The two candidates for state Attorney General argued Thursday whether the office has become too big and powerful, but Republican Martha Dean and Democrat George Jepsen both promised during a debate Thursday to push policies that boost business growth and job creation.
Dean was the more combative of the two. She said the campaign is about "ending the job killing practices of the Attorney General and restoring common sense to the office of Attorney General." Then she accused Jepsen, who spent the last six years of a 16-year legislative career as state Senate Majority Leader of presiding over the biggest budget increase in state history.
"Unlike my opponent I bear no responsibility for putting us in the mess that we are in," Dean said.
Jepsen suggested Dean's often made promise to slash both the size of the office and its mission could be counter-productive, referring to one estimate he said shows that the office generates nine times more in state revenue than it spends.
If elected, Jepsen said he would redeploy staff lawyers to fight financial and mortgage fraud, lower electric utility rates and go after tax cheats, moves he said would boost state revenue, level the playing field for honest business and end practices that have collapsed the real estate market and killed the economy.
"People out there are hurting," Jepsen said during the debate hosted by the Connecticut Law Tribune and the University of Connecticut School of Law. "The economy is stuck and the budget is busted."
The election fight between Dean and Jepsen marks the first time in 20 years in Connecticut that an incumbent hasn't been in the race. At times, the exchange between the candidates amounted to a critique of the policies of the current office holder, Richard Blumenthal, who is running as a Democrat for U.S. Senate.