AG Candidate Martha Dean Addresses RRTC

Speaking before Ridgefield's Republican Town Committee Thursday night, Martha A. Dean said that as Connecticut's attorney general she would run the office based on fundamental American values that support a free enterprise system, a competitive economy and individual personal rights.

"There is nothing about me that's political," said Dean, a GOP candidate for the office. "I'm going to be a public servant as attorney general, and I'm going to do what's right and make decisions based on what's right."

Dean said she has never been swayed by whether her views are consistent with those of her party or by people who donate money to her campaign.

"I'll listen to everyone and we'll make decisions out in the open, and we're going to do it in a way that makes sense, that's not political, and that's what we need in law enforcement."

A resident of Avon with her husband, Malcolm Ian McGough, Dean, 51, is the endorsed candidate of the state's Republican Party but faces a primary challenge by Ross Garber, a lawyer who ran for state treasurer in 2002 against Democratic incumbent Denise Nappier.

Garber also was scheduled to speak to the committee but became tied up at a fundraising event.

The same year, Dean challenged Democratic incumbent Richard Blumenthal for attorney general. Blumenthal is out of the picture for that office this year, hoping to win the seat of U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd, who is retiring.

Prior to Dean's presentation, the town committee's members heard from Jeff Wright, Republican candidate for state treasurer, who is challenging 12-year Democratic incumbent Nappier for the job.

Wright said that as state treasurer he would refuse to comply with legislation calling for issuing bonds to fund the state's operating expenses, which he said was done to cover costs in this year's state budget.

Responding to Wright's comments, Dean said, "(W)hen I get in office I will make the tough decisions that need to be made to back up Jeff Wright as treasurer when he says no to borrowing to pay for our operating budget."

Dean also said if any of the three Republican candidates for governor won, she would support him if he failed to obtain cooperation from the state's employee unions on cost savings and needed to break their contracts.

Dean said Connecticut is ranked as the most anti-business state in the country, "and our attorney general is directly responsible for that." She said Blumenthal has run businesses out of the state, "and sued them on the way out."

As attorney general, Dean said she would join other states in opposing the "Obamacare" requirement that people must sign up for health insurance.

"That's wrong. It's a violation of the Tenth Amendment," she said.

Dean said she would also join nine other states in defending Arizona's law permitting police officers to request documentation from persons showing they are in the country legally.

"Arizona is in a very tough position, and it's an embarrassment that our president hasn't even been there to see what's going on," Dean said.

Dean is not seeking public funds for her campaign, saying she fundamentally disagrees with the state's public elections programs.

"It is an incumbent protection program," she said, adding, the money comes from the pockets of taxpayers and could be used for other purposes.

A great candidate can win with a lot less money then is made available from the public elections program, Dean said. "It's when you're not a great candidate that you have to keep spending."

Dean told the group there are going to be very tough times ahead and tough decisions will have to be made.

"I just want you to know that I have never been afraid of anything I've taken on in life, and I've taken on some really tough tasks," she said.

Dean started her own law practice 16 years ago after working for the law firm Robinson and Cole in Hartford as an environmental lawyer. In 1984, she served as a law clerk in the honors program for the United States Securities & Exchange Commission in New York.

Dean is co-founder and co-executive director of the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy and is a member of the National Rifle Association, the Cato Institute and the Heritage Foundation.

The winner of the August 10 GOP primary will face Democrat George Jepsen in November.