Seldom has a political career imploded as swiftly or completely as that of Eric Schneiderman, Attorney General for the State of New York. He was already toast by last evening after the New Yorker published a devastating portrayal earlier that day of Schneiderman as a drunken, pill-popping sadist. His instant demise could not be more appropriate or satisfying.
There was not a trendy liberal cause that Schneiderman did not champion, including of course, the #MeToo movement. Schneiderman substituted ideological activism for his actual duties as New York’s top law enforcement official. We saw this first-hand.
Beginning in 2010, our staff provided information to the New York Post, New York Times and the New York Daily News about corrupt state and local officials in New York. The headlines prompted a series of investigations by federal and state prosecutors that resulted in jail for several politicians. It puzzled us that New York law enforcement authorities missed corruption that we discovered by reviewing public records from hundreds of miles away.
In one case, we exposed how a Nigerian doctor named Dorothy Ogundu ran a fake health clinic in order to rip off a variety of city, state and federal programs that allowed her to spread money around to politicians she befriended like Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY).
When Ogundu was convicted in October 2015, Schneiderman put out a press release claiming:
Today’s conviction sends a clear message: If you use taxpayer funds to line your own pocket, you will face serious consequences…We will continue… to use every tool at our disposal to crack down on anyone abusing the public trust.
Apparently, these “tools” included a subscription to the New York Post where our original expose appeared. Schneiderman, in the same press release, went out of his way to absolve the politicians who secured taxpayer money for Ogundu:
Individual disbursements of public funds are not themselves evidence of any wrongdoing, and it would be inappropriate to presume that any particular public official has engaged in misconduct simply by directing funds to a non-profit.
Schneiderman’s ex-wife Jennifer Cunningham put out a statement saying:
I’ve known Eric for nearly 35 years as a husband, father and friend. These allegations are completely inconsistent with the man I know. I find it impossible to believe that these allegations are true.
Who is Cunningham? She is a partner is SKDKnickerbocker, a public relations firm. Once called the “most powerful woman in Albany” by the New York Post, she is an important cog in New York’s pay-to-play political culture. If you wanted to get through to Schneiderman, or have him champion your cause, a good place to start was with Cunningham.
Schneiderman and Cunningham apparently got along better as business partners than as husband and wife. She has run his campaigns for Attorney General, not to mention that of Governor Andrew Cuomo. Their ultimate fidelity is to New York’s corrupt political system.