A New York City Attorney General

The federal government and all 50 states have an Attorney General to serve as law enforcement officials at the highest levels of government. Accordingly, cities can choose to create the position of Attorney General to function similarly, but at the municipal level for the protection of citizens who are affected by all manner of corporate abuses. Combined with the initiative for a new, independent investigation of 9/11 is a proposal to create a NYC Attorney General. Here you will read about the purpose as well as some related history which supports the idea. In essence, this is an opportunity for NYC voters to enhance their ability to affect their own governance, as well as get legal protection from predatory corporate practices which victimize so many communities at public expense.

Purpose of the New York City Attorney General

The reason the Commission is being presented to the NYC electorate as a ballot initiative is the failure of all law enforcement agencies in New York City and New York State (and every other city and state in the United States) to undertake an investigation of 9/11, and to do so with the power to subpoena persons and organizations to testify and produce relevant documents. The Report of the 9/11 Commission is considered by most persons (including some of its own members) to have been inadequate or misleading and ineffective.

Because so much of the work of the Commission is expected to revolve around subpoenas, testimony, document production, enforcement of subpoenas in numerous courts, state and federal, and in defending the legitimacy of the Commission and the vote of NYC voters, it was decided to create at the same time the Office of the NYCAG, to be retained by the Commission mainly for litigation in federal and state courts, to enforce the rights of the Commission created in this ballot initiative and to enforce subpoenas issued by the Commission for testimony and documents relating to 9/11. The litigation efforts of the Commission would be enhanced if the New York State Attorney General went into court on its behalf, but the NYS AG has chosen not to get involved with 9/11, and as a state official it could not be expected to come into court in support of the Commission, a NYC (temporary) agency. Accordingly, we have added a NYCAG to fill the gap.

Creation of this temporary (5-year) office of the NYCAG is an effort to decentralize the civil enforcement activities of the state Attorney General to enable the activities to be conducted locally or at the grass-roots level, where the law-enforcement problems arise. Today, NYC is not obtaining its fair share of civil law enforcement proceeds because it does not have its own Attorney General. This ballot initiative is an effort to show the need to correct this civil law-enforcement imbalance.

Additional Capabilities of a New York City Attorney General

As an enforcer of civil rights, the NYCAG is also provided with the authority to go into court to enforce, at government expense, the rights of NYC residents, citizens, workers, homeowners and small businesses who generally are unable to afford to enforce their rights. Similarly to the Attorney General of any state, such enforcement would concentrate on helping groups of persons who are losing their rights, rather than a specific individual, and to enforce any substantial monetary claims of NYC that are not being enforced. The moneys expected to be obtained from this enforcement activity by the NYCAG will provide funding for the Commission and an expected surplus to be paid over to NYC for its unrestricted use.

History

Historically, according to Prosecution: History of the Public Prosecutor - British And Colonial Origins, the concept of the centralized Attorney General was changed in America (starting in 1704) to have county prosecutors take over the prosecutorial function of the Attorney General, but the civil enforcement activities failed to decentralize.

The office of the Attorney General is one of the most ancient and important that has come down to us from the Anglo-Norman system of government. As early as 1253 mention is made of attornatus regis or the King's attorney, and it is certain that the office has already long been in existence at that time. It was not, however, until the year 1472 that the first formal patent of appointment was issued.

The functions of the Attorney General were, from the first, recognized as of great constitutional importance. He was considered not only the legal representative of the crown but also the parens patriae or guardian of public interests. His duty was not solely, nor even primarily, to represent and protect the rights of the King, but to represent and protect the rights of the public in all matters tinged with a public interest.

After having established their independence the American colonies, proceeded to form a federal government. They recognized that, although the new government would not tolerate a king, a necessity still existed for a public officer similar to that of the British officer the Attorney General, to be charged with the protection of public rights and the enforcement of public duties. Accordingly, in organizing the judicial business of the government, they made provision for Attorney General of the United States to be at the head of the department of justice, and whose duties and functions were essentially the same as those of the Attorney General of Great Britain, The Unitied States Attorney General should receive his commission by appointment from the president.

Carl Person as New York City Attorney General

Carl E. Person, a graduate of Long Island University (1959) and Harvard Law School (1962), has more than 40 years of litigation experience, primarily in antitrust, commercial and civil rights cases. He created the paralegal field in 1972; he was the first lawyer who sued for the right to advertise as a lawyer (1975); he sued for and won the right to sell shares in lawsuits to help clients finance their antitrust litigation; he has been involved in many highly-publized lawsuits.

Carl is committed to providing New Yorker City voters with the opportunity to obtain an honest, independent investigation of 9/11 and helping the Commission carry out its duty to conduct a comprehensive, fact-driven investigation. He also will work to protect New York City voters in cases where the public interest is being negatively impacted by unlawful corporate practices.

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