About NAAG

Inaugural Address

United States Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren said, “It is the spirit and not the form of the law that keeps justice alive.”

This spirit is very much alive and present tonight. This spirit resonates and resounds from sea to shining sea due to your commitment and dedication.

Since King William III founded the Office of Attorney General in 1650, a single word has become the common thread connecting centuries of efforts on behalf of not just a state but a nation. Justice!

Preserved by its incorporation into our Constitution and General Laws, the King’s credo of “protect the people and do justice for them” has been a powerful guiding principle through the centuries and has been preserved and offered in various rallying cries, urging those invited to join the fight by serving in this Office.

My predecessor, former Attorney General and now U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, adopted as his credo two lines from William Blake’s Jerusalem. “I will not cease from Mental Fight, Nor shall my Sword sleep in my hand.”

As most of you know, I have adopted, at my son Graham’s behest, the credo of the comic book super hero Spider-Man, “With great power comes great responsibility.”

Of course, for each of us and our SAGE members before us – joining the fight is only the start of fulfilling our powers and balancing the associated responsibilities with which we are entrusted by the people of our respective states. Maintaining an unwavering commitment to justice every day of every year on each and every matter before us in our ongoing mission.

There is no question that each of us, particularly in our position as Attorneys General, has the opportunity to make a difference. Each day, on behalf of your constituents, you all do so much for so many in remarkable and lasting ways. Accepting challenges. Making tough choices. With strong and passionate voices on behalf of those who don’t think they have a voice. Or who don’t think their voice matters.

Collectively, and together, we continue to discharge our astonishing range of duties. It is our responsibility, our charge, our challenge, to champion the causes and, most importantly, the people, who rely on us to have the skills, vision, and values to get the job done.

Justice is not just us. But we, as Attorneys General, are privileged to join others on the front lines of procuring, securing and ensuring justices.

We must see in times of great challenge that as always, justice is done. Ensuring that justice is accomplished through dedication, vigor, compassion, blood, sweat, tears, courage, integrity, honor and discipline.

It is accomplished by standing firm with an ever-deepening resolve all the while being alert to the possibility of injustice. Because the denial of justice to even one human being diminishes our ability to secure justice for all.

We fulfill this mission without luxury. We do not have the luxury of selecting the facts, witnesses, or circumstances presented. We are limited to “facts, evidence, and the law.”

And, as John Adams said, “Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, our dictates of passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”

In the face of frustration, anger, and raw emotion, we cannot waver.

The verdict can never be out on whether we exalt, rather than disassemble and diminish, justice, and all the principles upon which our great nation was founded. Our work is essential to keeping “the chimes of freedom flashing.” Essential in ensuring that justice is carried out fairly and fearlessly on behalf of our communities.

Tonight I thank you, my colleagues, for your resilience, firmness, focus and commitment to that endeavor.

Pursuant to our collective authority and driven by our mutual mission, we have made our mark on society for more than 100 years. Some of the more celebrated—and at the same time the more condemned or highly criticized actions-involve litigation.

A notable example is the Master Settlement Agreement, forged 10 years ago this November.

As we approach the 10th anniversary of the signing of the MSA, let me reiterate our need to rededicate ourselves with the direct commitment of the Attorneys General and, equally important, each of the great Chief Deputies to the legacy we have assumed. I am dedicated to that commitment and involvement and I know that our next President General John Bruning is as well.

I want to recognize the tremendous effort offered on behalf of all of us by General Goddard as he steps down as co-chair of the Tobacco Committee. I would like to thank General McKenna for agreeing to continue his efforts and my praise and thanks to Gneeral Coakley for joining General McKenna as a co-chair.

Tonight and in the year before us, I am also enlisting the assistance of all here tonight on a mission to increase protections, decrease risks, and encourage a more just world for our children.

My Presidential Initiative this year could be referred to as the Year of the Child with a particular focus on Children and Technology.

With more than 17 new Attorneys General over the last two years and many years since General Stovall’s Initiative on the Amber Alert, it is time for us to spend some time individually and collectively at forums throughout the year to rededicating ourselves to issues and initiatives that positively effect not just our states but especially our kids.

Former President Jimmy Carter reminded us “that the law is not the private property of lawyers, nor is justice the exclusive province of judges and juries. In the final analysis, true justice is not a matter of courts and law books, but of a commitment in each of us to liberty and mutual respect.”

Justice is far more than a matter laws. It’s a matter of conscience. It’s a calling. A calling to assist our fellow human beings that comes from the depth and encompasses the breadth of the human spirit.

As such, I have sought, and will continue to seek the insight, inspiration, talents, and resources of not only my colleagues but good corporate citizens in examining issues related to our children.

With a broad based coalition of assistance, I will look to establish a series of opportunities to promote, enhance, and remind each of us of our profound responsibilities to those who will set the future course of our nation and our world.

I will to not only use the resources of NAAG and especially NAGTRI but also request other friends like our good friends at Columbia University, through Professor Tierney, to afford time and focus on and discuss issues that impact on protecting our young, the most vulnerable and most precious members of our society to whom we entrust the future of our planet.

Each of us, during our service, as Attorneys General and through us the people who serve with us, is entrusted with great powers and responsibilities, and with enormous opportunities to positively affect our communities. Alone, we can have an impact. Dedicated and standing together, we can do, and actually do, so much more.

Serving as an Attorney General is a truly special opportunity with special rewards. While I indicated that there are few luxuries associated with the job, the greatest is working with incredibly talented and dedicated individuals like all of you who come together in consistently remarkable team efforts to ensure that justice is done.

It is the camaraderie and the spirit that carry our offices and NAAG to success. We must seize every opportunity, as we do tonight, to make sure that these qualities are sustained, maintained, and celebrated. There is too much at stake to do otherwise.

I referred to my son Graham earlier. But I want to mention the two people who stand as my living legacy: Kelsy Susan Lynch and Graham Dennis Lynch.

Each day, in the work that I do and in the actions I take, I consider how it will impact Kelsy and Graham’s lives now and in the future.

When the verdict is handed down on these, the first years of a bold and troubled new century, what will it say about our ability—NAAG’s ability— to address, consumer protection, civil liberties and global warming?

What will it stay about our ability to grow greener, cleaner, and less reliant on foreign oil? What will it say about our ability to control skyrocketing prices, to address problems besetting health care, and to care for the most vulnerable among us?

Will the verdict be that we did enough, united as a people and united as states to propel peace, liberty, and justice?

What will our legacy, individually and collectively be? We all have Kelsys and Grahams, whether they are our children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, or the promising young people of our respective states.

For them, we must proactively protect and propel their freedoms. We must guarantee-guarantee! – that the work we do will lead them to enjoy a better world, with the values still firmly in place that guided and inspired us.

We cannot falter. We must not fail. Our forum, going forward, must be one of fortitude, faith and a fearless responsibility to fulfill the awesome obligations before us. Just as our predecessors have done.

These are seminal moments in our history. These are defining days.

Great challenges lie before us. Challenges that demand enormous leadership, courage and will. Challenges that demand that we affirm our common purpose and our resolve.

I think it’s fitting to offer a verse penned by a New England poet—to me—or singer—to others, James Taylor.

Let us turn our thoughts today to Martin Luther King
And recognize that there are ties between us
All men and women living on the earth
Ties of hope and love. Sisters and brothers—We!
That we are bound together in our desire to see the world become
A place in which our children can grow free and strong
We are bound together by the task that stands before us
And the road that lies ahead
We are bound and we are bound

Thank you to all for allowing me to bound down that road with all of you.

Allow me to praise you for all your continued and concerted efforts to carry and propel our shared, vital and magnificent legacy forward. Lastly, I congratulate all of you for your ongoing, unwavering commitment to Justice. God bless.

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