Forget moving vehicles — attorney general wannabe Eric Schneiderman can’t even be trusted with a parked one.
The Manhattan state senator’s car was caught this month leaving the scene without stopping after it hit another vehicle pulling out of a parking space. Now it emerges that Schneiderman sponsored a bill that very nearly gutted the city’s ability to enforce its parking regulations.
What’s next, amnesty for car thieves?
Fortunately, Schneiderman and Mayor Bloomberg have since announced a deal that restores the city’s authority — but only after the mayor popped his cork.
Schneiderman’s bill, which passed both chambers of the Legislature and was on its way to Gov. Paterson’s desk, was purportedly designed to shield indebted New Yorkers from having to surrender supposedly essential items to creditors.
Yet, as city lawyers noticed almost too late, a provision banning the seizure of vehicles worth less than $4,000 would prohibit towing the cars of parking violators owing huge sums in unpaid tickets.
And with parking scofflaws realizing they’d be spared, violations — and unpaid tickets — would soar.
None of this reflects well on Schneiderman’s judgment. If he’s this careless in writing legislation as a senator, how well would he enforce it as AG?
Ditto for his recent traffic altercation — when, in the panic to explain himself, he insisted both that no one in his car thought the other vehicle was damaged and that his driver was “disciplined.”
Hizzoner’s lawyers might want to take one more look at this bill — just to make sure there aren’t any hidden protections for hit-and-run perpetrators, too.