When Attorney General-Elect George Jepsen takes office next month he knows he won’t have a direct role in job creation.
But that doesn’t mean the 56-year-old former state lawmaker can’t help improve Connecticut’s business climate. And that’s exactly what he said he intends to do.
In an interview with the Hartford Business Journal, Jepsen said one of his top priorities when he’s sworn into office Jan. 5 will be opening up a direct line of communication with the business community. He said his office needs to better educate businesses on where the lines in the legal sand will be drawn.
And taking businesses to court won’t be his first priority.
“I’m not a person who is going to shoot first and ask questions later,” said Jepsen, who describes himself as a problem solver by nature. “I’m not a litigator of first resort; I’m a litigator of last resort. While there are some moral and civil rights issues where I take a very hard stance and see things in very stark terms of right and wrong, I find in the real world — and especially the business world — most of the issues aren’t black and white. I try to understand all sides of the issues and get all stakeholders to the table to figure out how to solve the problem.”
During the campaign, Jepsen said he heard a lot of frustrations from the business community, including that businesses often learn they are on the wrong side of the law only after an enforcement action is taken against them. He wants to change that.
He also wants his office to better distinguish between businesses that inadvertently step over that line and the business that has a culture of playing close to the line, and going over it whenever it can get away with it.
“Businesses want the bad guys put away because they can’t compete with cheats,” Jepsen said.
Some critics, including Jepsen’s Republican campaign opponent Martha Dean, have accused the attorney general’s office of being business unfriendly and overly litigious in recent years.
Jepsen said that perception is overblown, and that outgoing Attorney General Richard Blumenthal did a lot to protect consumers and businesses. He noted that 97 percent of the 54,000 cases the AG’s office deals with annually are nondiscretionary, where the state is playing defense. Only 3 percent of cases involve the state proactively suing someone, and most of those cases are initiated by executive branch agencies.
Still, Jepsen said, he will bring his own style and approach to the job.
When asked how he will be different than Blumenthal, Jepsen said his background as a lawmaker and lawyer has made him more of a negotiator and mediator than a litigator. He said he’s not afraid to litigate if he has to, but his general approach is “to try to understand the nuance of why a problem exists and work it out.”
And although he shares many of Blumenthal’s values, he’s not as likely to seek the spotlight as much as his predecessor either. One early example of that: he’s reducing the size of the office’s press staff.
“I would make as a matter of confident prediction that you will see a lot less of me in the press,” Jepsen said.
Jepsen’s tone demonstrates just how far Connecticut’s public figures — even those with limited roles in economic development or job creation — are going to help reverse the perception that the state is anti-business.
Although new to the attorney general’s office, Jepsen is a household name in Connecticut’s legal and political landscape. He is a Harvard Law grad and served 16 years in the state legislature representing Stamford, first as a state representative, and then as a state senator. He spent six years as the majority leader.
John Rathgeber, the CEO of the Connecticut Business & Industry Association, said Jepsen has always taken a balanced approach when it comes to working with the business community. He remembers, for example, the role Jepsen played as a state lawmaker in helping pass sweeping workers compensation reform in 1993, a measure that helped to reduce costs for employers.
Democrats including Jespen, who used to work as a lawyer for the carpenters’ union, took heat from organized labor as a result of their support for the law.
“George understands the importance of private sector investment,” Rathgeber said. “He sees himself as a problem solver and someone who can bring people together.”
In terms of policy issues, Jepsen said implementing the Dodd — Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act will be among his top priorities. He said attorneys general are going to be deputized to enforce many of the consumer protections under the law, especially related to predatory lending and mortgage fraud.
And he wants to move aggressively in both of those problem areas.
He also said the state needs to be more aggressive in helping homeowners who face foreclosure, including strengthening loan modification programs. If that means making more banks take a hair cut on a loan, rather than absorb a foreclosed property that will likely be sold below market value, he’s open to the idea.
“The quicker we can sensibly move our way through homes that are underwater or are being foreclosed, the sooner property values will once again rise, which will have a positive impact on the economy,” Jepsen said.
Working with the Department of Public Utility Control, the attorney general also has a direct role in prompting energy conservation, something Jepsen said he will push extremely hard. He said there are several conservation programs that need to be expanded, including initiatives that help individuals and businesses underwrite efforts like insulating a facility or weather-stripping doors.
Jepsen also wants to crack down on businesses that misclassify employees as independent contractors, and speed up the time it takes for the state to issue permits and contracts.
“I think I want the public faces of Connecticut to be welcoming to businesses and I’m going to look for ways to work with them,” Jepsen said.
