{news} Burton-for-AG Press Conference at Noon Today (Press Release)

Tue Sep 5 07:29:43 EDT 2006

NANCY  BURTON
for
ATTORNEY GENERAL

CLEAN AIR - CLEAN WATER  
CLEAN GOVERNMENT
_www.VoteBurton.org_ (http://www.VoteBurton.org) 

BURTON ANNOUNCES GREEN PARTY
CANDIDACY  FOR ATTORNEY GENERAL;
VOWS TO CURB JUDICIAL CORRUPTION
AND CLOSE  MILLSTONE

For Release: September 5, 2006 /12 noon

Contact: Nancy Burton _203-938-3952/Cell203-545-9252/NancyBurtonCT at aol.com_ 
(mailto:203-938-3952/Cell203-545-9252/NancyBurtonCT at aol.com) 
David Bedell, Campaign Manager, 203-581-3193/ _dbedellgreen at hotmail.com_ 
(mailto:dbedellgreen at hotmail.com) ,

     Hartford - Vowing to work to purge  the courts of judicial corruption 
and to close the Millstone Nuclear Power  Station, environmental activist Nancy 
Burton formally launched her campaign as  Connecticut Green Party candidate 
for state Attorney General at a press  conference today in Hartford at Bushnell 
Park across the street from the  attorney general’s office at 55 Elm Street.

     “If elected state attorney general, I  will be in court to close 
Millstone before the sun sets on my first day in  office,” Burton proclaimed.

     “Our laws give the attorney general  enormous powers to protect the 
public interest,” Burton said. “These laws have  been under-utilized.”

     “Millstone and its New York twin, the  Indian Point nuclear power 
station, constitute the worst threats to the health,  safety and welfare of the 
people of this state and we need to close them now,”  Burton said.

     “Both Millstone and Indian Point are  pre-deployed weapons of mass 
destruction which are poisoning our communities  with daily doses of radiation and 
the build-up of thousands of tons of deadly  radioactive waste,” Burton said. “
Electricity generators that require evacuation  plans in the event of 
catastrophe or sabotage do not belong near population  centers.”

     “That Millstone is still operating  after years of scandal, accidents 
and illegal conduct is a testament to  corruption and arrogance in the Governor’
s office and inaction by the attorney  general’s office,” Burton said.

     “In each of the eight lawsuits I  brought against Millstone on 
environmental grounds, Mr. Blumenthal sided with  Millstone’s corporate owners and 
against the public interest,” Burton said. “The  State of Connecticut did not 
even participate in the recent relicensing of  Millstone Units 2 and 3. The state’
s lack of participation was tantamount to  issuing a blank check for Dominion 
to continuing operating Millstone without  fear of state oversight.” 

     “The attorney general possesses  statutory power to obtain a court order 
to terminate a corporation’s charter to  do business in the state when the 
corporation engages in unfair and deceptive  trade practices,” Burton said.

     “I would waste no time to revoke  Dominion’s charter for its many sins 
against the public interest: firing  whistleblowers who advocate for safety 
and security, routinely disabling  Millstone’s security system to save costs, 
poisoning the community with  radiation and toxic releases to the air and water 
and always deceiving us about  the health effects of its operations,” Burton 
said. 

     “Connecticut had an opportunity to  shut Millstone Unit 2 when it ran 
out of space to store its nuclear waste two  years ago,” Burton said. “Instead, 
Attorney General Blumenthal sided with  Millstone’s corporate owner, 
Dominion, to extend the life of that aging reactor  by advocating for an above-ground 
storage site before the Siting  Council.”

     “As a result, the Town of Waterford  stands to become a permanent 
nuclear waste dump town, but for an appeal which I  have personally taken to the 
Superior Court,” Burton said.

     “What’s wrong with this picture?”  Burton asked.

     “When ordinary citizens have to step  forward alone to defend their 
communities against nuclear perils, it’s time for  a radical shake-up in 
government,” Burton said.

     “The Green Party is here to provide a  new voice and a new choice for 
the people,” Burton said.

     Burton said the state should apply  its power of eminent domain to con
demn  Millstone and create in its place a  center for development of sustainable 
energy which would capture the power of  the sun, wind and wave action along 
the Connecticut shoreline.

     Such a project would create hundreds  of jobs and help reduce the state’
s dependency on foreign oil. 

     “Eminent domain should never be used  to destroy stable residential 
neighborhoods to reward corporate profiteers,”  Burton said. “But eminent domain 
surely has a place in ridding a community of a  notorious public nuisance and 
replacing it with a visionary development which  will provide real and lasting 
benefit to the community.”   

    Burton worked as a public interest attorney  for 20 years, successfully 
bringing suit in 1999 to shut Millstone Unit 2  temporarily during the annual 
fish spawning season.

     As a public-interest attorney, Burton  took on many controversial cases 
successfully, advocating for environmental  protection and against gender bias 
and racism. She saved a school teacher’s home  from a condemnation initiated 
by the state Department of Transportation to  benefit a private corporation. 
She obtained immediate release from prison of an  innocent African-American 
youth prosecuted for his race. She saved historic  properties from demolition and 
development. She won many reversals on appeal. 

     However, when she petitioned the  Connecticut Supreme Court in 1995 to 
investigate three Superior Court judges for  a pattern of misconduct, Burton 
paid a heavy price for her judicial  whistleblowing. 

     Burton was disbarred from the  practice of law for five years on 
November 2, 2001 by now-retired Superior Court  Judge A. William Mottolese, whose 
decision 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 that she will eventually be  fully vindicated. She is eligible 
to apply for re-admission prior to Election  Day on November 7, 2006. Burton 
remains licensed to practice in New  York.

     “I paid the ultimate price for  honoring the attorney’s oath by 
reporting judicial misconduct to high  authorities within the Judicial Department,” 
said Burton.

     “Honoring the attorney’s oath should  not be a path to career suicide,” 
Burton said. “If I am elected Attorney  General, I will work for passage of a 
law which would make it a crime for anyone  who becomes aware of judicial 
misconduct to fail to report it,” Burton  said.

“With passage of such a law, and assuming full enforcement, the courts of  
Connecticut will go a long way toward becoming true temples of justice,” Burton  
said.

     Burton fell out of favor with one  Superior Court Judge, now-retired 
Howard J. Moraghan, when she sued him on  behalf of Barbara Monsky in 1996 
because the judge allowed his dog to bother  women inside the courthouse by shoving 
its wet snout under their skirts in what  Burton called repetitious, 
ritualistic conduct. Moraghan’s superiors in Hartford  would not intervene.

     “I find it ironic that Judge  Moraghan’s lawyer in the dog sniffing 
case is now defending former Chief Justice  Sullivan against charges of ethical 
misconduct in unprecedented proceedings now  pending before the Judicial Review 
Council,” Burton said.

     “For years, Connecticut’s courts have  operated outside public scrutiny 
and a culture of corruption and cronyism took  root,” Burton said. “I was a 
canary in that coal mine.”

     “In a democracy, our courts must  operate above any suspicion of 
political or other improper influence,” Burton  said.

     “The attorney general must play an  active role in maintaining a 
judiciary above reproach and must never be part of  the problem,” Burton said.

     Burton appeared at the press  conference with Cliff Thornton, Green 
Party gubernatorial candidate, and other  members of the Green Party.

     “The Green Team will bring a new  spirit of opportunity, responsibility 
and community to Connecticut,” Burton  said.

     “This is an historic moment,” Burton  said, noting that this year Green 
Party members successfully petitioned to put  its candidates for top state 
and federal races on the ballot for the first time.  The Secretary of State 
qualified the requisite 7,500 petitions on August 21,  2006.

     “The Green Party is becoming a  statewide force to be reckoned with: in 
our 2006 campaigns, we will make a true  impact to reform government, purge it 
of overwhelming corporate influence and  make it work for the people,” Burton 
said.

     Burton said she will invite Attorney  General Blumenthal to a debate.

Burton  said she will campaign for the following issues among others:

     (1) Abolition of the death  penalty

     (2) Universal health  care

     (3) An energy policy which would  radically reduce consumption and spur 
development of sustainables on an  emergency basis

     (4) Mandatory “green” building  requirements

     (5) Ballot access and campaign  finance reform to eliminate barriers to 
third-party participation

     (6) Support action by the Governor as  Commander-in-Chief of the 
Connecticut National Guard to recall troops from  fighting in the illegal war in Iraq

     (7) Legalize and medicalize drugs as  an alternative to the failed drug 
wars

     (8) Land use reform by the  legislature to discourage suburban sprawl 
and loss of farmlands 

     (9) Major investment in local and  organic agriculture, with incentives 
to provide schoolchildren with a healthy  diet of locally grown, 
pesticide-free food

     (10) Address the transportation  crisis by reviving freight train 
service operating with clean renewable energy  and expanding mass transit  

     (11) Expanding equal educational  opportunities to all the children of 
the state

     (12) Enact legislation giving the  people the right to referendum

     (13) Repeal the failed electricity  deregulation law and resume state 
regulation of Millstone

     (14) Enact legislation making it a  crime to conceal knowledge of 
judicial misconduct and protecting judicial  whistleblowers from retaliation

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