Here’s a piece of the massive transcript of the second day of Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz’s recent deposition with Republican lawyers in their attempt to portray the Democrat as failing to have met the 10-year threshold of legal practice needed to hold the office of attorney general. Coincidentally, she wants to replace Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, on whose campaign she once worked, actually taking a leave of absence from legal practice. Today, right before a court case on the issue pressed by the Hartford Courant, she withdrew an attempt to keep the deposition private.
“Now, the first question I’m going to ask you,
4 some of this is going to go back some other materials
5 I’m going to try to make it as short as possible but in
6 connection with your resume, you indicated that you
7 worked for a period of time at Robinson & Cole. Do you
8 recall that?
9 A Yes.
10 Q You have indicated in the past that you
11 thought that was four years, correct?
12 A Yes.
13 Q And in our deposition you indicated it could
14 have been less than four years?
15 A I didn’t review the exact dates.
16 Q Fair enough. Now, while you were at Robinson
17 & Cole, didn’t you take a leave of absence to work on a
18 political campaign?
19 A I did. Richard Blumenthal’s campaign.
20 Q And how long was your leave of absence strike
21 that. Was your leave of absence approximately six
22 months out of the term that you worked at Robinson &
23 Cole?
24 A I’m not certain of the exact time period but
25 it was for a series of months.
6
1 Q Didn’t you actually move down to Stamford?
2 A I did not.
3 Q You didn’t. Okay. You — however, were you
4 practicing law while you were working on Mr.
5 Blumenthal’s campaign?
6 A I was working on the campaign.
7 Q And my question is: Were you practicing law
8 while you were working on the campaign?
9 A No.
10 Q Okay. And ma’am, would I be correct when you
11 said you don’t recall the exact time, as you sit here
12 today, it was an extended period of time you took a
13 leave of absence, correct?
14 A For a period of months, yes.
15 Q And despite the fact that you took that leave
16 of absence, you’re counting that within your time frame
17 of saying I was practicing law while at Robinson &
18 Cole, correct?
19 A Because I took a leave of absence, yes.
20 Q But during the period of time that you took a
21 leave of absence you just told us I wasn’t practicing
22 law?
23 A Correct.
24 Q So wouldn’t it be fair to say that whatever
25 period of time that you spent on the campaign with Mr.
7
1 Blumenthal should be deducted from your time period
2 that you say I was practicing law qualify for the
3 senate, correct?
4 A That’s a legal conclusion.
5 Q Okay. What’s your opinion about it? You’re
6 a lawyer.
7 A My opinion is I’ve been a lawyer practicing
8 law for 24 years.
9 Q In your counting the time of 24 years, are
10 you counting the time period that you worked not
11 practicing law on the campaign of Richard Blumenthal?
12 A Can you ask that question again.
13 MR. GERSTEN: Can you read it back to
14 her please, Bethany?
15
16 (The testimony was read.)
17
18 A I have been a lawyer since I graduated from
19 law school and past R passed the bar exam. That’s the
20 time I’m counting.
21 Q Okay. Is it your testimony today that
22 whatever time period you’ve been as a lawyer should
23 count towards your time period is satisfying the
24 requirement that you be an active practice of law?
25 A Absolutely. “