After allegations of sexual abuse by four women that appeared in an article in The New Yorker, New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman resigned Monday night. The article by Jane Mayer and Pulitzer Prize winner Ronan Farrow reported that he allegedly choked, slapped, and beat them and during sex, then threatened them to remain silent. Very shortly after the article was published Monday night, Governor Andrew Cuomo called for Schneiderman’s resignation and for Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance to launch an investigation into the allegations. The irony there is, just days ago, Cuomo requested Schneiderman to probe Vance’s office for its handling of a 2015 investigation into accusations of sexual assault against move mogul Harvey Weinstein, whom more than 50 women have accused of sexual harassment or assault in the past year. Three hours later, Schneiderman resigned.
Schneiderman has long championed women’s causes and has been a vocal supporter of the Me Too movement. One of his more notable actions as a state senator involved legislation to protect women from domestic abuse, including his sponsorship of the Anti-Strangulation Act in 2010. [..]
As New York’s senior law enforcement official, Schneiderman took large steps to combat President Donald Trump’s agenda, including pushing to change state law so any Trump aides can be tried for criminal acts they’ve committed in New York even if they have been given a presidential pardon. His office also filed a suit against film producer Harvey Weinstein in February, alleging that Weinstein had sexually harassed women for years.
He was also instrumental in removing criminal cases against law enforcement officer out of the jurisdiction of local prosecutors. It would allow him to appoint a special prosecutor to conduct the investigation. Schneiderman, who has had a long running disagreement with Cuomo, was seeking reelection to what would have been his third term. It now up to the state legislature to select his replacement. One of the names being bandied about is former US Attorney for the Southern District of NY Preet Bhahara who was fired by Donald Trump. Charlie Pierce had his own suggestion
And, just for fun, and for the possibility that the mere rumor would cause the president* to paint his body blue and dance a naked tarantella on the Truman Balcony, I suggested that we get the hashtag, #HRCforNYAG trending.
Rather than a name that would cause Trump to paint his body blue and dance a naked tarantella on the Truman Balcony,” Charlie also had a more reasonable choice:
In truth, however, the search for a replacement should not be the search for A Name. For example, there are a lot of people saying good things about Ben Lawsky, a former U.S. Attorney and New York’s first Superintendent of Financial Services, an office created in response to the economic meltdown of 2008-2009. Just a cursory search of the Intertoobz reveals Lawsky to have exactly the kind of attitude that this job needs going forward. In 2014, he said this to The Financial Times:
“Corporations are a legal fiction. You have to deter bad individual conduct within corporations. People who did the conduct are going to be held accountable.”
Hire this man immediately.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump still sits in the Oval Office and Eric Greitens is still governor of Missouri.
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