Eric Schneiderman

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Eric Schneiderman
File:Eric Schneiderman-Tony West-DOJ2012 (cropped).jpg
65th Attorney General of New York
Assumed office
January 1, 2011
Governor Andrew Cuomo
Preceded by Andrew Cuomo
Member of the New York Senate
from the 31st district
In office
January 1, 2003 – December 31, 2010
Preceded by Efrain Gonzalez
Succeeded by Adriano Espaillat
Member of the New York Senate
from the 30th district
In office
January 1, 1999 – December 31, 2002
Preceded by Franz Leichter
Succeeded by David Paterson
Personal details
Born Eric Tradd Schneiderman
(1954-12-31) December 31, 1954 (age 70)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Political party Democratic
Spouse(s) Jennifer Cunningham (divorced)
Education Amherst College (BA)
Harvard University (JD)

Eric Tradd Schneiderman (born December 31, 1954) is an American lawyer and politician. He is the 65th Attorney General of New York, elected in 2010 and reelected in 2014, and is set to resign on May 8, 2018. He is a member of the Democratic Party.

Prior to becoming Attorney General, Schneiderman served for a decade in the New York State Senate, elected five times to consecutive two-year terms, even after his district was redrawn in 2002 by the Republican-dominated state senate. Among his priorities was seeking change to mandatory, long-term prison sentences for relatively minor offenses, working for rehabilitation, education and return of people to the communities.

On May 7, 2018, The New Yorker reported that Schneiderman had committed acts of violence against at least four women during his tenure as Attorney General; Schneiderman acknowledged the actions took place, claiming the acts were part of consensual sex and denying he had made threats against the women as they have accused.[1] He resigned that evening, effective the next day.[2]

Early life, education, and early career

Schneiderman was born to a Jewish family[3] in New York City; he is the son of Abigail Heyward and Irwin Schneiderman, a lawyer.[4] He graduated from the Trinity School in New York City in 1972 and Amherst College in 1977. He received his J.D. degree from Harvard Law School in 1982.[5]

Schneiderman served as a judicial clerk for two years within the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and subsequently joined the international law firm Kirkpatrick and Lockhart LLP (now known as K&L Gates), where he became partner.[6]

Schneiderman later became a public interest attorney, serving for more than a decade as counsel to the West Side Crime Prevention program, and as lead counsel to the Straphangers Campaign's lawsuit against New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority.[citation needed]

New York Senate

Schneiderman was elected to represent the 31st district in the New York State Senate. At the time, this district comprised Manhattan's Upper West Side, as well as Morningside Heights, West Harlem, Washington Heights, Inwood, and Marble Hill, in addition to part of Riverdale, The Bronx.[7]

Elections

In the 1998 Democratic primary, Schneiderman, defeated Daniel O'Donnell, a civil rights attorney, with 68% of the vote.[8] In the general election, he defeated Vincent McGowen with 82% of the vote.[9] He won re-election in 2000 (84%),[10] in 2002 (87%),[11] in 2004 (89%),[12] in 2006 (92%),[13] and 2008 (90%).[14]

Leadership

In redistricting following the 2000 US Census, the Senate Republican leadership redrew Senator Schneiderman's district in 2002 in order to include Washington Heights.[citation needed] Former City Councilman Guillermo Linares, the first Dominican American elected to office in New York City, challenged Schneiderman for the state senate seat but was defeated.

In October 2009, Schneiderman was selected to chair the special committee to investigate the conduct of former Senator Hiram Monserrate. The bipartisan committee unanimously recommended Monserrate's expulsion from the Senate.

Tenure

Schneiderman was the chief sponsor of the Rockefeller Drug Law reforms, which were passed and signed into law in 2009. The reforms included reducing reliance on long, mandatory minimum sentences, and allocating funds for alternatives to incarceration, focusing on treatment and reentry of prisoners into society.[15] His other legislative activities include passing ethics reforms [16][17] to root out fraud against taxpayers.

Attorney General

2010 election

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Main article: New York Attorney General election, 2010
Then Attorney General Andrew Cuomo endorsing Schneiderman during the 2010 election.

Schneiderman was the Democratic Party nominee for New York Attorney General, defeating four other candidates in the Democratic primary on September 14, 2010.[18] He won the general election against Republican nominee and Richmond County district attorney Dan Donovan and took office on January 1, 2011.

Tenure in office

In his first weeks in office, Schneiderman launched a plan to root out fraud and return money illegally stolen from New York taxpayers at no additional cost to the state. This initiative includes a new "Taxpayer Protection Unit" specifically designed to go after corruption in state contracts, pension fund rip-offs, and large-scale tax cheats. Schneiderman has also bolstered the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit by cracking down on fraud in the Medicaid program.

Schneiderman was instrumental in pushing for a tougher fraud settlement with large banks over illegal foreclosure practices. Along with California Attorney General Kamala Harris, Schneiderman pushed to prevent the settlement from including immunity for the banks from further investigation and prosecution of other related illegal activities.[19]

New York, uniquely among the fifty states, did not sanction mixed martial arts (MMA) under a 1997 state law. This prompted Zuffa, LLC (the owner of the Ultimate Fighting Championship) to sue in federal court in 2015, challenging the constitutionality of the law and naming Schneiderman and Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. as defendants.[20][21] The following year, the New York State Legislature enacted a law legalizing MMA in the state.[22]

In August 2013, Schneiderman filed a $40 million civil lawsuit against Donald Trump for his "Trump University" (now known as Trump Entrepreneur Initiative), alleging it to be an "unlicensed university"[23] and calling it a "bait-and-switch scheme."[24] Trump denied all accusations, calling Schneiderman a "political hack."[25] In October 2014, a New York judge found Trump personally liable for the institution's violation of state education laws.[26]

In September 2013, Schneiderman announced a settlement with 19 companies to prevent astroturfing; i.e., buying fake online praise. "'Astroturfing' is the 21st century's version of false advertising, and prosecutors have many tools at their disposal to put an end to it," according to Schneiderman. The companies paid $350,000 to settle the matter, but the settlement opened the way for private suits as well. "Every state has some version of the statutes New York used,” according to lawyer Kelly H. Kolb. “What the New York attorney general has done is, perhaps, to have given private lawyers a road map to file suit.”[27][28]

2014 election and tenure

Schneiderman won re-election in 2014. His major opponent was Republican John P. Cahill, who had been an environmental conservation commissioner for the state.

In November 2015, Schneiderman issued cease-and-desist letters to daily fantasy sports companies DraftKings and FanDuel, accusing the companies of operating a gambling enterprise that is illegal under New York law.[29] This sparked a six-month-long legal battle.[30] Schneiderman reached a settlement with the companies in March 2016, under which DraftKings and FanDuel agreed to stop operating in New York until September 2016 and Schneiderman agreed to drop all of the state's suits against DraftKings and FanDuel—except for a false advertising claim against FanDuel—if the New York State Legislature passed legislation legalizing daily fantasy sports by the adjournment of the session.[31][32][33]

In its first year in office, the Trump administration sought to scrap numerous Obama-era environmental regulations which Trump has often referred to as an impediment to business.[34] Saying, "Over and over again, the Trump administration has put the profits of multinational polluters over the health and well-being of everyday Americans,” Schneiderman filed over 50 lawsuits opposing Trump's environmental revisions.[35]

In February 2018, Schneiderman brought a civil rights lawsuit against The Weinstein Company, alleging the company "repeatedly broke New York law by failing to protect its employees from pervasive sexual harassment, intimidation, and discrimination." The lawsuit delayed the sale of The Weinstein Company with the Attorney General adding, "Any sale of the Weinstein Company must ensure that victims will be compensated."[36][37]

Resignation

On May 7, 2018, Schneiderman resigned after four women said that Schneiderman had physically abused, sexually harassed and threatened to harm them.[1] His resignation took effect the next day, at the end of the business day.[38]

Electoral history

New York State Senate 30th district election, 1998
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Eric Schneiderman 65,158 81.98
Republican* Vincent McGowan 10,919 13.74
Green Julia Willebrand 1,979 2.49
Conservative* David Branche 1,421 1.79

*McGowan was also listed on the Liberal Party line; Brance was also listed on the Right to Life Party line.

New York State Senate 30th district election, 2000
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic* Eric Schneiderman (inc.) 90,587 84.12
Republican* Roger Madon 14,516 13.48
Liberal Marc Stadtmauer 1,904 1.77
Conservative Paul Gallant Jr. 680 0.63

*Schneiderman was also listed on the Working Families Party line; Madon was also listed on the Independence Party line.

New York State Senate 31st district election, 2002
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic* Eric Schneiderman (inc.) 40,900 86.52
Republican Bienvenido Toribio Jr. 5,843 12.36
Conservative Michael Walters 528 1.12

*Schneiderman was also listed on the Working Families Party line.

New York State Senate 31st district election, 2004
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic* Eric Schneiderman (inc.) 76,365 89.17
Republican Jose Goris 9,272 10.83

*Schneiderman was also listed on the Working Families Party line.

New York State Senate 31st district election, 2006
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic* Eric Schneiderman (inc.) 51,202 92.30
Republican Stylo Sapaskis 4,270 7.70

*Schneiderman was also listed on the Working Families Party line.

New York State Senate 31st district election, 2008
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic* Eric Schneiderman (inc.) 80,832 89.97
Republican Martin Chicon 8,349 9.29
Conservative Stephen Bradian 662 0.74

*Schneiderman was also listed on the Working Families Party line.

New York Attorney General Democratic primary election, 2010
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Eric Schneiderman 227,203 34.36
Democratic Kathleen Rice 210,726 31.87
Democratic Sean Coffey 108,185 16.36
Democratic Richard Brodsky 65,683 9.93
Democratic Eric Dinallo 49,499 7.49
New York Attorney General election, 2010
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic* Eric Schneiderman 2,477,438 55.78
Republican* Dan Donovan 1,909,525 42.99
Libertarian Carl Person 36,488 0.82
Freedom Ramon Jimenez 18,028 0.41

*Schneiderman was also listed on the Independence Party and Working Families Party line; Donovan was also listed on the Conservative Party line.

New York Attorney General election, 2014
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic* Eric Schneiderman (inc.) 2,069,956 55.73
Republican* John Cahill 1,538,990 41.43
Green Ramon Jimenez 80,813 2.18
Libertarian Carl Person 24,746 0.67

*Schneiderman was also listed on the Independence Party, Working Families Party, and Women's Equality Party lines; Cahill was also listed on the Conservative Party and Stop Common Core Party lines.

See also

References

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External links

New York State Senate
Preceded by Member of the New York Senate
from the 30th district
1999–2002		 Succeeded by
David Paterson
Preceded by Member of the New York Senate
from the 31st district
2003–2010		 Succeeded by
Adriano Espaillat
Preceded by Chair of the New York Senate Codes Committee
2009–2010		 Succeeded by
Stephen Saland
Party political offices
Preceded by Democratic nominee for Attorney General of New York
2010		 Most recent
Legal offices
Preceded by Attorney General of New York
2011–2018		 Succeeded by
TBD
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Times of Israel: "NY state attorney says he was target of anti-Semitic Trump supporters" August 27, 2016.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Basil Katz, "Schneiderman wins primary for NY attorney general". Reuters, September 15, 2010.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Joseph Ax, [Mixed martial arts promotion sues New York State over ban], Reuters (September 28, 2015).
  21. ↑ Ben Popper, UFC Sues New York: Fighters Have First Amendment Right to Mixed Martial "Arts", New York Observer (November 15, 2011).
  22. ↑ Laura Wagner, New York Legalizes Professional Mixed Martial Arts Fights, NPR.org, (April 15, 2016).
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ What the suspension of DraftKings, FanDuel in N.Y. means for DFS, Sports Illustrated (March 21, 2016).
  31. ↑ Chris Grove, FanDuel, DraftKings Reach Settlement With New York Attorney General, Legal Sports Report (March 21, 2016).
  32. ↑ Glenn Blain, FanDuel and DraftKings suspended in New York until Legislature comes up with new regulations, New York Daily News (March 21, 2016).
  33. ↑ Statement From A.G. Schneiderman On Agreements With FanDuel and DraftKings, Office of the New York State Attorney General.
  34. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  35. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  36. ↑ Barnes, Brooks and William Neuman Weinstein Company Sale Delayed by N.Y. Attorney General Lawsuit. New York Times. February 11, 2018.
  37. ↑ Feely, Jef, Anousha Sakoui, and Patricia Hurtado. Weinstein Co. Purchase Offer Deemed Unacceptable by New York AG. Bloomberg. February 11, 2018.
  38. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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