Eric Schneiderman
Soros Family and Paterson Slated for Schneiderman Fund-Raiser
Here’s an invitation for a July 29 fund-raiser in Manhattan for Democratic State Senator Eric Schneiderman, which asks people to join David Paterson at the event.
Paterson has been criticized for not helping Democrats work towards winning a majority in the State Senate, and just this morning he made a friendly appearance on a radio show guest-hosted by Republican State Senator Joe Robach, who Democrats are trying to unseat.
The host committee for the fund-raiser includes four members of the Soros family, union leaders Stuart Appelbaum, Ed Ott and Randi Weingarten, and Empire State Pride Agenda executive director Alan Van Capelle.
Soros Money Flows to New York Senate Democrats
Liberal billionaire George Soros and members of his family have contributed a little more than $1 million into state campaign coffers since 2000, with nearly all of it going to help Democrats in the State Senate.
Already this year, George, his son Robert, Robert’s wife, Melissa, and another son, Jonathan, contributed $199,500. George, Robert and Melissa each gave $25,000 to the New York State Democratic Party and gave the maximum allowable personal contributions - $9,500 - to Eric Schneiderman, David Valesky, Craig Johnson and Joe Addabbo.
(Two other members of the Soros family also contributed this year. Son Jonathan gave $9,500 to Democratic State Senate candidate Rick Dollinger and his wife, Jennifer, gave $1,000 to a pro-abortion rights lobbying PAC that donated to Johnson and Dollinger. read more »
(Partisan) Reaction to Spitzer Subpoenas
Joe Bruno's spokeswoman Lisa Black is reveling in the news that Eliot Spitzer has been issued a new round of subpoenas by the Albany District Attorney, who is looking into how the governor's aides used the state police to gather information about Bruno's use of state aircraft.
"You can't govern through deceit," Black said via email. "And it seems as though the Governor's deceptions are far reaching - so much so that he managed to push another Democrat into the swamp. If Soares is the man of integrity he was when we watched him with Hevesi, he'll choose not to swim in the mud alone... Bring in the grand jury."
Democratic state Senator Eric Schneiderman, meanwhile, has a slightly different take on the news: He says that Bruno will use it as a reason not to do any work next year.
"I think we need to step back and say everyone has go to start doing business and not use this as an excuse," Schneiderman told me just now. "And I think Joe is just using this as an excuse not to do business because he is desperate to keep control of the Senate and he doesn’t want the governor to be successful."
Shneiderman added, "I mean, there’s no reason for people not to be negotiating bills just because this investigation is going on. Hell, Joe’s under investigation too. You know what? No one is saying we can’t do business with Joe because he’s under investigation."
Schneiderman: Judicial Pay-Raise Bill 'Just a Lump of Coal'
The state Senate passed a "largely symbolic" bill to raise judicial salaries yesterday.
The clip above shows Senator Eric Schneiderman explaining why he is unhappily voting 'yes.'
Soares Talks About His Opposition to Drug Laws at Fundraiser
Liz and I both showed up for Albany County District Attorney David Soares’ small fund-raiser in Manhattan last night.
Two things stood out:
First, Soares talked about his family’s experience, which put him on the path to opposing mandatory drug sentencing laws, also know as the Rockefeller Drug Laws, an issue he campaigned on when he swept into office, beating a Democratic incumbent.
After explaining how his older brother would go the corner to catch a bus to work as part of a summer job program when they were kids, Soares explained, “The Reagan administration came in and those programs disappeared. But my brother and his friends would still show up on those corners, because economic opportunities still existed there. Except, those were not the kind of economic opportunities that were part of, you know, the legitimate economy.”
More after the jump. read more »
Senate Democrat: Gridlock is About Spitzer's Partisanship, Not His Personality
Eliot Spitzer is soon to be the subject of two profile pieces in the New Yorker and Vanity Fair. And this follows a sympathetic cover story in New York magazine that focused on Spitzer’s anger and how it’s been used to change the political process.
But some Democrats say that the emphasis on the governor's personal disposition misses the point.
Eric Schneiderman, a state senator in Manhattan, says Spitzer would be mired in the current gridlock with Joe Bruno regardless of his personality.
“He may have issues," Schneiderman said. "But as long as he says ‘I am committed to taking the Republican majority out,’ all else is commentary.”
Schneiderman Says Undocumented Immigrants Less Crime-Prone Than Americans
Two of the state Senate’s most articulate members, Marty Golden and Eric Schneiderman, debated Eliot Spitzer’s driver’s license plan today on NBC’s News Forum where host “Jay DeDapper was forced to play referee as the two men battled it out.”
Before the outbursts (sort of minor, but still), Schneiderman said there is no safety issue at stake: “In fact, our undocumented immigrants are the safest population we have, committing crimes at one-fifth the rate of native Americans.”
On Language: In Albany, Joe Bruno is a Verb
Explaining that Democrats in the state Senate paid for recent trips to D.C. out of their own pockets or from campaign funds, and not with taxpayer dollars, Eric Schneiderman simply said, “We weren't doing a Bruno.” [last item].
Schneiderman's Fund-Raiser, With Guest David Soares
Democratic state Senator Eric Schneiderman put a hand on the shoulder of the 14-year-old boy dating his daughter, and, in the mocking tone
of a concerned father with plenty of connections, told law enforcement officials at his fund-raiser to "take notice."
Among the people in the audience to witness the performance, delivered at Schneiderman's fund-raiser on Monday at Ron Feldman's Art Gallery on Mercer Street
, was David Soares.
Recently, Soares issued a report clearing Eliot Spitzer of any wrongdoing over the issue of his aides using state police to track Joe Bruno's
use of state aircraft. Republicans dismissed the report, saying it was one Democrat looking out for another. So wouldn't Soares' attendance at Schneiderman's fund-raiser provide them with more fodder for that argument?
Schneiderman told me last night that partisan considerations had little to do with it. "I was one of the few people who supported him as an insurgent," Schneiderman told me, referring to the fact that Soares ran against the Democratic Party to unseat an incumbent.
. Soares, he said, had stopped by briefly because he
was in town meeting with people to discuss reform of the Rockefeller Drug Laws, the major issue during Soares' campaign.
Before Grilling
State Inspector General Kristine Hamann chats with Democratic state Senator Eric Schneiderman before she testifies in Albany to the Republican led Investigations Committee about her inquiry of Eliot Spitzer and Troopergate.
Spitzer to Hire Bigshot Attorney Shanahan
Most recently, Shanahan, along with state Senator Eric Schneiderman, got the MTA fare lowered after the agency was found to have two sets of books. (The ruling was later overturned.)
Shanahan also defended former Playboy model Bridget Marks in her high-profile custody case against the children's father.
Shanahan did not return several messages left at his office, cell phone and home. A Spitzer spokesperson wouldn't comment.
-- Azi PaybarahSpitzer's New Deal
"You go back to the reform era, you go back to the New Deal and the people around FDR, you go back to the Great Society -- he has that optimism without naivete that says, 'We're smart guys, we can get together and do this,'" Schneiderman said.
New Deal, or Great Society?
EBITDA Duh
West Side Story: Drawing District to Boost a Rivalry
Man on a Hot Seat, Sen. Schneiderman Targeted by G.O.P.
