Gov. Cuomo with Rep. Jeffries (photo via the Governor's office)
U.S. Representative Hakeem Jeffries, a rising Congressional star and Brooklyn political power-broker, is backing Governor Andrew Cuomo for reelection.
Jeffries, who represents the 8th Congressional District of New York, which includes parts of Brooklyn and Queens, sees Cuomo’s case as airtight, despite a fierce gubernatorial primary challenge being waged by actor and activist Cynthia Nixon.
“As the governor of the state of New York, he’s done a phenomenal job over the last eight years,” Jeffries told Gotham Gazette in a brief interview, just after endorsing fellow Brooklynite and New York City Public Advocate Letitia James in her run for state attorney general. “I’m looking forward to his leadership over the next four when he’s successful in November.”
Since even before Jeffries’ start in Congress, the former member of the state Assembly has enjoyed a close relationship with Cuomo. Jeffries joins a growing list of elected officials, including several members of the city’s congressional delegation, backing the incumbent governor for a third term. His support signifies additional reinforcement of the firewall Cuomo is relying on to beat Nixon in New York City, especially in communities of color, where Democratic primaries are often won, particularly in New York.
“Congressman Jeffries been a strong partner and advocate for New York, and the governor is proud to have his support,” said Abbey Collins, a spokesperson for the Cuomo campaign. “Together, we will continue to fight back against Donald Trump’s divisive, ultra-conservative agenda and move New York forward.”
Nixon has made Brooklyn – a large part of which is included in Jeffries’ district, which covers Coney Island, Canarsie, East New York, Bedford-Stuyvesant, and Clinton Hill, and a chunk of southern Queens – the nexus of her own campaign trail. It was in Brownsville that Nixon first launched her gubernatorial campaign, the event taking place in a neighborhood partially encompassed by the Eighth Congressional District, although Nixon’s event occurred just outside its border. Then, in March, Nixon also accepted Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams’ invitation to visit NYCHA housing in Crown Heights and, in May, Nixon did a subway tour, where she made her way from Cobble Hill to Williamsburg.
While Adams has not endorsed in the gubernatorial primary, Nixon has won the backing of a number of the borough’s political clubs and advocacy groups, as well as a handful of election officials, including City Council Members Antonio Reynoso and Brad Lander. Cuomo, on the other hand, has the support of ten other Brooklyn City Council members.
Last month, Nixon formally announced a cross-endorsement with Brooklyn City Council Member Jumaane Williams, who is challenging Cuomo’s lieutenant governor, Kathy Hochul, in the primary, which will be held September 13. The Nixon-Williams press conference was held at an entrance of Prospect Park; Williams’ 45th City Council District slightly overlaps with Jeffries’ congressional district. Jeffries, however, is endorsing Hochul, a former member of Congress from Erie County, for reelection to her statewide post in what is an increasingly contentious primary.
“I think Democratic primaries are healthy at the end of the day as long as we respect the will of the people once they make a decision and we all come together afterward,” Jeffries said of Williams’ bid for lieutenant governor. “If Kathy Hochul is successful, I’m hopeful that Jumaane Williams will be supportive of the ticket moving forward. And if Jumaane Williams is successful, we have to find a way to stand behind our governor and our lieutenant governor nominee.”
Hochul and Cuomo have both made Brooklyn a major focus in recent months, with the governor announcing “Brooklyn women for Cuomo,” the endorsements of elected officials at various levels of government, and holding several government events that often have the feel of campaign rallies. Hochul spoke at four African-American churches in Brooklyn this past weekend while on the campaign trail, while Cuomo spoke at one, in Crown Heights, in what was listed as a government event.
Prior to Jeffries’ endorsement, Cuomo’s campaign has announced support from other members of Congress, including U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Reps. Nydia Velázquez, Jose E. Serrano, and Adriano Espaillat, with others expected. Cuomo’s campaign highlights that the governor’s new federal political action committee has given maximum $2,700 donations to each of 10 congressional candidates in competitive districts across the state, including Max Rose, who is trying to unseat the only Republican member of the New York City House delegation, Rep. Dan Donovan.
Though his campaign does not highlight the endorsement, the governor has also been backed by Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, who is running for attorney general in the four-way primary that includes James, who has cross-endorsed with Cuomo and has her base of support in central Brooklyn, where she was a City Council member.
Polling continues to show Cuomo with a major advantage over Nixon in New York City, especially among black voters. Brooklyn has the most Democratic voters of any county in the state, with more than 1 million registered as of April, many of whom reside in Jeffries’ congressional district.
“Andrew Cuomo has consistently led in the polls by 30 or more points and I expect that the margin of victory at the end of the day will be extremely comfortable, both because of his track record and because of the inexperience of his opponent,” Jeffries told Gotham Gazette.
Of Nixon, Jeffries said, “The electorate in New York City, including very progressive individuals, seem disinclined to put another actor in a position of importance in the context of the governor’s mansion, having seen the disaster that Donald Trump has been as president.”
In response, Lauren Hitt, a spokesperson for the Nixon campaign, said, “Cynthia Nixon was raised by a single mom, and she started acting when she was 12 in order to pay for college. She has nothing in common with Donald Trump. Governor Cuomo, on the other hand, has accepted $64,000 from the Donald, which he refuses to return.”
[Read: Key to Victory, Black Voters Appear Solidly Behind Cuomo Over Nixon]
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by Chelsey Sanchez, Gotham Gazette
@chelseynsanchez @GothamGazette>
Ben Max contributed to this article.
Mark-Viverito & Nixon (photo: @CynthiaNixon)
Two of the most compelling storylines of the contentious primaries playing out this election season in New York are which Democrats decide to back Cynthia Nixon in her challenge to two-term incumbent Governor Andrew Cuomo and to what extent an alliance with Cuomo is to the benefit of Letitia James as she seeks to win an open, four-way primary for Attorney General.
Loyalty and litmus tests are being taken daily by elected officials, political club members, labor leaders, and others as the September 13 primary vote approaches. As the party wages something of a civil war both here and nationally, Democrats are choosing sides. Sometimes those choices get complicated.
While Nixon offers many frustrated progressives an alternative to the more centrist Cuomo, the choice for attorney general has different dynamics. Crossing, or pleasing, the notoriously sensitive Cuomo is a factor in both races, as well as the contentious lieutenant governor primary, given his support for both James for attorney general and his running mate Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul for reelection. But James has a reputation as a progressive, with her bona fides questioned far less often than Cuomo's. Although she is outflanked on the left by Fordham Law professor Zephyr Teachout in the attorney general primary and some Democrats are raising questions about James’ acceptance of Cuomo’s support, James is holding her own in terms of winning endorsements from progressive groups and leaders. In fact, though Teachout has won the endorsements of many more left-leaning entities, there is a small but growing list of liberal individuals and groups that are endorsing Nixon for governor and James for attorney general.
Several Democratic clubs and current or former elected officials, and one political action committee, have backed both Nixon and James. Generally speaking, those on the list who Gotham Gazette spoke with cite Nixon’s history of activism for progressive issues, compared with Cuomo’s relative centrism over his two terms, and James’ long-time commitment to those same progressive values. Several have deep ties to James from her roots in Brooklyn, where she lives and was a City Council member, before being elected citywide.
Nixon and James’ overlapping endorsements come from the Brooklyn Young Democrats, Downtown Independent Democrats, Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club, New Visions Democratic Club, Grand Street Democrats and the Village Independent Democrats. Elected officials supporting the two include City Council Members Brad Lander and Jimmy Van Bramer, Assembly Members Harvey Epstein, Andrew Hevesi, and Daniel O’Donnell, and former New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark Viverito. Tenants PAC, which is funded by tenants, labor unions, and other affordable housing advocates, has also endorsed both candidates. The Working Families Party is, to a degree, on the list.
Mark-Viverito was an early backer of James, endorsing her former City Council colleague the day she announced her campaign for attorney general, just ten days after then-office holder Eric Schneiderman resigned following allegations of physical and emotional abuse by several intimate partners. James faces three other Democrats in the primary - Teachout, who unsuccessfully challenged Cuomo in the 2014 Democratic gubernatorial primary; Congressional Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney; and Leecia Eve, a former Verizon executive and former aide to Cuomo, Hillary Clinton, and Joe Biden.
The former City Council speaker’s support for James was no surprise, the two having been allies for years when they served together on the Council before James rose to public advocate and Mark-Viverito to speaker. The two are both progressive women of color who held top elected offices in a city where few have done so. Mark-Viverito was the first Latina speaker of the Council and James is the first African-American woman to be elected citywide. James will similarly make history if she wins the race for attorney general, making her the first African-American woman to hold a statewide post.
“I’ve known Tish a very long time...I value her heart and I value what she stands for,” Mark-Viverito said in a phone interview. “For me it was not a leap to be able to stand alongside her and to be able to support her for the position.”
Mark-Viverito said she had long conversations with Nixon’s camp before announcing her support for the insurgent first-time candidate and her progressive platform. “For me it was again someone that stands and consistently has stood on issues I care about and I believe that that level of thought, without hesitation, her progressive heart and the vision that she has for the state is one that is truly inclusive...So it definitely felt that it was the right place to be in regards to endorsing her.”
Mark-Viverito also brushed aside concerns raised about James’ alignment with Cuomo and the Democratic establishment. “I take each endorsement separately,” she said, praising the “passion” that James brought to the issues before her office as a Council member and public advocate. “To me, Cynthia Nixon’s gonna win the governor’s race, so that to me is irrelevant,” she said of the James-Cuomo connection, with a slight chuckle. “But I don’t agree with that. I know Tish, I know what she stands for, I know the issues she’s fought on...I see her independence.”
In a sense, Mark-Viverito said she wants to see drastic change in direction in the governor’s office but a level of continuity and stability in the office of attorney general. Cuomo, she said, has failed to pursue strong progressive legislation the likes of which defined the City Council’s own agenda under her leadership on issues such as criminal justice reform and immigrant protections. But the attorney general’s office, even under Schneiderman, she acknowledged, has been working on a slew of successful legal challenges in concert with other state attorneys general against a federal administration under President Donald Trump that “seeks to dehumanize us and strip us of rights that we’ve fought so hard to achieve.”
“Despite the horrific reality that we came to terms with with regards to Schneiderman, he was doing a good job. Separate that from the horrible news and what we know about him now,” she said. “I definitely think that we need to continue that, take up the baton. [Attorney General] Barbara Underwood is doing good work as well in terms of continuing on that line...I definitely believe that needs to continue and I believe Tish can do that.”
“I believe they each have their role to play and I see those roles as very distinct,” she added.
Mark-Viverito herself has been rumored as a potential successor to the public advocate’s office, should James win, and she said she hasn’t “closed the door” on that possibility.
“New Yorkers know Tish James as a fearless leader who has spent two decades fighting to protect and uplift our families. The support from these grassroots groups and elected officials speaks to Tish’s longstanding work for progressive causes and her experience and qualifications to defend our rights as our next Attorney General,” said Delaney Kempner, a James campaign spokesperson, in a statement.
For some who also threw their weight behind James, her increasing association with the governor and her apparent rejection of her roots in the progressive Working Families Party have hurt how they view their preferred candidate. The WFP endorsed Nixon, putting it in the governor’s crosshairs, and James, in seeking the governor’s support, decided against asking the prominent third party for its endorsement. The WFP eventually decided to hold off, reserving support for either James or Teachout, if one of the two candidates prevails in the September 13 primary.
Michael McKee, treasurer of Tenants PAC, said the optics were far from ideal but stood firmly behind Nixon and James. “It’s much less complicated in the case of Cynthia Nixon,” he said in a phone interview, “because [Cuomo] has been a disaster on everything to do with tenants. It’s not just that he has failed to push for stronger rent laws, he has refused to push for them.”
In 2011 and 2015, both years when rent regulations were expiring and would have to be renewed by the state Legislature, on concert with the governor, McKee said Cuomo “didn’t even mention ‘rent’ in his State of the State speech. Not one word. He didn’t even mention that the laws have to be renewed.”
The governor has only pushed minor amendments to rent laws, he said, leaving major loopholes intact that allow landlords to harass and force tenants out of rent-regulated apartments. He called Nixon’s housing platform “very bold, very expansive and very imaginative,” and said she had a “tremendous grasp” of rent issues when she interviewed with the group for its endorsement. “There’s no one in the tenant movement in New York City or in the suburbs who at this point would believe [Cuomo] when he says he’s pro-tenant,” he said. Tenants PAC donated $5,000 to Nixon, a “very big check,” McKee said, for a group with limited resources.
“It’s a little more complicated for the attorney general’s office,” he conceded. “I love Tish, I think she’s one of the best of all elected officials but we were extremely unhappy with what she did in terms of tying herself to the governor and screwing the WFP.”
James has said she expects reconciliation with the WFP, perhaps after the primary, and attended its recent twentieth anniversary gala. James was first elected to the City Council solely on the WFP ballot line.
McKee’s group has endorsed James in her past races for elected office and has found her to be a true ally for tenants. As public advocate, James has continued to publish the annual “Worst Landlords” watchlist, and taken legal action and introduced bills in the City Council to protect tenants against harassment. McKee said attorney general is “an ideal job” for James and that she would in no way be beholden to the governor, despite the perception that has emerged in recent weeks.
McKee did say that he thought James could have told Cuomo she was taking the WFP nomination and still gone to the Democratic state convention and gotten the requisite support to automatically make the primary ballot. “Now, she’s sort of painted herself into a corner where she’s in effect the establishment candidate in a year where that’s not the optics of the Democratic Party,” McKee said.
Democratic organizers felt much the same, that Nixon is the change candidate they need in executive office while James is an accomplished elected official with a strong record who would do well as the state’s top legal officer. Jeanne Wilcke, treasurer of Downtown Independent Democrats, painted it as a tough decision to endorse James over Teachout, who they had endorsed in the 2014 governor’s race. Both candidates were familiar to the club but James had continued her association with them as Teachout seemed to fade after 2014. “A number of people voted for Teachout but James edged it out,” she said.
In broad terms, Wilcke said her club is fighting for the broader direction of the Democratic Party. “Our own party has to look its ownself and really grasp what they have to do and follow the grassroots sentiment,” she said. “They can’t be behind the times.” It’s an argument carried by Nixon as she paints Cuomo as a “fake Democrat” and pushes for a truly progressive Democratic polity in the state. “The Crowley race gave us a lot of heart,” Wilcke said, referring to ten-term Democratic Rep. Joe Crowley’s congressional primary loss to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a young, insurgent democratic socialist. “If it can happen once, it can happen again.”
She did admit that James relationship with the governor is “a little too close for comfort” and that she should keep an arms length from the establishment. But nonetheless, James’ record impressed DID’s members. “They’ve seen her on the ground for years. She stood up for people. That resonated,” Wilcke said.
“Given Cuomo's record, it's not a surprise at all that Democratic clubs are rejecting him,” said Lauren Hitt, a Nixon campaign spokesperson, in an email. “He empowered the IDC, refused to return Trump's $64k in donations, cut taxes for the wealthy, and governed like a Republican in so many other respects.”
Cuomo’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment. Nixon and Teachout have endorsed each other in their respective races (Teachout was Nixon’s campaign treasurer until Schneiderman’s resignation prompted her to run for attorney general).
There were a few other endorsements that have shown a similar pattern of embrace of establishment-aligned candidates on the one hand and their rejection on the other. NYC Kids PAC, for instance, endorsed James for attorney general and also New York City Council Member Jumaane Williams, who is running against Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul. Both Williams and James have also been endorsed by City Council Member Carlina Rivera.
This year was the first time that the Grand Street Democrats made endorsements in the races for governor and attorney general, said Caroline Laskow, a Democratic district leader from the club. “We evaluated all the candidates on their merits,” Laskow said of Nixon and James in a phone interview. “We feel that they’re both going to be excellent advocates for all of New York, for different reasons. But I don’t think one cancels out the other.”
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by Samar Khurshid, senior reporter, Gotham Gazette
@samarkhurshid @GothamGazette
Ben Max contributed to this article.
Note - This article has been updated to clarify comments from Jeanne Wilcke of DID. It has also been updated to note that Wilcke is treasurer, not president of DID.
Democratic AG candidates debate (photo: MNN)
The four Democratic candidates for New York Attorney General met Tuesday for the first televised debate of their race, agreeing that the next chief legal officer of the state must continue to be a check on President Donald Trump, while also addressing corruption in state government and other areas of reform they would pursue in the role.
Each of the four candidates -- New York City Public Advocate Letitia James; U.S. Representative Sean Patrick Maloney; Fordham Law professor Zephyr Teachout; and Leecia Eve, a former aide to Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, and Governor Andrew Cuomo -- sought to set themselves apart in what appears to be a wide open race for the party nomination, with candidates repeatedly calling themselves the only one in the race with certain qualifications.
The debate aired Wednesday evening on Manhattan Neighborhood Network and was moderated by Gotham Gazette editor Ben Max. Democratic voters will choose an attorney general nominee, among other races, on Thursday September 13.
All four candidates promised to ratchet up the already fever pitch with which the New York attorney general’s office is fighting Trump administration policies. On more direct state and local matters, there was also agreed upon acknowledgement of certain problems, such as public corruption and an outdated criminal justice system, but the candidates offered some differences in perspective as they sought to make a winning pitch to voters.
Two candidates -- Teachout and Maloney -- made new pledges to release their tax returns in line with what James has done, while two candidates -- Maloney and James -- joined calls by Teachout and Eve for state hearings on sexual harassment. Eve continued to decline to make her tax returns public. All four candidates said that it may be appropriate for further legal investigation into the fact that Cuomo’s former top aide and campaign manager, Joseph Percoco, used his government office while on leave to run Cuomo’s 2014 re-election campaign, information that came to light during Percoco’s recent corruption trial, wherein he was found guilty on several charges.
Teachout, who has offered herself as the candidate most independent of Cuomo -- she did challenge him in the 2014 primary, of course -- and of special interests due to her refusal of corporate PAC or LLC funding, said that despite Cuomo’s shuttering of the Moreland Commission to Investigate Public Corruption, the executive order creating it is still on the books, and promised to use its powers if elected Attorney General.
“Corruption is really holding us back as a state,” Teachout said. “It’s hurting us. And when the Moreland Commission was shut down four years ago, I spoke out loudly. I actually testified at the Moreland Commission. But actually, I don’t know that all people realize this, Andrew Cuomo shut the Moreland Commission down in a press call. He never formally rescinded Executive Order 106.”
James expressed support for the creation of a new Moreland Commission. James, Maloney, and Eve all said that they would push the Legislature to give power to the attorney general to more ably address public corruption without referrals from other entities.
“Existing law should be changed to give the attorney general primary criminal jurisdiction over public corruption, period, full stop,” Maloney said. “Shouldn’t be any referrals or anything else, you oughta just go get it and prosecute it. We need to change the law.”
Eve said that she would utilize an existing agreement with the state comptroller to refer more investigative matters regarding state funds to the attorney general.
“Any time we’re talking about the use of taxpayer funds, whether it is funds used to pay a legislator, whether it’s funds to fund different economic development programs, the authority, the existing authority because of this unprecedented relationship and agreement between the state comptroller and attorney general, gives the current attorney general, gives me as the next attorney general, significant powers to root out corruption,” Eve said.
James, who has faced questions about her independence from Cuomo in recent weeks given their cross-endorsement and his help with her fundraising, said that she would be the most diligent addressing public corruption, even if it led to “the second floor,” where the governor’s office is located in the state Capitol. She noted that, while serving in the City Council, she had taken a leading role in uncovering the City Time scandal, which she characterized as “the biggest scandal in the City of New York.” “We recovered $700 million for taxpayers, working with Juan Gonzalez from the Daily News” she said.
James also set her sights on what she characterized as unaccountable, opaque public benefit corporations and authorities, which are state run but operate like corporations; examples include the MTA, the Dormitory Authority, and Empire State Development.
“It is really critically important that we continue to focus on all of the authorities that continue to exist throughout the State of New York,” James said, “these public benefit corporations that need to be investigated, that focus really on alleged economic development in the State of New York, and that’s what’s critically important.”
With the exception of Teachout, each candidate has somewhat close ties to Cuomo: Maloney endorsed Cuomo for reelection and urged Cynthia Nixon not to run against him; Eve headed economic development programming under Cuomo; and James has been endorsed by Cuomo and the State Democratic Party that Cuomo leads. Independence from the governor, who saw two top aides convicted of bribery and bid-rigging this year related to millions of dollars in economic development money, has become a major campaign issue in the attorney general race.
Asked whether there should be an investigation into whether Percoco had used state resources for campaign purposes under Cuomo’s supervision, as some of the governor’s critics have called for, all of the candidates said a variation of yes, with Teachout the most affirmative.
The candidates were also asked how they would approach the job of attorney general with regard to investigating financial firms for fraud or other wrongdoing. James had courted controversy when she recently told The New York Times that she did not want to be known as “the Sheriff on Wall Street,” a statement which propelled criticism from her opponents, who embraced the moniker and did so again Tuesday. At the debate, James reiterated her point, however, even after Eve said that she would want to be known as “the Sheriff of Wall Street.”
“No I don’t want to be known as the Sheriff on Wall Street, that’s reserved for someone else,” James said, apparently referring to former Attorney General and Governor Eliot Spitzer. “I want to chart my own path. I want my own title, my own title has always been and will continue to be ‘fighter.’” She proposed strengthening the Martin Act, a 1921 state law that gives the attorney general broad power to investigate financial fraud that was revived by Spitzer. James said she would seek to expand, within her first 100 days in office, the act’s statute of limitations from three years to six years.
“You know I want to be called the Sheriff of Wall Street,” Teachout said, claiming that the role of the attorney general as “regulator of last resort” was important with a federal government uninterested in regulating big banks and financial firms.
“One of the things I really take from Spitzer’s use of the Martin Act is that was an example of an old tool that hadn’t been used,” Teachout said, “being dusted off and used in new and critical ways to hold Wall Street accountable. That’s the kind of creative lawyering, creative legal strategy, that I as the next sheriff will pursue.”
Maloney, too, was quick to rebuke James. “Of course you’re gonna be the sheriff of Wall Street, that’s literally the job,” he said. But like James had explained of her perspective, he made sure to say that he would also be the “sheriff” of such issues as Trump, environmental protection, LGBT equality, and criminal justice reform.
The representative from the upper Hudson Valley repeatedly noted that he has fought and beaten Republicans, referencing the fact that he has been elected several times in what is a swing district, and touted his government and management experience. James and Eve also highlighted their work in goverment and overseeing teams of employees, while Teachout focused on her expertise in corruption and law, and her work helping to craft litigation against President Trump for alleged violations of the emoluments clause of the Constitution.
During a series of “lightning round” questions with quick answers, James and Maloney both stated for the first time that open, public state hearings should be held regarding sexual harassment in state government and beyond; Teachout and Eve had both said previously that hearings should be held.
While James answered that she had released five years of tax returns, and was the only candidate to release returns, Teachout and Maloney each said that they would release five years of tax returns by the end of this week. Eve demurred, saying that she had years of government-mandated financial disclosures publicly available.
And when asked which other candidate they would vote for if they couldn’t vote for themselves, Maloney and Teachout each said that they would vote for Eve, while Eve and James said only that they promise to vote for the winner of the Democratic primary. Eve, who has trailed significantly in public polling, may have been the safe choice for Maloney and Teachout, though when The New York Times editorial board endorsed Teachout earlier this week, it also noted Eve as its second choice.
When offered the opportunity to cross-examine one opponent, none of the candidates opted to ask a question of James, who has led in that public polling for the race despite a high undecided count; she has the support of most of the party “establishment,” including elected officials, clubs, and labor unions. Instead, two questions were leveled at Maloney, and two at Teachout.
Teachout was asked by James about opposition to the NY SAFE Act, a signature Cuomo gun control law, during her 2016 Congressional run, to which Teachout said her opposition was only to the secretive process to its passage, part of a pattern of how business is done in the state Capitol that she has consistently denounced. Teachout was asked by Maloney about a citation she had received from the North Carolina Bar, where she is licensed to practice law, which she said was due to not sharing a change in address during a case.
Maloney was asked by Eve about why he had chosen to run simultaneously for attorney general and for his congressional seat, a situation that led fellow member of Congress Kathleen Rice to not seek the nomination for attorney general. Maloney said that a judge had already decided in his favor.
Maloney was asked by Teachout about $150,000 he received in donations from eight LLCs connected to the Durst Organization, one of the largest real estate developers in New York City. Maloney first attempted to say that Durst felt he was the most qualified candidate and to deflect to in-kind and super PAC contributions Teachout had received in 2016, but when pressed for a more full response by the moderator, he said that the Durst contributions were a “small part of” his overall fundraising. Maloney had earlier concurred with his opponents that the “LLC loophole,” wherein corporations can give virtually unlimited amounts of money to candidates by forming various limited liability companies, should be closed.
Other targets for investigations, lawsuits, and prosecutions specifically named by the candidates included the fossil fuel industry, the pharmaceutical industry, the National Rifle Association, real estate developers, and “bad landlords.” The candidates also said that they would use the bully pulpit to advance civil rights causes, particularly in the realm of criminal justice reform: each candidate said that they believe cash bail should be abolished, and that Mayor Bill de Blasio’s 10-year timeline for closing Rikers Island jails is too long. All four said they will not run for governor, which would separate them from recent attorneys general-turned-governors Spitzer and Cuomo.
The Democratic primary for attorney general, governor, lieutenant governor, and state legislative seats, among other races, will be held on Thursday, September 13; the winner of the Democratic primary for attorney general will face Republican Keith Wofford and other candidates in the general election. The Democratic attorney general candidates will meet again for a televised debate on NY1 on Tuesday August 28 at John Jay College. The Manhattan Neighborhood Network debat aired Wednesday and can be watched on YouTube.
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by Ben Brachfeld, Gotham Gazette
@GothamGazette
Ben Max contributed to this article.