Legal Blogger Triggers Questions About AG Candidate’s Qualifications
Connecticut law requires the state attorney general to have at least 10 years’ of active practice “at the bar of this state.”
Lawyer Ryan McKeen of the Connecticut Law Blog pointed out the requirement in a post on Wednesday, and questioned whether Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz, an attorney general candidate, met the qualification.
The blog post has affected subsequent news coverage and the campaign, according to the Hartford Courant blog Capitol Watch.
Bysiewicz claims that her 11 years as secretary of state count toward the requirement. She claims her work was in essence running a public interest law firm through her supervision of state lawyers. But one possible election opponent, State Rep. Cameron Staples, disagrees, according to the story.
“That’s like saying the CEO of a corporation, who has a law degree, practices law just because there’s a law department in the corporation,” Staples said.
