Schneiderman: “… toxic volcano of bad ideas”
KINGSTON – State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman packed the house as keynote speaker at The Ulster County Democratic Party brunch in Kingston Sunday afternoon. Over 270 guests attended, one of the largest paid political turnouts in recent Ulster County memory.
Schneiderman is running for re-election to a third term in November. His only major opposition is Republican attorney and political newcomer Manny Alicandro. Schneiderman spoke little about his own candidacy, instead focusing his remarks into a partisan pep talk.
“The battle lines are drawn very clearly, and it is up to us as Democrats to come back in, and show the American people that government is a force for good, and that there are those who do take seriously our Constitutional structure, and rule of law,” Schneiderman said.
The AG praised the many Democrats running for public office this year. “Anybody running for Congress? Anybody running for State Senate or Assembly? Any Republican State Senators? Oh wait, they all retired,” he laughed. “People talk about a blue wave coming; this is not a wave that comes by itself. This is not a tsunami generated by an earthquake on the other side of the world. This is a wave that we are all in the process of creating. The political moment cannot be more of an opportunity, but it is just an opportunity, and it is up to us to seize it.”
“I love being your lawyer, I love being the lawyer for the people of the State of New York, and I’m proud of the work our office has done, to build what has become an extraordinary legal resistance to the bad public policies that spew out of our nation’s capital like debris from some toxic volcano of bad ideas,” he continued.
Schneiderman lambasted President Trump, regarding the Trump University fraud case which the state official prosecuted in 2013, before the president ran for public office. He also cited a litany of other matters, including the immigration DACA controversy, and various environmental issues.
“At the end of the day, though, my colleagues, I can’t get an injunction that says, you have to stop enacting bad policies and being such an embarrassment to the world; we do have to beat them at the polls,” Schneiderman said, noting the large influx of newcomers protesting Trump. “That is the sign of the energy that’s there, which I promise as your lawyer to work with you on channeling this year. Believe me; you are making a lot of Republican House members and state legislators nervous. This is the year we turn red districts purple and purple districts blue.”
