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Constitutional Scholar Wesley Horton Opposes Convention

by Christine Stuart | September 17, 2008 3:32 PM
Posted to Election 2008

"...Wesley Horton, who specializes in constitutional law and has written a book on Connecticut's constitution, said in a statement Wednesday, 'The purpose of a constitution, as opposed to a body of statutes, is to set forth the general framework and those fundamental principles for how a government should be run.'

The last Constitutional Convention in Connecticut took place in 1965, and was called to correct a deeply flawed system of apportioning representatives to the General Assembly which gave large cities such as New Haven and Bridgeport roughly the same number of house seats as small towns such as Union and Beacon Falls.

In his statement Horton said:

There is no similar circumstance in Connecticut in 2008. Without some overwhelming need for a constitutional convention, such a convention could easily be dominated by single-issue special interest groups,î he said. ìIf zealous groups to not get what they want from the legislature or the governor or the courts, they could put the issue to the convention. Horton warned that ìIf we think the Connecticut legislature is dominated by special interest groups, wait until Connecticut has a constitutional convention called, not because some major upheaval requires it, but because special interest groups band together to dominate it!