Jepsen, DeFronzo visit senior center
http://www.newbritainherald.com/articles/2010/07/21/news/doc4c47a7a848158966136524.txt
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
By Scott Whipple
Staff Writer
NEW BRITAIN — Thirty city residents met George Jepsen, Democratic candidate for attorney general, over lunch Tuesday at the senior center on Pearl Street. State Sen. Donald DeFronzo, D-New Britain, who introduced Jepsen, said he would be an attorney general in the Blumenthal mold.
“Next to governor the most important position in the state is attorney general,” said DeFronzo. “It’s a public advocacy office and George has the necessary political and professional experience for the job.”
Jepsen, 55, told seniors how his parents struggled during the Great Depression. From them he learned that “government can make a positive difference in people’s lives.” His parents’ example inspired him to take up the fight for working men and women — negotiating contracts for fair wages and benefits, representing injured workers, ensuring job safety and arguing for fair bidding practices and contract awards.
The candidate, a former state senator and a lawyer, is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Dartmouth College, a graduate from Harvard Law School with honors and a master’s degree in public policy from the Kennedy School of Government. To help pay for his education, he worked as a teaching fellow in constitutional law for former Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox.
As Jepsen and DeFronzo moved among diners Jepsen took some “meat-and-potato” questions.
Bill Gordon, 63, told Jepsen he needed a ride to the polls from his home on Corbin Avenue.
The retired former surgical aide at the Hospital of Central Connecticut said he suffers from colon cancer.
“If they want my vote they need to pick me up,” Gordon said.
Jepsen told him he would see what he could do about transportation to the polls.
Later in an interview, he said he had been a law student intern for Blumenthal in 1979 when he was U.S. Attorney and then helped run Blumenthal’s campaign for attorney general 20 years ago; later he took his seat in the state Senate.
“We’ve been friends and political allies for 30 years,” Jepsen said. “I share his activist outlook, though I intend to bring my own personal style to the job.”
Jepsen stressed his commitment to civil rights, environmental and women’s issues. He considers his major achievement authoring Connecticut’s living will law.
“It’s brought death with dignity to tens of thousands of people and their families during a difficult end-of-life times,” he said.
Jepsen fought the National Rifle Association to obtain a ban on assault weapons and pushed for preservation of water-shed lands.
As for opponents. He’s not sure whom he’ill face in August—Martha Dean or Ross Garber. However, neither opponent, he says, will run as a political activist.
“My vision of the office is much closer to Dick Blumenthal’s,” Jepsen said. “Without him we wouldn’t have a tobacco settlement or efforts to curb pollution by Midwestern coal-burning plants or self-policing of social networking sites like Facebook. These were all positive achievements brought about by an activist attorney general.”
Jepsen is the only candidate for attorney general participating in the public financing program and is “extremely grateful” that more than 1,300 individuals contributed to his campaign.
Connecticut’s Clean Election law, passed after the corruption conviction of former Gov. John Rowland, has been hailed as a comprehensive public campaign finance law. Candidates for constitutional offices qualify for public money if they raise $75,000 in contributions of $100 or less from qualified donors. Meeting this requirement makes the candidate eligible for a $750,000 state grant for the general election.
“The public understands that candidates who rely on special-interest money to fund their campaigns are less responsive to the needs of ordinary voters,” Jepsen said.
He said public financing enables more candidates to run and to spend more time connecting with voters, rather than dialing for dollars.
Earlier in the day, Jepsen met with William MiIlerick, president of the New Britain Chamber of Commerce. Both men said the meeting was productive.
“I’ve always had a good relationship with the business community,” Jepsen said.
Millerick told the New Britain Herald he is fascinated by people who seek political leadership positions.
“It’s very important these candidates understand the business point of view,” he said. “George and I talked about the business climate in New Britain; he showed definite interest.”
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