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AG candidate Richards offers populist tone

By: Associated Press//February 12, 2014//

AG candidate Richards offers populist tone

By: Associated Press//February 12, 2014//

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State Rep. Jon Richards, a Democratic candidate for Wisconsin attorney general, takes a question from reporters on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2014, at the Milwaukee Press Club. Richards pledged to be an attorney general who'd safeguard consumer rights and crack down on the spread of illegal drugs. (AP Photo/Dinesh Ramde)
State Rep. Jon Richards, a Democratic candidate for Wisconsin attorney general, takes questions from reporters Thursday at the Milwaukee Press Club. Richards pledged to be an attorney general who’d safeguard consumer rights and crack down on the spread of illegal drugs. (AP Photo/Dinesh Ramde)

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Democratic state Rep. Jon Richards pledges to be “the people’s attorney general” if elected, and says he won’t defend every state law if he thinks it violates the U.S. Constitution or goes against the wishes of the people.

The 50-year-old spoke to reporters Wednesday in Milwaukee. Two other Democrats and one Republican are also in the race.

Richards started a petition this week calling on the state Department of Justice to stop defending the state’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. He says if elected he won’t defend the ban because public sentiment has shifted since Wisconsin voters approved the ban.

He says he’d also refuse to defend a law requiring abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals. But he says he’d defend other laws with which he disagrees.

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