big East and ACC===
Attorney General Blumenthal played a pivotal role in one of the biggest college athletics stories of the decade; expansion of the Atlantic Coast Conference and the departures of Boston College, Miami, and Virginia Tech from the [[Big East]]. He led efforts by the Big East football schools (Virginia Tech, Rutgers, Pittsburgh, and West Virginia) in legal proceedings against the [[Atlantic Coast Conference]], the University of Miami and Boston College, accusing them of improper disclosure of confidential information and of conspiring to weaken the Big East.<ref>http://www.nis.wvu.edu/2003_Releases/statement1012.htm</ref> These suits cost the schools involved over $2 million in just the first four months of litigation that proceeded for over two years.<ref>http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2003/11/10/story6.html</ref> The lawsuit against the ACC was dismissed on jurisdictional grounds, though it was refiled later.<ref>http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=1743104</ref> A declaratory judgement by the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts exonerated Boston College in the matter. Virginia Tech accepted an invitation from the ACC and withdrew from the suit to remove themselves from the awkward position of suing their new conference.
Attorney General Blumenthal played a pivotal role in one of the biggest college athletics stories of the decade; expansion of the Atlantic Coast Conference and the departures of Boston College, Miami, and Virginia Tech from the [[Big East]]. He led efforts by the Big East football schools (Virginia Tech, Rutgers, Pittsburgh, and West Virginia) in legal proceedings against the [[Atlantic Coast Conference]], the University of Miami and Boston College, accusing them of improper disclosure of confidential information and of conspiring to weaken the Big East.<ref>http://www.nis.wvu.edu/2003_Releases/statement1012.htm</ref> These suits cost the schools involved over $2 million in just the first four months of litigation that proceeded for over two years.<ref>http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2003/11/10/story6.html</ref> The lawsuit against the ACC was dismissed on jurisdictional grounds, though it was refiled later.<ref>http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=1743104</ref> A declaratory judgment by the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts exonerated Boston College in the matter. Virginia Tech accepted an invitation from the ACC and withdrew from the suit to remove themselves from the awkward position of suing their new conference.


Although all of the suits failed in court, a secret out of court settlement was eventually reached.<ref>http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=2052787</ref> The details, that each school received $1 million, were disclosed after the ''Hartford Courant'' filed a Freedom of Information request to obtain relevant documents which were not made public by the Attorney General.<ref>http://sports-law.blogspot.com/2005/05/big-east-and-acc-settle-lawsuit.html</ref> Although Attorney General Blumenthal 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. (e.g., "Legal fees in Big East lawsuit top $2 million" by Mickey Furfari, ''Charleston Daily Post'', Thursday, June 16, 2006)
Although all of the suits failed in court, a secret out of court settlement was eventually reached.<ref>http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=2052787</ref> The details, that each school received $1 million, were disclosed after the ''Hartford Courant'' filed a Freedom of Information request to obtain relevant documents which were not made public by the Attorney General.<ref>http://sports-law.blogspot.com/2005/05/big-east-and-acc-settle-lawsuit.html</ref> Although Attorney General Blumenthal 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. (e.g., "Legal fees in Big East lawsuit top $2 million" by Mickey Furfari, ''Charleston Daily Post'', Thursday, June 16, 2006)

Revision as of 21:54, 6 January 2010

Richard Blumenthal
Richard Blumenthal in 2008
22nd Connecticut Attorney General
Incumbent
Assumed office
1990
Preceded byClarine Nardi Riddle
Personal details
Born (1946-02-13) February 13, 1946 (age 78)
Brooklyn, New York
NationalityUnited States
Political partyDemocratic
Alma materYale Law School
Harvard College

Richard Blumenthal (born February 13, 1946) is an American politician who has been Attorney General of Connecticut since 1990. He is currently running as a Democratic candidate in the 2010 Connecticut Senate race for the seat held by Christopher Dodd.[2]

Education

Blumenthal graduated from Harvard College magna cum laude and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He received his J.D. from Yale Law School, where he was editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Journal.[3]

Early political career

Blumenthal had a brief career as a newspaper reporter for The Washington Post. He was hired by Benjamin C. Bradlee, editor of the Post, and worked on the Metro desk.

At age 31, he became United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, serving from 1977 to 1981, and also served as the chief federal prosecutor of that state successfully prosecuted many major cases against drug traffickers, organized crime, white collar criminals, civil rights violators, consumer frauds, and environmental polluters. Attorney General Blumenthal also served as administrative assistant to United States Senator Abraham A. Ribicoff, as aide to United States Senator Daniel P. Moynihan when Moynihan was Assistant to President Richard Nixon, and as a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun. From 1981 to 1986, he was a volunteer counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Before he became Attorney General, Blumenthal was a member of the Connecticut state Senate from 1987 to 1990 and the state House from 1984 to 1987.

Attorney General career

He was first elected as the 23rd Attorney General in 1990 and was re-elected in 1994, 1998, 2002, and 2006. On October 10, 2002 he was awarded the Raymond E. Baldwin Award for Public Service by the Quinnipiac University School of Law.[4]

Big East and ACC

Attorney General Blumenthal played a pivotal role in one of the biggest college athletics stories of the decade; expansion of the Atlantic Coast Conference and the departures of Boston College, Miami, and Virginia Tech from the Big East. He led efforts by the Big East football schools (Virginia Tech, Rutgers, Pittsburgh, and West Virginia) in legal proceedings against the Atlantic Coast Conference, the University of Miami and Boston College, accusing them of improper disclosure of confidential information and of conspiring to weaken the Big East.[5] These suits cost the schools involved over $2 million in just the first four months of litigation that proceeded for over two years.[6] The lawsuit against the ACC was dismissed on jurisdictional grounds, though it was refiled later.[7] A declaratory judgment by the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts exonerated Boston College in the matter. Virginia Tech accepted an invitation from the ACC and withdrew from the suit to remove themselves from the awkward position of suing their new conference.

Although all of the suits failed in court, a secret out of court settlement was eventually reached.[8] The details, that each school received $1 million, were disclosed after the Hartford Courant filed a Freedom of Information request to obtain relevant documents which were not made public by the Attorney General.[9] Although Attorney General Blumenthal 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. (e.g., "Legal fees in Big East lawsuit top $2 million" by Mickey Furfari, Charleston Daily Post, Thursday, June 16, 2006)

Regional transmission organization

In 2003 Blumenthal, along with former Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly, Rhode Island Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch, and consumer advocates from Connecticut, Maine, and New Hampshire, opposed "the formation of a regional transmission organization (RTO) that would merge three Northeast and mid-Atlantic power operators, called Independent Service Operators (ISOs), into a single super-regional RTO."[10] In a press release he is quoted as saying "This fatally flawed RTO proposal will raise rates, reduce accountability and reward market manipulation. It will increase the power and profits of transmission operators with an immediate $40 million price tag for consumers."[11] The opposition was due to a report authored by Synapse Energy Economics, Inc., a Cambridge-based energy consulting firm, which alleged that consumers would be worse off under the merger.[12]

Interstate air pollution

In 1997, both Blumenthal and Governor John G. Rowland petitioned the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to address interstate air pollution problems created from Midwest and southeastern sources.[13] The petition was filed in accordance with Section 126 of the Clean Air Act, which allows a United States state to request pollution reductions from out-of-state sources that contribute significantly to its air quality problems.

In 2003 his office, along with eleven other states, filed suit to prevent what they claimed 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."[14] The suit filed in conjunction with New York, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin. A number of local governments, including the New York City and various Connecticut municipalities, were also plaintiffs in the suit.

Stanley Works

On May 10, 2002 both he and Connecticut State Treasurer Denise L. Nappier helped to stop the hostile takeover of New Britain-based Stanley Works, a major Connecticut employer, by filing a lawsuit alleging that the move to reincorporate in Bermuda based on a shareholder's vote of May 9[15] was "rife with voting irregularities." The agreement to temporarily halt the move was signed by New Britain Superior Court Judge Marshall Berger.[16] On June 3 Blumenthal referred the matter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for further investigation[17] and on June 25 he testified before the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means 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." Blumenthal stated that "Corporations proposing to reincorporate to Bermuda, such as Stanley, often tell shareholders that there is no material difference in the law" but said that this was not the case and was misleading to their shareholders.[18] In order to rectify this situation he championed the Corporate Patriot Enforcement Act to close tax loopholes.[19]

Blumenthal's position generated some controversy. On May 9, 2003 the Wall Street Journal wrote an editorial stating 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." However, in the same article, it was noted that those jobs would likely have been at peril whether or not Blumenthal intervened. The company had already made the decision to relocate its factories to Bermuda and, consequently, receive $30 million in tax breaks.[20]

MySpace

In May 2007 Blumenthal demanded that the social networking site Myspace turn over a list of known sex offenders who used the site. He was quoted saying "these convicted, registered sex offenders clearly create profiles seeking to prey on children."[21] After initial refusal, MySpace turned over a list of 5,000 names, including 100 from Connecticut. Blumenthal planned to turn this information over to law enforcement to ascertain if any probation violations had occurred.[22] A Blumenthal critic, Republican state chairman Chris Healy, praised this effort.

Interstate 84

In 2007, Blumenthal became involved in the controversy over a botched reconstruction project of the Interstate 84 in Waterbury and Cheshire. The original contractor for the job went out of business and it was later revealed hundreds of storm drains were improperly installed. After the U.S. Department of Transportation threatened to withhold funds on April 24, 2007.[23] Blumenthal announced a lawsuit by the end of the day against the former contractor and an engineering firm that inspected the project.[24] Blumenthal had already settled all claims with the project's bonding company a month earlier for only $17.5 million of the project's $54 million cost.[25]

Same-sex marriage

In 2004 Blumenthal offered an opinion that Connecticut law did not permit same-sex marriage.[26] While he has personally argued many high profile appellate cases in the past, on May 14, 2007 he sent a subordinate to argue the state's case before the Connecticut Supreme Court on this issue.[27]

Terrorist Surveillance Program

In October 2007 Blumenthal was among only four state attorneys general to lobby Congress to reject proposals to provide immunity from litigation to telecommunications firms that cooperated with the federal government's terrorist surveillance program following the September 11 attacks in 2001. While suits against telecommunications firms were favored by the American Civil Liberties Union and Moveon.org, they were opposed by both the Bush Administration and Democrats such as Diane Feinstein.[28][29] In 2008 the Congress passed and President George W. Bush signed into law a new terrorist surveillance bill including the telecom immunity provisions opposed by Blumenthal.

Pequots

Blumenthal has led the fight against recognition of the Pequot People as a separate Nation after they refused to provide compensation for those American citizens injured on the premises of Foxwoods Casino.[30]

Countrywide Financial

In August 2008 Blumenthal announced Connecticut had joined California, Illinois and Florida in suing subprime mortgage lender Countrywide Financial(now owned by Bank of America) for fraudulent business practices. Blumenthal alleged that Connecticut consumers had been victimized by the mortgage giant.[31][32][33] Connecticut Republicans had pressured Blumenthal to bring suit, noting Countrywide's ties to U.S. Senator Chris Dodd.[34]

2010 U.S. Senate election

Main article: United States Senate election in Connecticut, 2010

Blumenthal has frequently been considered a top prospect to run as the Democratic Party candidate for Governor of Connecticut but declined the opportunity to challenge Republican Governors John G. Rowland or M. Jodi Rell in the elections of 1998, 2002, or 2006. This reluctance to seek higher office has raised parallels with the previous presidential ambitions of Mario Cuomo. On March 18, 2007, Hartford Courant columnist Kevin Rennie reported Blumenthal was now seriously interested in running for Governor in 2010.[35] Blumenthal has frequently been compared to former New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. In light of Spitzer's unpopular tenure as Governor, some Connecticut observers believed this association did not enhance Blumenthal's credentials to serve as Connecticut's Governor,[36] even prior to Spitzer's links to a high priced prostitution ring. At a recent 2008 Boys' State Conference, Blumenthal was asked whether or not he would run; he answered the question by saying that he "loved what I am doing" and "don't have any plans for the future just yet."

On February 2, 2009, Blumenthal announced he would forgo a gubernatorial run and seek re-election as Attorney General.[37]

After Sen. Chris Dodd annnounced on January 6, 2010 that he would retire, Blumenthal told the Associated Press that he will run in the election for the US Senate.[38] [39]

Criticism

In a landmark Connecticut Supreme Court decision, Blumenthal v. Barnes a unanimous court determined that Blumenthal sued the owner of a charter school while lacking authority to bring the suit. Justice Peter T. Zarella concluded in this 2002 opinion that the office of the attorney general is "a creature of statute that is governed by statute and, thus, has no common-law authority."[40][41]

Further reading

References

  1. ^ http://www.jewishhartford.org/page.aspx?id=189292
  2. ^ Connecticut’s Attorney General Will Seek Dodd’s Senate Seat
  3. ^ http://yalelawjournal.org/images/mastheads/82.pdf
  4. ^ http://www.quinnipiac.edu/x8470.xml
  5. ^ http://www.nis.wvu.edu/2003_Releases/statement1012.htm
  6. ^ http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2003/11/10/story6.html
  7. ^ http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=1743104
  8. ^ http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=2052787
  9. ^ http://sports-law.blogspot.com/2005/05/big-east-and-acc-settle-lawsuit.html
  10. ^ http://www.cslib.org/attygenl/press/2001/util/rtoferc.htm
  11. ^ http://www.cslib.org/attygenl/press/2003/coniss/rtoraiserates.htm
  12. ^ http://www.cslib.org/attygenl/consumer/synapse%20report.pdf
  13. ^ http://www.cslib.org/attygenl/press/1997/enviss/pr81497.htm
  14. ^ http://www.cslib.org/attygenl/press/2003/enviss/nsrcaa.htm
  15. ^ http://www.socialfunds.com/news/article.cgi/article878.html
  16. ^ http://www.cslib.org/attygenl/press/2002/other/stanley.htm
  17. ^ http://www.cslib.org/attygenl/press/2002/other/sec.htm
  18. ^ http://waysandmeans.house.gov/legacy/srm/107cong/6-25-02/6-25blum.htm
  19. ^ http://waysandmeans.house.gov/legacy/fullcomm/107cong/6-6-02/records/blumenthal.htm
  20. ^ http://www.freedomandprosperity.org/Articles/wsj05-09-03/wsj05-09-03.shtml
  21. ^ http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/02/03/myspace.sex.offenders/index.html
  22. ^ http://www.courant.com/news/local/hcu-myspace-0521,0,55084.story?coll=hc-headlines-home
  23. ^ http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-i84funds0424.artapr24,0,3388407.story
  24. ^ http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-i84sue0424,0,2079705.story?coll=hc-headlines-local
  25. ^ http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/east/2007/03/23/78053.htm
  26. ^ http://www.nbc30.com/politics/3313571/detail.html
  27. ^ http://www.courant.com/news/local/hcu-marriagelawsuit-0514,0,5835233.story
  28. ^ http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/11/09/BA13T97BN.DTL
  29. ^ http://www.ct.gov/ag/cwp/view.asp?A=2788&Q=398498
  30. ^ http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE3D71038F931A15756C0A962958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all
  31. ^ http://www.ct.gov/ag/cwp/view.asp?Q=420722&A=2795
  32. ^ http://www.courant.com/business/nationworld/ats-ap-countrywide-lawsuitaug06,0,6712837.story
  33. ^ http://www.ct.gov/ag/lib/ag/consumers/countrywidelawsuit.pdf
  34. ^ http://www.everydayrepublican.com/2008/06/25/where-is-dick-blumenthal-on-countrywide/
  35. ^ [1]
  36. ^ [2]
  37. ^ http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hcu-blumenthal-0202,0,6466372.story
  38. ^ [3]
  39. ^ http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/top/all/6800794.html
  40. ^ http://www.jud.state.ct.us/external/supapp/Cases/AROcr/261cr122.pdf
  41. ^ http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9904E6DD103AF931A2575BC0A9649C8B63
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