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You are here: Home / Politics / Socks off

Socks off

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Who should I vote for for Attorney General in New York State tomorrow? Two people have asked me so far and I’ve asked one person and none of us has a good answer. Several of the candidates seem fine to me, but I can’t choose between them.

My criteria are: a) I want someone like Spitzer but without the Client Number Nine tendencies, b) I don’t want someone who believes that the budget deficit can be solved by “ending corruption in Albany”, and c) I don’t want someone who has said anything stupid about the Burlington Islamic Center.

Reader Interactions

82Comments

  1. 1.

    Comrade E.B. Misfit

    I don’t have an answer for you. I’ve looked at all of their web sites and I don’t see any real difference between any of them. I don’t see anything that makes it worth the drive to the polling place, frankly.

  4. 4.

    Omnes Omnibus

    Not a New Yorker, but I would be willing to accept Client #9 tendencies if they came with the rest of what Spitzer brought to the table.

  6. 6.

    MattR

    Have not really paid attention to the commercials I’ve seen on TV (since I live in NJ), but nothing has jumped out one way or another about any of them.

  8. 8.

    Sentient Puddle

    Not that I know anything of any of the candidates, but as for (b), it seems to me that if a candidate for attorney general has weighed in on the state budget during their campaign, that should automatically disqualify them. I mean, how is that at all germane?

  9. 9.

    Allison W.

    If I was the average voter I would vote for Kathleen Rice. I see her ads 4-5 times a day. The other guy(s)? – ZIP! Does she look like that in real life? She looks great in those commercials. Like an actress.

  10. 10.

    honestpartisan

    Before my kid was born, I did a lot of work with ACTNow, a NYC group that did a lot of electioneering work (canvassing, phone-banking) to try to elect progressive candidates. Eric Schneiderman did a lot of work with us, and I got the chance to hear him speak in close-group settings. He’s genuinely progressive and really smart. I think he’d be terrific as AG.

  11. 11.

    Jim Pharo

    You want Schneiderman (sp?). He’s an out-and-proud Lib. Also, Rice scares the be-jeesus out of me. I haven’t committed any crimes but she makes me afraid she’s going to put me behind bars. She seems to be psyched about being mean…

  12. 12.

    beltane

    @Sentient Puddle: Yeah, any AG candidate who promises to fix the budget deficit kind of fails the job interview. I guess I’d look at who the backers of the different candidates are, i.e. which ones are in bed with Wall Street.

  14. 14.

    John from OH

    I will be voting for Schneiderman tomorrow morning before I head into the office, mostly because he led the fight to get rid of the Rockefeller drug law crap, is supported by the NYC progressives, and has absolutely no problem speaking about how liberals make the world better for people.

    From what I can tell from campaign literature and websites and speech snippets, Kathleen Rice (“I just became a Democrat 3 years ago” and “you should vote for me because I put people in jail first and ask questions later”) is the only unacceptable candidate.

    So basically, of the candidates with a shot, 1 is demonstrably good, 3 or 4 aren’t bad and 1 is not good.

  16. 16.

    Bob Loblaw

    Schneiderman got the NYT endorsement, so take that what you will. And as a general rule, it’s best to steer clear of the Long Island folks, when possible.

  17. 17.

    John from OH

    @John from OH: Hmmm, on the one hand it’s semi-amusing that my handle implies that I shouldn’t really be voting in a primary in NYC tomorrow, on the other, it makes more sense if you know where the handle came from (ie trolling crazy blogs which must use the same posting/commenting program).

  23. 23.

    Steve

    I used to work with Sean Coffey. He is super-smart, hard working and takes ethics extremely seriously. Also very good on GLBT issues both personally and politically. He’s never been in politics before and honestly, I’ve probably never been as enthused to support anyone in politics. I have no idea what his chances are but I think he would be spectacularly good as AG.

  24. 24.

    Thlayli

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Cuomo is on the AG ballot? No, so your comment makes no sense.

    Cuomo is running for governor, although he won’t be on the ballot tomorrow since he doesn’t have a primary challenger.

  26. 26.

    Glenndacious Greenwaldian (formerly tim)

    I’m going to step out on a limb here, and ask you folks to stop responding to posts from DougJ. We have quality front pagers like John, Tim F, and Anne Laurie to whom you could direct your energies.

    Honestly, the overall quality of DougJ’s posts are among the lowest I have read on any blog anywhere on the Intertubes, at any location in the universe.

    (Especially these fake-curious posts where the Dougster pretends he can’t make a decision, or is unable to look up information via Google, and asks for our help, all apparently in the sadly transparent service of sparking a long thread of eager comments, thus prompting longed-for kudos from his lord and master John.

    Rather sad, really.

    I know you’ll agree and stop feeding the Front Page Troll. Thanks!

  28. 28.

    Martin

    I’m going to step out on a limb here, and ask you folks to stop responding to posts from Glenndacious Greenwaldian (formerly tim). We have quality commenters like Omnes, Zinfab, and beltane to whom you could direct your energies.

    Honestly, the overall quality of Glenndacious Greenwaldian (formerly tim) comments are among the lowest I have read on any blog anywhere on the Intertubes, at any location in the universe.

    I know you’ll agree and stop feeding the Comment Troll. Thanks!

  30. 30.

    Martin

    I wouldn’t worry about the Client Number Nine tendencies. In the vast sea of politician sexual malfeasances, I’m hard pressed to think of someone with a higher standard than Spitzer. Since it’s unlikely we’ll ever see a meaningful reduction in the number of sex scandals, let’s at least reward quality work.

  34. 34.

    celiadexter

    Schneiderman, no question — I’ve been in his district for more than 5 years and he’s always been a class act, and right (?) on all the issues.

  36. 36.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Linda Featheringill: No, the troll cut and pasted an edited version of something DougJ said to a number of commenters, including myself, who were playing with the troll. It was a rather unedifying spectacle, and we all took DougJ’s point.

  37. 37.

    singfoom

    @Martin:

    Maybe we could just do away with hypocrisy altogether as a political sin. The reality is that all humans are hypocrites anyway, and honestly I don’t really care much who an AG is screwing if they’re doing a good job otherwise.

    It’s not like the hypocrisy argument is all that effective against the largest hypocrites anyway….

  40. 40.

    Bruuuuce

    One more in the column of “Schneiderman. Definitely not Rice.”

    I just hope I can read the ballots; apparently they’re printed with smaller type than is necessary to put the entire New Testament on a grain of rice. I miss the old lever machines already.

  41. 41.

    DougJ

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    It was a sad flame war, a lot of it tim telling people the equivalent of “the jerkstore called”. At least with eemom, there would be a lot of profanity.

  42. 42.

    Citizen Alan

    I wouldn’t even care about the prostitutes. Repukes certainly don’t care when their Family Values (TM) candidates get revealed as whore-mongering diaper fetishists, so why should we?

  44. 44.

    WereBear

    I appreciate everyone sharing their links and insights, because 45 minutes of googling has brought up dang little, and we are voting in the primary tomorrow. The Essex County Democratic Party website hasn’t been updated since 2009, and half of it doesn’t work, and what you do see would have been shot if it were a horse.

    I even went over to Daily Kos, which I’ve been kinda avoiding because it feels like going to Bedlam with a frozen lemonade, and got sucked into a diary about another police officer shooting a dog…

    So yeah, Internet, thanks a lot.

  45. 45.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @DougJ: After you upbraided us, I looked back over the thread and was saddened by the whole thing. It basically ended then and there. I think some of us were so bored that day that a sad flame war was better than nothing. Now, that is a sad admission. I should reconsider some of my life choices.

  46. 46.

    HyperIon

    DougJ wrote: I want someone like Spitzer but without the Client Number Nine tendencies.

    Then I suggest you go with a dickless candidate. So write in some woman you would like to see get the job if none are running.

  47. 47.

    Cam

    I don’t know much about any of the four men running, but the New York Times makes a good case for 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.

    See endorsement at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/21/opinion/21sat1.html?ref=editorials

  52. 52.

    Dee Loralei

    Dear God am I slow on the uptake today, or what? I read through the entire comment thread before I realized your title was a reference to Spitzer. Man do I feel dumb. Couldn’t figure out what socks on or off had to do with any election …….. sheesh.

  54. 54.

    Tom Q

    Another one more or less gravitating to Schneiderman, though I’m embarrassed how little I know about alot of the candidates. I wonder how many down-ballot politicos have had promising careers cut off by no-information voters. (Way back in ’74, on the “it’s time for a woman” premise, I voted for the basically useless Mary Anne Krupsak — barely noticing at the time I was bypassing Mario Cuomo. I guess his career recovered)

    To the Sean Coffey buddy upthread: Can you give me a better idea of his politics, beyond GLBT? I’m always suspicious of the Dem who gets the endorsement from the Post. Plus, the guy’s robo-calls have woke me up on consecutive Saturday mornings…which doesn’t strike me as brilliant electoral strategy.

  55. 55.

    DougJ

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I think it was one of those flame wars that started off like it was going somewhere but never really did. Also it was easy to be tempted since “Glenn Greenwald” is usually cue that there will be a decent quality flame war.

  56. 56.

    Hugin & Munin

    @DougJ: Eh, Teez mebbe, but unless CL is spoofier than you are, there is no way that she does me. I don’t credit her with the skill to hide the venom and judgmental nature.

    ETA: And could you rescue my other comment from the dustbin?

  58. 58.

    Steve

    @Tom Q: I had the same reaction to the Post endorsement… who wouldn’t? But I’m confident he’s not a closet Murdoch-lover or anything like that. He comes from a union family and I’ve always known him as someone who prizes what I’d call old-school Dem values… the importance of a strong middle class, the need to fight income inequality, stuff like that. I don’t know how much that has to do with the job of AG but those are my values too.

    One story that does have a bearing on the AG job… back when we worked together, there were a number of consumer fraud cases I was agitating for our firm to file, similar to the type of fraud cases you’d expect your AG to bring. These cases weren’t necessarily as lucrative for the lawyers as some of the other stuff the firm did, so I encountered a lot of political pushback from certain people who didn’t think we should bother. Sean was always a strong advocate for investing resources in these consumer fraud cases even where the firm might have made more money by going in a different direction. There was one case in particular involving corruption at the New York Stock Exchange that he was strongly in favor of… we ultimately lost the political battle, but it showed his heart is in the right place as far as I’m concerned.

  60. 60.

    Johannes

    Folks, let me second Steve with my own endorsement of Sean Coffey. My fiancee held a barbecue for our local Rep., Ed Towns, and he invited Coffey. The invitees were mostly folks whom Congressman Towns and my fiancee’s office, had helped, and who were facing financial pain at an epic level. I liked the way Sean interacted with people, really listening to them, discussing with knowledge of the specific legal issues facing them, and with a real appreciation for the hard work lawyers trying to assist the community are doing.

    (He also showed up from a prior event in a suit, yet volunteered to run cable through my garden. That’s kind of cool, in my opinion).

    Nothing against Schneiderman, mind you; but Sean seems to me to be the real deal. I know I’m brand new here (though a long time fan!) but just thought I’d put my 2 cents in.

  61. 61.

    Nick

    I decided on Kathleen Rice…I like Schneiderman, but I feel he’s too close to the Senate fiasco and there are skeletons in his closet and Staten Island DA Dan Donovan is a strong nominee for the Republicans.

    Hello AG is often their best race. It was in 2006 with TV Star Judge Jeannine Pirro.

  62. 62.

    Lauren

    I cringe to say this, but with Rice and Schneiderman so far ahead in the polls, “a vote for Coffey is a vote for Rice.” (Sorry.) So chalk up one more vote for Schneiderman.

  63. 63.

    JGabriel

    NY CD 14, Carolyn Maloney or Reshma Saujani?

    I’m leaning towards Saujani, but don’t know enough about her yet to feel comfortable with the choice. Anyone have more info on her?

    Maloney hasn’t been bad as far as her voting record goes, but I’d like someone with a little more energy and, well, a better grasp on the cluestick.

    .

  64. 64.

    Nick

    @JGabriel:

    I’m leaning towards Saujani, but don’t know enough about her yet to feel comfortable with the choice. Anyone have more info on her?

    Other than that she’s Wall Street’s candidate?

  65. 65.

    Tom Q

    @JGabriel: @JGabriel: Yeah, like Nick says: Saujani is the candidate of all those who wanted Harold Ford to take on Gillibrand — who think the Dems’ problem is they don’t suck up enough to the financial industry.

  66. 66.

    lol

    I wouldn’t mind some guidance on DC’s elections tomorrow.

    I’m inclined to re-elect Fenty – he seems to be the bitter pill that voters need to get DC in shape, but I’m open to suggestions otherwise.

    I’m voting against Kwame Brown but I don’t know who to vote FOR to make sure his ass is out. (unlikely either way I suppose).

    Ditto for Ward 1 rep too.

  67. 67.

    Steve

    @Tom Q: It never even occurred to me that anyone could consider Carolyn Maloney insufficiently pro-Wall Street. It’s like when Fox Business Channel tried to claim that CNBC was a bunch of commies.

  68. 68.

    Tom Q

    @Steve: My theory for why Fox News has (in its small realm) thrived but Fox Business News has struggled has always been that right wingers already had a place to watch Wall Street coverage slanted their way, on CNBC.

  69. 69.

    JGabriel

    Nick, Tom Q: Thanks for the info. Do either you have any links to support that assertion?

    Not being snarky, I’m genuinely looking for information on her. I’ve heard the “Wall Street candidate” line elsewhere, but haven’t seen any stories to support it, yet.

    Guess I’m off to the Great Gazoogle as well.

    .

  70. 70.

    Walker

    What, there are elections tomorrow? It must be primaries. I have a NSF proposal that takes priority over that mess.

  71. 71.

    JGabriel

    Found it. Here’s an article on Saujani’s Wall Street connections.

    Looks like I’ll be pulling the lever for Maloney again.

    Steve:

    It never even occurred to me that anyone could consider Carolyn Maloney insufficiently pro-Wall Street.

    Yeah, one of the reasons I was considering voting against Maloney was her pro-Wall Street record. Apparently, Saujani would be no better, and probably worse, in that regard. The fact that Saujani has raised twice as much as Maloney looks like the business wing is trying to buy their own candidate.

    .

  77. 77.

    Nick

    @JGabriel:

    Yeah, one of the reasons I was considering voting against Maloney was her pro-Wall Street record.

    this is the Wall Street district, it’s the Silk Stocking district. For her constituents, Maloney is no where near pro-Wall Street. They’re pissed at her.

    I live near the district and work in it, Astoria and Long Island City love Maloney, the Upper East Side doesn’t really. Maloney will win, but only because she has Queens in the district.

  78. 78.

    Nick

    @Tom Q:

    who think the Dems’ problem is they don’t suck up enough to the financial industry.

    i hate to tell you this, but that’s like 30% of the party voters. If Saujani wins tomorrow, what do we say? Democratic voters freely chose to suck up to Wall Street. Personally I don’t think people even know about it. I have a friend of mine, a firebagger, who is voting for Saujani cause she’s hot. Her Wall Street ties mean nothing to him, she’s hot, and yet he bitches Obama sucks up to Wall Street too much.

    Thankfully i think she loses and big.

  80. 80.

    Phoebe

    @DougJ: The fact that he got busted is the best thing about him. It will keep him maybe a little humbler than he would otherwise be. Maybe.

  81. 81.

    David in NY

    Voted for Schneiderman at about 8:45 — no. 14 at my polling place, so not a big turnout day. Schneiderman has people handing out stuff all over Brooklyn, my kid among them. And I gather he was the focus of attack in the debate among the candidates, so internal polling must have been suggesting that he was ahead or surging.

    By the way, I wished the machine that swallowed my ballot had a feature to show me who it thought I had voted for (the information I had received in the mail suggested it would). I loved the old voting machines and their levers, even though people could screw them up, too. I think I first learned how to use one of those in grade school in the 1950’s, and now they’re all gone.

  82. 82.

    Douglas

    @Nick:

    I have a friend of mine, a firebagger, who is voting for Saujani cause she’s hot.

    What was it – the best argument against emocracy is a 5 minute discussion with the average voter?

    Of course, every other form of government is even more f… (and no government is, realistically, even worse than most of those).

    Douglas +5

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