Metro

Donovan rides Schneiderman hard on Big A

ALBANY — State Sen. Eric Schneiderman used yesterday’s attorney-general candidate debate to gallop away from the Aqueduct bid-rigging fiasco, even as Dan Donovan painted him as “asleep at the wheel.”

The clash over the bungled Queens casino deal heated up the second and last debate in the race to succeed Andrew Cuomo.

With influence peddling by Senate leaders among the charges in last week’s damning inspector-general report, Staten Island DA Donovan wasted no time saddling Schneiderman with the gambling scandal.

The opportunity came when a moderator asked what scared him the most about his opponent.

“He either knew and did nothing about it or didn’t know and, as a leader, should’ve known,” said Donovan, a Republican. “I think that’s a very scary situation for the people of our state.”

Schneiderman, a Democrat, took much of his time to again insist he knew nothing of the Big A deal, despite his role as a Senate leader and the contract’s status as the state’s biggest ever.

Meanwhile, Mayor Bloomberg last night also ripped Schneiderman over the scandal, saying, “These are all his friends — people that he has been serving with, crafting legislation together. Urging people to vote with the whole cabal. You can’t walk away from that.”