O’Donnell blasts Maloney for running for AG and Congress at same time

GOSHEN – The Republican candidate for the 18th Congressional District, James O’Donnell, called Democrat Sean Patrick Maloney, the current holder of the 18th District seat “uniquely unqualified to serve as attorney general.”
Maloney announced on Wednesday that he will run for state attorney general and if he loses the Democratic primary in September, he will move forward with his congressional re-election campaign. If he wins the party nomination for AG, he would step away from the House race.
O’Donnell said on Wednesday running for two elected offices at the same time is illegal in New York and “unethical” to boot.
“He is supposed to be representing us down in Congress so he is going to try to keep campaigning for attorney general, the job he really and he talks about going on offense when he is going for attorney general and being on defense down in Washington,” O’Donnell said. “Guess what? If you are in the major leagues, you have to be able to play both offense and defense at the same time.”
O’Donnell said fellow New York House Member Kathleen Rice citing
such legal barriers when she refused to run for attorney general while
standing for re-election to Congress.
The Republican challenger said he will “evaluate all legal remedies to ensure the interests of the people of the 18th Congressional District are put above all other considerations, including Sean Maloney’s political ambitions.”
US Senator Charles Schumer, the Senate Democratic Minority Leader, when asked about a Maloney run for attorney general on Wednesday, would not comment.
“Maloney has done a very good job as congressman and everyone has the right to run if they want to run and I am not going to comment,” Schumer said. “Let’s see what unfolds.”
O’Donnell said Maloney’s candidacy “raises a legal red flag that must be addressed immediately by the appropriate judicial and election authorities – specifically, the question of how a candidate for one office in New York can possibly run for another office at the same time.”