Richard Blumenthal, the attorney general of Connecticut, has been around a very long time — he was my AG for awhile, and I moved out of the state 16 years ago. He's got a very good record of monitoring corporations and bringing them before the bar, perhaps most prominently when he helped bring suit against the tobacco industry for its deceptive advertising to children.

I'm liking him particularly this morning because he is investigating the "Smart Choices" program, which purports to assure consumers that products that have its imprimatur are nutritionally sound choices for children, but is really a load of crap.

I disparaged the program and the multiple dishonesties behind it in August.

In a report on foodnavigator.com, writer Caroline Scott-Thomas (a member of the three-first-name club) says Blumenthal questions how products such as Froot Loops, Frosted Flakes, and Cocoa Puffs can qualify as good nutrition. The report quotes Blumenthal:

"These so-called Smart Choices seem nutritionally suspect – and the label potentially misleading. The Smart Choices label adorns sugar-laden cereals appealing to children, but not many healthier breakfast choices.”

Scott-Thomas says the program was launched by the American Society of Nutrition, but the fact is, it is an industry mouthpiece. It's telling that the response comes not from the society, but from Kellogg's: 

Kellogg’s provided FoodNavigator-USA.com with a statement from the Smart Choices program, confirming that it had received Blumenthal’s letter and saying that it is cooperating with his information request, calling it an opportunity to provide consumers with better understanding of the program.

Yes, it's that very thing, an opportunity. I know that the day I get a letter from the AG telling me I'm under his scrutiny, that's what I'm going to think, too: "Yippee, it's an opportunity!"

It's further proof — though completely unneeded, because the case is closed — that these people are not to be believed. That certainly extends to the darkly cynically named "Smart Choices" name.