A coalition of local trade unions has broken from its statewide organization to endorse Democrat Eric Schneiderman for attorney general. Why? Because of Bernie Madoff. Greg Lancette, president of the Central and Northern New York Building and Construction Trades Council, which represents 16,000 workers and retirees, said the council believes Schneiderman would be more aggressive than Republican Dan Donovan...
Eric Schneiderman, Democratic candidate for attorney general, has received the endorsement of Central and Northern New York unions.A coalition of local trade unions has broken from its statewide organization to endorse Democrat Eric Schneiderman for attorney general.
Why? Because of Bernie Madoff.
Greg Lancette, president of the Central and Northern New York Building and Construction Trades Council, which represents 16,000 workers and retirees, said the council believes Schneiderman would be more aggressive than Republican Dan Donovan in rooting out corruption on Wall Street — and helping pension funds recover lost money. That’s particularly important to some of the unions the council represents, because they lost millions from their pension and health funds in the Madoff scandal.
“Central New York was struck per capita higher than anywhere else in the state,” Lancette said. “And basically, Donovan’s approach of saying that there is enough regulation of Wall Street — ‘I’m not going to be the sheriff’ — that’s really concerning to us.”
Lancette estimated the 14 unions in his council lost a combined $100 million in the Madoff affair. Madoff, who was arrested in December 2008 for running a $65 billion Pyramid scheme, is in federal prison, but the pension funds he decimated have not been made whole.
The executive board of the New York Building and Construction Trades Council, based in Albany, endorsed Donovan. Edward Molloy, president of the council, said there was no mandate for the local affiliates to follow suit. Still, most of them either endorsed Donovan or allowed their individual unions to make their own decisions, he said.
Molloy, whose council endorsed Democrats Andrew Cuomo for governor and Tom DiNapoli for comptroller, said he believes Donovan, the Staten Island district attorney, offers a fresh, outside-Albany perspective and has the credentials to attack corruption in state government. He said he is confident Donovan will be tough on Wall Street when he needs to be.
Schneiderman, a state senator from Manhattan, has trumpeted his intention to follow in the footsteps of former attorney general Eliot Spitzer — dubbed “the sheriff of Wall Street” — and Andrew Cuomo in focusing on Wall Street, and he has attacked Donovan for downplaying that role.
Virginia Lam, spokeswoman for the Donovan campaign, said the local trades council has been “misinformed and misled” on Donovan’s platform.
She said Donovan would aggressively pursue corruption, but won’t “recklessly demonize an entire industry to get splashy headlines to further his career.” She added that the financial services industry is “a vital engine for job creation in our state.”
Contact Paul Riede at priede@syracuse.com or 470-3260.