[BwayDems] New York Times: Democratic Choice for Attorney General - State Senator Eric Schneiderman

[Paula Diamond Roman]

New York State needs a tough, honest and smart attorney general to attack the culture of corruption in Albany, protect consumers and the environment, and promote civil rights. An effective attorney general also can take on major national issues. Eliot Spitzer, before becoming governor and imploding, went after Wall Street fraud. The present attorney general, Andrew Cuomo, has forced reforms on the corrupt student loan industry. 
 
There are five Democrats in the Sept. 14 primary to replace Mr. Cuomo, who is running for governor. Daniel Donovan Jr., the Staten Island district attorney, is the Republican candidate. For the Democratic nomination, we support State Senator Eric Schneiderman. 
 
Mr. Schneiderman has courage, a strong voice and a deep commitment to ethical government. During his 12 years in the Senate, he championed important laws protecting women’s rights and repealing the overly harsh Rockefeller-era drug laws, and he challenged his party’s leaders when they chose expedience over conviction. 
 
Given the sump of Albany politics, we still thought long and hard about whether any member of the Legislature could be entrusted with this job. Mr. Schneiderman has demonstrated beyond a doubt his commitment to cleaner and more transparent government. 
 
Thanks to him, New York now has laws that will make it easier to prosecute fraud in government contracts and end the cynical practice of prison gerrymandering. Other efforts — promoting transparency in Albany and curbing the power of dirty money — have been blocked by political leaders eager to protect the sleazy status quo. His willingness to keep pushing is crucial. 
 
This year, he again bucked his own party leadership, and demonstrated his legal skills, by crafting and pressing the case to expel Hiram Monserrate from the State Senate after the Queens politician was convicted of domestic abuse. It was the first expulsion of an Albany lawmaker in 90 years. 
 
Mr. Schneiderman has the backing of many of the state’s unions, which too often have resisted reforms. He also has bucked these unions — for example, supporting a less-costly pension plan for new state employees. 
 
There are other worthy candidates in this race, most notably Eric Dinallo. As an assistant attorney general, he played a central role in Mr. Spitzer’s investigations of Wall Street. More recently, as the state insurance superintendent, he resolved the bitter insurance dispute that had long stalled construction at the World Trade Center site. That said, Mr. Dinallo has yet to demonstrate the muscular public advocacy we have seen from Mr. Schneiderman. 
 
Assemblyman Richard Brodsky can claim real accomplishments, including important legislation improving Albany’s secret world of public-private authorities. His presence in the Assembly will be missed. An attorney general needs to be seen as judicious, and his divisive style is ill suited to the job. 
 
Sean Coffey, an accomplished trial lawyer, has an impressive personal manner and good ideas for using this office to root out public corruption. But he has a very limited public track record on these issues in New York. We feel he needs more political seasoning. 
 
Kathleen Rice has done a credible job as the Nassau County district attorney, but her grasp of the challenges and opportunities facing the next attorney general is too limited. Her failure to vote until 2002, when she was 37, is also troubling. 
 
We endorse Senator Schneiderman in the Democratic primary because of his sound judgment, legal expertise, political independence and long history of fighting for government reform. 
 
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/21/opinion/21sat1.html?ref=opinion
 


      
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