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| Matt Blumenthal -- House Dems |
It would appear that
someone, in some formerly smoke filled back room, is making political plans for
U.S. Senator Dick Blumenthal’s son, State Representative Matt Blumenthal.
Is Blumenthal the
younger, a chip off his dad’s block, being groomed for Connecticut’s Attorney
General? And if so, what is the present Attorney General William Tong being
groomed for?
A CTMirror report, Aside
from cutting taxes, this budget could decide who runs for AG, suggests Matt Blumenthal may have his eye
fixed on his Dad’s launch pad.
Last March, the
publication noted, the Government Administration and Elections Committee
approved a bill that would have eliminated “active practice” language in a
statute governing admission standards for the Attorney General’s office. To be
admitted as a candidate for Attorney General, a prior standard required applicants
to have had at least ten years active
practice at the bar
(emphasis mine), possibly an unconstitutional mandate.
“On pages 339 and
340 of the 882-page budget bill passed early Tuesday in the House of
Representatives,” CTMirror reported, “is a provision that could affect who can
and cannot run for attorney general in 2026… The new standard says a candidate,
aside from being a member of the Connecticut bar, simply must have “engaged
in the practice of law [emphasis mine] in this state for at least ten
years, either consecutively or nonconsecutively.”
“Active practice” at
the bar is no longer necessary under the revised dispensation and, more
importantly, the ten year restriction has been reduced to six years.
Qui Bono? Who
benefits from such an arrangement?
“One of the possible
beneficiaries,” CTMirror notes, “was Rep. Matt Blumenthal, D-Stamford,”
the Government Administration and
Elections Committee co-chair.
“Matt Blumenthal was
admitted to the Connecticut bar six years ago and will be one year short of the
currently required decade in 2026, the next scheduled election for attorney
general.”
Political columnist
Chris Powell noted years ago that Connecticut’s Constitution mandates only one
restriction – an age limit – to office seekers in Connecticut. “Find Law” has
helpfully provided a list of 41 U.S.
Supreme Court Justices Without Prior Judicial Experience Before Becoming
Justices. And
Connecticut legislators, burdening the office with additional requirements, have
yet to explain why what is good for the Supreme Court gander is bad for the Connecticut
Attorney General goose hankering to become, in the course of time, a U.S.
Senator.
Two previous
Connecticut Attorneys General -- Joe Lieberman and Dick Blumenthal – moved
easily from the AG’s office to the U.S. Senate, although wedging Blumenthal
from his 20 year sinecure as Attorney General was made to seem a bit like
pulling teeth.
There is in the
United States a tradition that office holders, in the midst of ambitious and
costly campaigns, must affect some degree of modesty underpinned by a barely
concealed reluctance to holding office. What… me? I would be much happier
tending to my wife and children and the lucrative business I must surrender to
hold office, only to be badgered for years by intemperate challengers and an
uncomprehending media.
The recent history
of both offices, that of Attorney General and U.S. Senator, suggests a series
of unanswered questions yet to be put to Matt Blumenthal, Dick Blumenthal or Tong.
Is Dick Blumenthal
planning to vacate his office as U.S. Senator? What future political slot may he
hold? Is Blumenthal the Elder angling
for a position on the U.S. Supreme Court if or when, as sometimes happens, one
of the justices retires and President Joe Biden, retaining office in 2024, is
able to select to the high court someone whose views on abortion match those of
the sainted abortionists at Planned Parenthood?
Can Blumenthal the
Elder be persuaded to run for Governor, should present Governor Ned Lamont in
the not too distant future shake the dust of Connecticut from his feet and
retire to his family’s estate, Sky
Farm, a small island in North
Haven, Maine?
Who will move where
and why? If Matt Blumenthal is being groomed to be Attorney General, where on
the political chessboard will Tong end up?
Should Matt
Blumenthal, the Government Administration and Elections Committee co-chair,
have been permitted to shape a statutory measure that might benefit him
politically? Stern ethicists would say “No.” But ethics plays second fiddle in
politics to personal ambition, and we have gotten to the point in our politics
where even illegal actions are occasionally permitted when they benefit the
party in power.
In a one-party state
such as Connecticut, such moves on the political chessboard are generally predetermined
to the satisfaction of all the chess pieces.
But, alas, a major
difficulty presents itself. Connecticut
may tolerate a one-party neo-progressive state – until it becomes intolerable –
but people in the state always have looked with a jaundiced eye on political
dynasties, particularly when those who benefit by the dynasty are calling the
political shots.
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