{news} Journal Inquirer article about Nancy Burton

[David Bedell]

This one came out April 11.  The reporter filed the story before speaking 
with Nancy, so there are unfortunate errors; however, this story led to a 
better one in the Lyme Times (I'll email separately).


http://www.journalinquirer.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16461860

04/11/2006
Greens running disbarred lawyer for attorney general
By Don Michak , Journal Inquirer

The Green Party of Connecticut is poised to nominate a disbarred lawyer from
Redding, Nancy Burton, as its candidate for state attorney general, a post
statutorily required to be filled by a licensed lawyer.

But the co-chairman of the third party, Mike DeRosa, said today that the law
license of Burton, a longtime champion of environmental and anti-nuclear
causes, is slated to be reinstated before the November election. In any
event, he added, she and her supporters consider her disbarment a badge of
honor.

Burton, a founder of the Connecticut Coalition Against Millstone, a group
opposed to the nuclear power station in Waterford, said today that while she
has been barred from practicing law in Connecticut state courts, she remains
licensed to practice in both federal courts and in New York State courts.

Her reinstatement, she said, could occur on Nov. 2, provided that she
reapplies for the license.

Burton said she's seeking the Greens' nomination primarily "to shut
Millstone."

Burton in 2001 was ordered disbarred for five years by Bridgeport Superior
Court Judge A. William Mottolese, who found that she had represented clients
without their authorization and that she had a pattern of "pervasive
misconduct."

The ruling centered on Burton's claim to represent people who attended a
neighborhood meeting about the planned use of a rock crusher in a
Monroe-area housing development.

While 18 of the 22 attendees signed a sheet agreeing to become co-plaintiffs
in a legal appeal, Mottolese concluded several believed they were simply
signing a petition.

He also found that by meeting later only with the owners of the home where
the meeting was held, Burton had violated a rule requiring a lawyer to keep
clients reasonably informed about the status of their case.

The judge stayed his order, however, to give Burton a chance to appeal.

Burton subsequently filed a federal lawsuit against Mottolese, accusing him
of bias against her.

The state Supreme Court, meanwhile, in 2003 dismissed Burton's complaint
that the judge had incorrectly concluded she had broken ethical rules and
that he was wrong to disbar her.

The court also rejected her claims that the judge exceeded his legal
authority by initiating the disbarrment proceeding, showed bias against her,
and violated her due process rights in the hearing that led to her
disbarrment.

DeRosa said Burton and her supporters among the Green Party's chapters had
discussed the matter and that it was likely to be rehashed at the party's
state nominating convention, slated for April 22 in Hartford.

"It's on her Web site, where she explains and says she feels her treatment
was directly related to her opposition to the continued opposition of
Millstone," he said. "She is to be reinstated before the election, and if
she were to win, she should be properly empowered to take office."


©Journal Inquirer 2006