Bysiewicz in a Box

Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz began the week with a public display of insatiable ambition as she jumped from the race for governor to what looked like and easier contest for attorney general.  The week approaches its end with a tumultuous day failing to satisfy questions about her qualifications to be attorney general.  The trouble comes from Democrats who’d also like to be attorney general.  They say the Secretary of the State is not employed as a lawyer for the state.  They are correct.

A Bysiewicz spokesman says she filed the annual Attorney Occupation Tax Return but claimed she was exempt from paying it because she was a state employee employed as an attorney and “I did not otherwise engage in the practice of law.”  The Secretary of the State is not employed as an attorney and Bysiewicz certified every year that she did not otherwise practice law.  It isn’t enough to be admitted to practice.

The state’s “Keeper of the Seal” provided evidence that she’s not much of a supervisor of lawyers. She ballyhooed her filing of an amicus brief in the state’s appeal of a federal court decision striking down the public finance law but the court rejected her brief because it was filed long after it was due.