It was pretty clear early on in his first term Attorney General George Jepsen was bringing a different style to the role than fellow Democrat Richard Blumenthal, who after two decades left the job in January after a successful campaign for U.S. Senator.
Blumenthal was more confrontational and more populist, known for launching investigations and lawsuits and touting them in the press.
Then news came a few weeks ago that Jepsen was quietly closing hundreds of whistle-blower cases his predecessor had kept open, again breaking with past tradition.
Today Jepsen’s office went out of its way to issue an explanation why he’s taken the decidedly non-Blumenthal approach to a federal effort to block AT&T’s acquistion of T-Mobile, declining to join the effort.
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STATEMENT BY ATTORNEY GENERAL GEORGE JEPSEN
CONCERNING AT&T ACQUISITION OF T-MOBILE
For immediate release FRIDAY, SEPT. 16, 2011
“Today the U. S. Department of Justice announced that it has added several states to the complaint it originally filed on Aug. 31, to block AT&T’s proposed acquisition of T-Mobile. Although my office has determined not to join the complaint, I recognize that the proposed acquisition raises serious antitrust issues and I applaud the Department of Justice for aggressively moving to ensure a competitive market. As Co-Chair of the National Association of Attorneys General Antitrust Task Force, I am committed to ensuring open and competitive markets in Connecticut. Given the significant resources that the federal government has dedicated to the case, my decision not to join this antitrust lawsuit was based on an election to focus the limited resources of my Office and Connecticut’s antitrust enforcement efforts on other matters.”
Thank you Attorney General Jepsen for your common sense. It is rare that someone in political office actually does what he was elected to do, represent the BEST interests of his constituency.