Cahill blasts Schneiderman’s job performance as attorney general

September 26, 2014 By Paula Katinas Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Attorney General candidate John Cahill made a recent campaign swing through Bay Ridge.

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New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman “has utterly failed to restore confidence in state government,” said John Cahill, the man who wants to replace him. Cahill, a former commissioner of the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), is running against Schneiderman for attorney general and blasted the incumbent’s job performance during a recent reporter’s roundtable in Bay Ridge.

Over coffee with reporters at the Bridgeview Diner on Third Avenue, Cahill, a Republican, said Schneiderman, a Democrat, should have spoken out when the Moreland Commission, the panel investigating corruption in state government, was disbanded by Governor Andrew Cuomo. Cuomo’s action was highly controversial, given that fact that it was the governor himself who had created the commission, Cahill contended.

“When the governor essentially fired the Moreland Commission, he did nothing,” Cahill said, referring to Schneiderman. “When the governor created the Moreland Commission, the commissioners were deputized as assistant attorneys general. The governor essentially fired Mr. Schneiderman’s deputies and what did he do? Nothing. He had to know that there was political interference. He had an obligation to stand up. People are left to wonder why.”

Schneiderman, a former state senator, is running for a second term as attorney general.

Cahill said that if elected, he would run a transparent attorney general’s office, free from political corruption and influence peddlers.

Cahill, who served at the DEC during the Pataki Administration, later served as Pataki’s chief of staff.

Under his leadership, the attorney general’s office would strictly enforce the state’s environmental laws, Cahill said.

“We should also be opening the New York State for economic development,” he told reporters.

On education, he said he is a strong proponent of charter schools and tuition tax credits. “I believe education is a civil right,” he said.

The attorney general is the state’s top law enforcement official. Cahill sought to cast doubt over Schneiderman’s ability to fight crime effectively.

“Mr. Schneiderman had a liberal voting record in the senate,” he said. The state has seen “an increase in violent crimes by parolees” in recent years, he said.

The state is experiencing an epidemic of heroin use, Cahill said.

“You have to have a holistic approach to solving this problem. We need to get to the underlying cause of the heroin epidemic,” he said. Cahill added that he would seek legislation to give local district attorneys more leeway in handling drug cases. And he would take additional steps to prevent those addicted to prescription painkillers from shopping for different sets of doctors to write prescriptions. There are laws in place but they have to be strengthened, he said.

“The attorney general’s response it to simply hand out the antidote,” Cahill said.

The drug Naloxone has been used successfully as an antidote to heroin overdoses. Cahill said he supports the use of Naloxone. “But that’s not all I would do,” he said.

Cahill, who has taken part in several triathlons and has run in the New York City marathon three times, said he enjoys being an athlete. “It teaches you discipline. When you finish an event, you feel good. It teaches you to set a goal, have a plan to achieve that goal, and to work toward it. You learn perseverance and how to overcome obstacles,” he said.

Similar traits are needed on the campaign trail, he said.

Schneiderman’s campaign disputed Cahill’s comments on the incumbent’s job performance.

“Attorney General Schneiderman has zero tolerance for public corruption. That’s why he prosecuted more than 50 politicians, government employees and nonprofit officials who abused the public trust – and led the charge to expel a sitting state senator when he was in the legislature,” campaign spokesman Peter Ajemian told the Brooklyn Eagle.

As for tackling the heroin epidemic, Schneiderman “has broken up 18 major drug rings and has made hundreds of arrests for heroin, cocaine and crack related offenses – because he knows there has to be one set of rules for everyone,” Ajemian said. “While Attorney General Schneiderman is aggressively fighting the heroin epidemic plaguing our state, Cahill has zero law enforcement experience and he’s been fighting to protect the oil and gas industry.”

“It’s sad that Cahill has to resort to scare tactics and distortions to keep his desperate campaign alive. The fact is crime in New York State has decreased under Attorney General Schneiderman’s watch. He has taken on drug traffickers, prosecuted corrupt elected officials who abuse the public trust, and got illegal guns off of our streets,” Ajemian said.