State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman will now be the hunted instead of the hunter.
A pro-business Super PAC whose goal is to defeat the state’s top law enforcement officer will file papers with the state Board of Elections Monday to launch the “Anybody But Schneiderman” effort, The Post has learned.
The anti-Schneiderman Super PAC plans to raise and spend millions of dollars on TV, radio, literature to try to take down the Democrat incumbent and offset the AG’s backing from Big Labor, the Democratic and Working Families parties, sources said.
The campaign will be aided by a federal court ruling last week that said donors can contribute unlimited sums to Super PACs after tossing out New York’s $150,000 limit on individual contributions.
“We have an opportunity to level the playing field and eliminate the power of incumbency,” said O’Brien Murray, a GOP activist who is helping run the anti-Schneiderman PAC.
Among the claims: Schneiderman is anti-business, tougher on job-producing corporations rather than real criminals, and has been MIA on political corruption.
“The governor wouldn’t have needed to appoint a commission to combat political corruption if Schneiderman was doing his job,” a strategist tied to the anti-Schneiderman effort said.
Schneiderman countered that he’s been on tough on public corruption – pointing to recent convictions of Queens state Sen. Shirley Huntley and ex-Metropolitan Council of Jewish Poverty honcho William Rapfogel, a close friend of powerful Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, for looting $1 million from the social service agency. He also moved to expel Hiram Monserrate for domestic violence when they served together in the state Senate.
“Attorney General Schneiderman has an exceptional track record of taking on corrupt public officials, including going after corrupt legislators from his own party. The suggestion that he has turned a blind eye to Albany corruption is simply absurd,” said Schneiderman campaign spokesman Peter Ajemian.
But the Super PAC is expected to highlight what it sees as troublesome controversies involving the AG’s office under Schneiderman, pointing to such examples as:
- The head of the AG’s conviction review bureau sought and won parole for a convicted sex offender last year after claiming he may have been wrongfully prosecuted. The decision blindsided and infuriated the Nassau and Queens DA’s offices that pursued the case. Following the uproar, Schneiderman replaced Thomas Schelhammer, who wrote the letter to the Parole Board on behalf of convict Ronald Bower, as head of the criminal conviction unit. “His office advocated parole for a convicted rapist and then reversed the decision when it caught doing so,” a strategist said.
- An upstate judge requested documents from Schneiderman’s office to determine whether it improperly leaked information about a sealed indictment to the media regarding a bid-rigging case. One of the defendants included Robert Wiesner, the husband of Republican Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks. Schneiderman suspended the press aide.
- Dining and accepting campaign contributions from the Trump family while his office was investigating Donald Trump’s business school. Scheiderman claimed he acted appropriately. As evidence of anti-business bias, a strategist pointed to the pressure the AG put on smart phone manufacturers to install anti-theft technology into their phones.
“Since when is it OK to go after entrepreneurs that are developing cutting edge products instead of the thieves who are stealing them? Is he going to after Tiffany’s because people steal diamond rings?” a source said.
Schneiderman has $6 million in his campaign account, making him a formidable incumbent.
But he’s not well known. A Siena College poll released last week found that 53 percent had no opinion of him.
John Cahill, a business partner and former aide to ex-Gov. George Pataki, is expected to be Schneiderman’s GOP opponent.