Pledging to act as "a watchdog for our citizens" and take on the General Assembly, state Sen. Leonidas P. Raptakis has announced his plan to run for secretary of state.

Raptakis, a Coventry Democrat, will leave the General Assembly after 17 years in office to challenge a fellow Democrat.

The secretary of state's job is now held by A. Ralph Mollis, a first-term Democrat who plans to seek reelection.

Raptakis confirmed last month that he would not seek reelection as a state senator. He said he planned to run instead for state general treasurer or secretary of state.

In his announcement Friday, Raptakis complained about the way the General Assembly does business. He charged that the General Assembly had to suspend its own rules and ignored the state's Open Meetings Law in order to address some 200 pieces of legislation in its recent special session.

"As Secretary of State, I am going to be a watchdog for our citizens. I will push the General Assembly to follow their own rules and to follow the Open Meetings Law which local Town Councils and School Committees are required to follow," Raptakis said in a news release. "I will call them out when they don't follow the rules. And if that doesn't change their behavior, I will take them to court. And if that doesn't work, I will work to put a constitutional question on the ballot to make sure that the people making the laws of our state are required to respect the law themselves. "