Having performed ably as New York State’s top lawyer for the past four years, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is the better choice on Election Day.
A former state senator, he has grown into his executive role — and shown the ability to stick up for New Yorkers’ interests while bringing home the bacon for the state’s coffers.
Schneiderman’s solid and credible Republican challenger is John Cahill, a lawyer who was chief of staff to former Gov. George Pataki.
Cahill argues appealingly that putting at least one Republican in statewide office would keep Albany Democrats honest. But he has not persuasively made the case for a changing of the guard.
Central to Schneiderman’s tenure, he joined with federal and other state authorities in negotiating megasettlements with banks held responsible for the mortgage crisis. The deals brought $3 billion in relief for New York consumers along with $1.1 billion in cash for the state budget.
Filling a gap in federal law, Schneiderman persuaded the state’s gun show operators to voluntarily run background checks on all purchasers — helping to keep dangerous weapons out of the hands of convicted felons and others who shouldn’t have them.
He prevailed on manufacturers to install a “kill switch” that renders stolen cell phones worthless and pushed through the Legislature a real-time tracking system that has reduced the overprescription of addictive pain killers.
When Washington cut financing for police bullet-proof vests, Schneiderman stepped up with $2.8 million from civil and criminal forfeiture accounts, enough to buy 8,030 life-saving vests.
On the downside of the ledger, Schneiderman should have vocally opposed Gov. Cuomo’s shutdown of the Moreland anti-corruption commission — particularly because Schneiderman had deputized most of the panel’s members as assistant attorneys general.
He also showed poor judgment in allowing his political consultant and former wife, Jennifer Cunningham, to represent private clients in dealings with his office — and in then withholding email corrrespondence with her that ought to be public information.
That said, the positives in the record substantially outweigh the negatives. The Daily News endorses Eric Schneiderman for attorney general.
