Chuck Ross of the Daily Caller has detailed the relationship between Eric Schneiderman while he was New York Attorney General, and his ex-wife Jennifer Cunningham, a lobbyist with the firm SKDKnickerbockder. As we noted the day after Schneiderman’s resignation, the two had a lucrative business relationship even though they were divorced. The business was selling influence. From the article:
Schneiderman’s office defended the contacts at the time, saying they were legal under New York law. But that’s just the problem, says Tom Anderson, the executive director of the National Legal & Policy Center — a good government watchdog that has uncovered corruption in New York.
“If you wanted something from the Attorney General’s office, you had to go through her, and you had to bring your checkbook. The real scandal in New York is that all of this is legal,” Anderson told The Daily Caller News Foundation.
“Schneiderman’s ex-wife was one of the biggest power brokers in the state, a modern-day Boss Tweed,” he added.
In the wake of the New Yorker’s revelations about Schneiderman’s abuse of his girlfriends, Cunningham was his only defender. As Ross notes about SKDKnickerbockder, “Two of its most high-profile partners are Clinton White House aide Hilary Rosen and Obama White House aide Anita Dunn.” It remains to be seen whether #MeToo-style activists will allow the firm to play such a key role in New York state politics.
Because Cunningham has also served as a bagwoman for Governor Andrew Cuomo, he was quick to demand Schneiderman’s resignation and has appointed a special prosecutor to investigate the allegations. In New York’s pay-to-play political culture, it is all a charade. Money is king, not liberal ideals.