{news} Nancy Burton launches campaign

[David Bedell]

http://ctnewsjunkie.com/index.php/2006/09/05/clean_air_clean_water_clean_government

Clean Air. Clean Water. Clean Government.
by Christine Stuart


Nancy Burton, the Green Party’s candidate for Attorney General and 
environmental advocate said Tuesday that Attorney General Richard 
Blumenthal’s stand on the Millstone Nuclear Power Plant has not gone far 
enough.

She said while Blumenthal has intervened or has been a party in most 
lawsuits against Millstone, he has yet to shut down it’s operation.

“There’s no question he has the power,” to shut it down, Burton said 
standing across the street from Blumenthal‘s offices in Hartford. She said 
under the state’s environmental and consumer protection laws the attorney 
general has the power to seek an injunction against the plant’s parent 
company.

She said attorney general could advocate its closure under public nuisance 
laws or argue it has created a public health emergency by polluting the 
public’s air and water supply.

Despite a recent lawsuit filed by a whistleblower who claimed the plant 
disarmed its security system during periods of high winds because it caused 
thousands of false alarms, the state still approved a permit that allows the 
company to store spent nuclear energy in an above ground storage container, 
Burton said. She said this allowed the company to continue operating unit 
No. 2, which would have been shutdown had there been no place to store the 
nuclear waste.

“This is not the best way to protect the public,” she said.

But Burton, the full-time director of the Connecticut Coalition Against 
Millstone, said her platform includes much more than Millstone.

Another issue near and dear to Burton’s heart is judicial reform.

Following a petition to the Connecticut Supreme Court to investigate an 
alleged pattern of judicial misconduct by three Superior Court judges, 
Burton was disbarred in 2001 by now-retired Superior Court Judge A. William 
Mottolese. The decision to disbar Burton was upheld by the Connecticut 
Supreme Court in a decision written by then-Chief Justice William J. 
Sullivan.

Burton maintains Mottolese contrived bogus charges and believes she will 
eventually be vindicated. She is eligible to apply for re-admission to the 
bar prior to Election Day and currently is licensed to practice in New York.

Burton said Tuesday that she will work to get the legislature to approve a 
law that makes it a “crime for anyone who becomes aware of judicial 
misconduct to fail to report it.”

In addition if elected she will advocate for the following: abolition of the 
death penalty, universal health care, an energy policy which would radically 
reduce consumption and spur development, elimination of barriers to 
third-party participation, support of action by the Governor as 
Commander-in-Chief of the Connecticut National Guard to recall troops from 
fighting in the war in Iraq, and legalization of illegal drugs as an 
alternative to the failed drug wars.

Burton will challenge Democratic incumbent Blumenthal in addition to state 
Rep. Robert Farr, who is the Republican’s endorsed candidate in the race.

Burton was joined Tuesday by the Green Party’s candidate for governor, Cliff 
Thornton and Mike DeRosa, Green Party candidate for secretary of state. This 
is the first time the party has run a full-slate of candidates in a 
statewide election.