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The office is a potential firewall against an out-of-control president and a historically corrupt New York State government.
The most important choice facing New York voters this fall is whom they will pick as their next state attorney general. The office could be the last line of defense against an antidemocratic president, a federal government indifferent to environmental and consumer protection and a state government in which ethics can seem a mere inconvenience.
Even in the best of times the office plays a critical role, policing fraud on Wall Street and ensuring enforcement of state and federal laws, from regulating the financial system to preventing employment discrimination. Its influence is felt across the nation.
These are not the best of times. With the right leadership, the office could serve as a firewall if President Trump pardons senior aides, dismisses the special counsel, Robert Mueller, or attacks the foundations of state power. Only a handful of American institutions are equipped to resist such assaults on constitutional authority, and the New York attorney general’s office, with 650 lawyers and a history of muscular law enforcement, is one of them.
The next attorney general will have a full docket in New York as well. Albany has long been a chamber of ethical horrors. In March, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s former senior aide Joseph Percoco was convicted on corruption charges. In May, former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a Democrat, was also convicted of corruption. In July, the former Republican Senate majority leader, Dean Skelos, was convicted of bribery, extortion and conspiracy. Prosecutors said he used his office to pressure businesses to pay his son $300,000 for no-show jobs. The same month, Alain Kaloyeros, a key figure behind Mr. Cuomo’s “Buffalo Billion” economic initiative, was convicted in a bid-rigging scheme.
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Not to be forgotten are the allegations against former Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who resigned in disgrace earlier this year after women who dated him accused him of choking them and beating them up.
New Yorkers who feel they deserve better — presumably just about all of them — have the chance this fall to elect a strong and unencumbered attorney general capable of delivering it.
From a refreshingly strong field competing in the Democratic primary, to be held on Sept. 13, the best candidate is Zephyr Teachout, an independent-minded lawyer unusually well prepared to curb abuses of power and restore integrity and pride to this office. Ms. Teachout waged a strong primary challenge against Mr. Cuomo four years ago, lending her additional credibility and distance from a governor who remains all too cozy with the donors, contractors, union leaders and influence peddlers who dominate Albany and beyond.
The office of attorney general has been held by a long line of formidable lawyers and strong, if at times deeply flawed, men. No woman has ever been elected to the position. Barbara Underwood, the current occupant, assumed office after Mr. Schneiderman’s resignation. Ms. Teachout lacks direct experience as a prosecutor but is equipped with legal firepower comparable to previous attorneys general.
A Fordham Law School professor and activist, she’s widely respected among lawyers and academics. She’s known as a thoughtful and innovative scholar who has been a pioneering thinker in the legal case against Trump’s entanglements with foreign favor-seekers who are lining his pockets through his hotels, golf courses and other private holdings. We are persuaded she will not let a focus on the Trump administration detract her from other efforts on behalf of New York, including securing tenants’ rights and voting rights and pursuing criminal justice reform.
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Ms. Teachout has written the book on political corruption — literally — and is recognized as a national expert on this scourge.
We believe Ms. Teachout would also be able to recruit some of the best lawyers in the country to the state attorney general’s office, which competes for talent with the Southern District of New York, the Department of Justice in Washington, top private law firms and prestigious public-interest groups.
Among the other contenders in the Democratic primary, Public Advocate Letitia James, an attorney who once led the New York attorney general’s Brooklyn office, has garnered substantial establishment support, including an endorsement from Mr. Cuomo. Ms. James has for decades been a standout fighter for tenants, children and other vulnerable New Yorkers. But she has embraced political contributions from donors to Mr. Cuomo, who held a fund-raiser for her earlier this summer.
Ms. James has countered that she is “unbossed and unbought,” and described suggestions she is too close to Mr. Cuomo as “disrespectful,” insinuating that they are asked only because she is poised to become the first black woman to win statewide office. But given the political landscape in New York and elsewhere, the state attorney must be absolutely independent. Such political contributions could become a conflict of interest for any candidate.
Leecia Eve, a graduate of Harvard Law School with years of experience in government and in the courtroom, is also impressive. Ms. Eve served as counsel to Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton when they were in the Senate, and as deputy secretary for economic development for Mr. Cuomo. If Ms. Teachout were not in the race, Ms. Eve would be the strongest candidate; we hope we haven’t seen the last of her on a campaign trail.
Representative Sean Patrick Maloney of upstate New York is also in the hunt. Mr. Maloney, whose congressional seat is up this year, is straddling two races. He is fighting to hold on to his seat in the 18th Congressional District — a race that could prove critical to Democrats’ hopes of winning the House — while also running for the Albany job. His acceptance of tens of thousands of dollars from real estate interests casts a shadow over his appealing résumé and solid government experience. Mr. Maloney has been effective in Congress; he and the state would be better served if he stayed there and moved into the leadership ranks.
The winner of the Democratic primary will face the Republican Keith Wofford, co-managing partner of Ropes & Gray, an international law firm, in the general election on Nov. 6.
New York needs a great lawyer. We believe that Democrats who are seeking a means of standing up to the Trump presidency and graft in Albany can find in Ms. Teachout their most effective champion for democracy and civil rights, good government and the environment, workers’ rights, fair housing and gender equality.
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