After latest disgrace, New York needs Preet

ALBANY, N.Y. _ Preet Bharara? The lemons who run things in the Assembly shudder at his mention. They would sooner appoint a box of doughnuts to replace Eric Schneiderman as attorney general.

And that's exactly why Bharara should have the job.

Bharara, you'll remember, was a federal prosecutor uniquely committed to rooting out Albany corruption, from the governor's office on down, until he was fired by Donald Trump. He is therefore the last person the Democrats who run the Assembly would choose.

They want somebody safe and nonthreatening, a man or woman who's not going to be rummaging through closets _ Wait, is that a skeleton? _ or shining a flashlight into dark corners of the Capitol. They want a milquetoast.

Schneiderman wasn't that, exactly. He was willing to make noise, though when it came to corruption in Albany, he did little to ruffle Capitol feathers. He was a creature of the building's dark hallways, after all, for 12 years a state senator from Manhattan.

Schneiderman's real passion was Trump, or at least that's how he made it seem.

Since the surprise of the 2016 presidential election _ a revolt to some, revolting to others _ New York's top law enforcement officer attorney almost daily issued press releases detailing how he was turning his office into the legal headquarters of the resistance. In this deep blue state, going after Trump was the politically safe thing to do, no courage required.

But the bombshell, career-ending report in The New Yorker suggests Schneiderman didn't really believe all that resistance stuff. One of his accusers, for example, says he described protestors marching for gun control, including parents of massacred Sandy Hook children, as "losers."

And while he publicly wrapped himself in the #MeToo movement, his private life epitomized all it stands against. The magazine's report details how he brutalized and terrorized women in his life, how he abused them physically and mentally, how he slapped and choked and belittled them.

If we believe his accusers, and I do, then the self-righteous Schneiderman can only be considered a fraud and, like Harvey Weinstein and Bill Clinton, a cynical, liberal hypocrite. It's as though Schneiderman's politics were just a cover for behavior that, if true, should land him in prison.

"How do so many leftist men end up abusers of women?" attorney Robert Barnes asked on Twitter. "Because their promotion of feminism is about using it as a tool to leverage power for themselves, not about protecting women or protecting civil rights."

Bharara retweeted that to his 766,000 followers, which is how I happened to see Barnes' words.

OK, so we know the Assembly will never, ever, ever choose Bharara as Schneiderman's replacement. He can still run for the office; the election is in the fall.

Bharara, a registered Democrat who lives in Westchester County, has proven himself charismatic and adept at handling the media, which, let's be honest, has fallen in love with the guy. He's got the social media thing down, as evidenced by that massive Twitter following. He isn't a household name in Oswego or Lackawanna, but neither are any of the other likely AG candidates.

We don't know if Bharara is even interested in elected office and all the grueling debasement that goes with it. Does he want to kiss babies and eat corn dogs at the state fair in Syracuse? Does he want to spend hours upon hours calling deep-pocketed potential donors? It would be to his credit if he didn't.

Still, the prospect of Bharara running for attorney general is more delicious than a pepperoni pie from DeFazio's. Just imagine how uncomfortable the scenario would be for Andrew Cuomo, who would have Bharara singing in harmony with challenger Cynthia Nixon about the governor's ethical lapses.

And if Bharara and Cuomo both won their respective Democratic nominations, the governor could find himself sharing a slate with a nemesis whose qualifications include the investigation that led to the conviction of Cuomo pal Joe Percoco. Awkward!

Of course, given the antipathy Democratic voters feel toward the man in the White House, the AG's primary would likely turn on which candidate seems most likely to continue Schneiderman's work as a disruptor of all things Trump. Who better than a man who was abruptly fired by the president?

Still, the greatest thing about Bharara as attorney general is what it would mean for Albany. State government, as you certainly have noticed, has a wee problem with sleaze. New York needs an independent AG unafraid of hitting uncomfortable targets and experienced at prosecuting corruption.

That isn't what the legislators in charge of the Assembly want. But what's good for the Assembly and what's good for New York are hardly the same thing. Run, Preet, run.

Contact columnist Chris Churchill at 518-454-5442 or email cchurchill(at)timesunion.com