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LOTT: AG Power Grab / Out of control in Connecticut.  

The last decade has seen state attorney generals use the power of the courts to shape public policy in unprecedented ways. Among the most aggressive in litigation ranging from tobacco to guns has been Connecticut's Richard Blumenthal, though for Blumenthal this was just the warm up. Even if the ideas that he is now advancing fail in Connecticut, they provide a dire warning of what other state attorneys general may soon start trying. . . The grab for power also crosses ethical lines. Two of the law firms that Blumenthal contracted with to sue the tobacco companies were run separately by his former law partner and his partner's wife. Blumenthal's defenders claim that other law firms simply didn't want the job. In a Connecticut Law Tribune article, however, a few lawyers disagreed, one complaining that "we didn't ever get a meeting" with the attorney general's office and another saying that his firm wasn't included despite agreeing to the state's contractual terms. Blumenthal's former partner, David Golub, acknowledged,

"I know how it 'looks' — he's my former partner ..."

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