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Town Attorney General Distinguished from the State Attorney General

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The State Attorney General is elected in New York, California and about 13 other states, and is appointed in the rest of the jurisdictions, including various U.S. possessions and the United States Attorney General. To the extent an attorney general is elected, the office has enormous power and potential, especially the elected attorney general of a large state such as New York and California. In my campaign website, I point out my belief that the New York Attorney General is the second most powerful elected official in the United States, perhaps the world.

The town attorney general at the outset would be appointed, and in due course could be elected. But first we have to get someone, somewhere appointed as town attorney general so we can see what a motivated town attorney general can do. The office is really just the office of a civil attorney, with no criminal jurisdiction, as far as I can see at this time. If the State Attorney General wanted to do so he/she could turn the town attorneys general into local representatives of the office of the State Attorney General and give criminal jurisdiction to the town attorney general, but I wouldn't want this to happen. We need to have every town acting out of its own self interest and bringing meritorious claims against major retailers and their manufacturers and others to enforce the intangible rights of the residents and small businesses of the town. When enough towns do this, there will be enormous pressure on the defendant to change its business practices.

The town attorney general is really in competition with the local criminal prosecutor to use civil litigation to create a better town for its residents and small businesses, and as part of that activity the town attorney general will probably try to reduce the amount and type of criminal prosecutions in the area, and perhaps press for enactment of a law that would require local prosecutors' offices to get current budgetary authority for all future expenses of current criminal proceedings. This would mean that the costs of incarcerating someone for the next 30 years should be paid in this year's budget. This would result in a demand by the community for a prosecution policy based on something other than putting as many residents away as possible and instead a new policy of what is the greatest good for the town. The town attorney general will also be competing with other town attorneys general to try to improve the town financially as much as possible, and be able to rise in politics in the state and eventually be able to run for State Attorney General (and if successful have a shot at running for the Presidency, similar to what Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is doing in New York).