Role New York Attorney General | Preceded by Efrain Gonzalez Name Eric Schneiderman Children Catherine Schneiderman | |
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Spouse Jennifer Cunningham (m. 1990–1996) Office New York Attorney General since 2011 Profiles | ||
Climate march 2014 new york attorney general eric schneiderman
Eric Tradd Schneiderman (born December 31, 1954) is an American attorney and politician. He serves as the 65th and current New York Attorney General, having been elected in 2010 and reelected in 2014. He is a member of the Democratic Party.
Contents
- Climate march 2014 new york attorney general eric schneiderman
- Rediscovering government keynote address by eric schneiderman the new school for social research
- Early life education and early career
- New York Senate
- Elections
- Leadership
- Tenure
- 2010 election
- Tenure in office
- Electoral history
- References
Prior to becoming Attorney General, Schneiderman served for a decade in the New York State Senate, being 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.
Rediscovering government keynote address by eric schneiderman the new school for social research
Early life, education, and early career
Schneiderman was born to a Jewish family in New York City; he is the son of Abigail Heyward and Irwin Schneiderman, a lawyer. He graduated from the Trinity School in New York City in 1972 and Amherst College in 1977. He then graduated from Harvard Law School in 1982.
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.
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.
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.
Elections
In the 1998 Democratic primary, Schneiderman, defeated Daniel O'Donnell, a civil rights attorney, with 68% of the vote. In the general election, he defeated Vincent McGowen with 82% of the vote. He won re-election in 2000 (84%), in 2002 (87%), in 2004 (89%), in 2006 (92%), and 2008 (90%).
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. 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. His other legislative activities include passing ethics reforms to root out fraud against taxpayers.
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. 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.
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. The following year, the New York State Legislature enacted a law legalizing MMA in 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. This sparked a six-month-long legal battle. 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.
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" and calling it a "bait-and-switch scheme." Trump denied all accusations, calling Schneiderman a "political hack." In October 2014 a New York judge found Trump personally liable for the institution's violation of state education laws.
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.”
Schneiderman won re-election in 2014. His major opponent was Republican John P. Cahill, who had been an environmental conservation commissioner for the state.
Electoral history
*McGowan was also listed on the Liberal Party line; Brance was also listed on the Right to Life Party line.
*Schneiderman was also listed on the Working Families Party line; Madon was also listed on the Independence Party line.
*Schneiderman was also listed on the Working Families Party line.
*Schneiderman was also listed on the Working Families Party line.
*Schneiderman was also listed on the Working Families Party line.
*Schneiderman was also listed on the Working Families Party line.
*Schneiderman was also listed on the Independence Party and Working Families Party line; Donovan was also listed on the Conservative Party line.
*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.