Letitia James’ Ties to Cuomo Help, and Hinder, Her Bid for Attorney General

NEW YORK — For Letitia James, politics has made quick and convenient bedfellows.

After Eric Schneiderman suddenly resigned in May as New York’s attorney general, it soon became clear that James, the New York City public advocate, was the favored choice of Gov. Andrew Cuomo to succeed Schneiderman.

Within weeks, Cuomo endorsed James; the Democratic Party’s formal nomination quickly followed. The governor then held a fundraiser for her with a minimum ticket price of $1,000. He invited her to appear with him at rallies for reproductive rights. And, in July, he brought James and several of his political allies on his fifth trip to Puerto Rico since Hurricane Maria.

As the other three Democratic candidates for attorney general have tried to distance themselves from Cuomo, James has fully embraced him. But at a time when prosecuting Wall Street, pursuing political corruption in Albany, New York, and being willing to challenge President Donald Trump and his administration are considered highly prized qualifications for the job, James’ strategy has been one of high rewards, but also some risk.

“Perhaps no criterion is more important right now than the capacity of the next attorney general to be independent,” said the former attorney general, Eliot Spitzer, under whose tenure James ran the office’s Brooklyn, New York, operations. “The occupant of that office must have the wherewithal to pursue cases against the most powerful forces without regard to political consequences.”

The issue of demonstrating independence has jump-started a relatively quiet race where 42 percent of voters said in a recent poll that they are undecided about whom they will vote for in the Sept. 13 primary.

With little separating the four Democratic hopefuls on most campaign issues, the candidates — Sean Patrick Maloney, New York’s first openly gay congressman; Leecia Eve, a former top aide to Hillary Clinton and Cuomo; Zephyr Teachout, a law professor who ran a surprisingly effective race against Cuomo in the 2014 primary; and James — have taken to arguing about who is the least anchored to Cuomo.

“Unbossed and unbought,” James said when asked about her independence from Cuomo after a fundraiser at a union hall in Manhattan last week. She scrunched her face and called the speculation that she was too close to Cuomo “disrespectful,” hinting that it may be coming her way because she would become the first black woman to hold statewide office were she to win.

“I think the governor supports me because he knows that I get things done, that I’ve got a long record in public service and that I understand how Albany works,” James said in an interview. “That does not mean I’m beholden to the governor.”

A series of remarks has not helped James make that case. James has said that she did not think there was a need for another Moreland Commission, a fact-finding body that Cuomo authorized to investigate corruption in Albany. The governor later hastily dismantled it, prompting Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan at the time, to probe the commission’s demise.

In a recent interview with Cosmopolitan, James said she would use the Martin Act, the expansive law that prosecutors in New York have used to pursue fraud charges against the biggest firms on Wall Street, but in a “judicious” manner.

James also defended Cuomo against recent remarks that some said were critical of women. At a Women for Cuomo campaign event, Cuomo quipped that “usually it is worse” to be in a room filled with women. Cuomo’s Democratic primary opponent, Cynthia Nixon, called the comment “Trumpian” in an email to supporters.

“What did he say that was offensive?” James asked. “Everyone in the room enjoyed his comments and, in fact, he got a standing ovation.”

The event was turned into a campaign ad for Cuomo, and features James praising the governor.

James has also benefited from Cuomo’s skill as a fundraiser. Of the 155 donors who gave James $1,000 or more for the July reporting period, just under a third of those donors, 28 percent, also gave money to Cuomo’s 2018 election account. James received more than $430,000 from those donors, according to campaign finance records.

One shared donor between Cuomo and James is the MedMen Opportunity Fund II L.P., a private equity firm that invests in companies that sell legal marijuana. In July, the company gave Cuomo’s campaign $65,000 and gave James’ campaign $21,000. They were the only two politicians in the state to receive donations from the fund, officials there confirmed.

“They are on the right side of the issue,” a MedMen spokesman, Daniel Yi, said in an interview.

As much as her association with Cuomo has helped elevate James’ profile, it has also alienated some of her supporters.

The New York Progressive Action Network interviewed James and Teachout in May, intending to make an endorsement soon after. But the decision was delayed because of concerns that James might be too close to the governor, according to leaders of the group.

By the time the board of directors reconvened in July, they had seen enough. They overwhelmingly endorsed Teachout.

“We’re not saying that she’s no longer a progressive,” said Traci Strickland, co-chairwoman of the group. “We’re just saying there’s a closeness to the incumbent governor for whom there are many questions.”

George Albros, a leader of the network and one of the founding members of the Working Families Party, which helped James win her first election to the City Council in 2003, was more blunt: “If you owe your election to the guy you are supposedly overseeing, that creates a problem.”

The Muslim Democratic Club of New York should have been another easy endorsement for James. Her first deputy in the public advocate’s office, Ibrahim Khan, is a member of the club, which is in Brooklyn, the heart of James’ political base. The group says it has endorsed James in previous races. But in July, the group backed Teachout.

Some members of the group were upset that Cuomo had never visited a mosque during his seven years as governor, and for his remarks comparing Trump’s immigration policies to a “jihad.”

“For many of members of the club,” said one board member, Mohammad Khan, “any association with Cuomo is pretty toxic.”

One episode in particular seemed to rankle James’ former supporters: her decision to forego the Working Families Party’s ballot line, at the apparent behest of Cuomo, who was upset at the party for endorsing Nixon.

“Doing what the governor wanted her to do in rejecting the line was the canary in the coal mine,” said Jonathan Westin, executive director of New York Communities for Change. “For me, it was a sign that she’s not willing to challenge establishment politics.” Westin’s group had also endorsed Nixon in April, and has since backed Teachout, who is running on a ticket with Nixon — a relationship that should also draw scrutiny, according to Maloney, the congressman seeking the attorney general post.

“The attorney general can’t be a lieutenant governor-style position,” Maloney said. “The attorney general has to stand on her own two feet.”

Maloney has his own history of supporting Cuomo, praising him in March for supporting same-sex marriage and calling him a “national progressive leader.” Democrats “should all support Gov. Cuomo,” Maloney wrote in a statement.

“He’s been a very good governor and I agree with much of what he’s done,” Maloney said, “but he doesn’t get to pick the attorney general of New York.”

Teachout said her career has been focused on fighting corruption, and that she decided to run against Cuomo in 2014 because he abruptly shuttered the Moreland Commission. “I have never been scared to stand up to power,” Teachout said.

Eve noted that she was not the “candidate of either the Democratic or the Working Families Party.” She did participate in the Democratic Party’s convention. “I’m not aligning myself with any particular candidate,” Eve said.

She points to lawsuits against the administrations of Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio during her time as a member of the City Council and as the public advocate as proof of her autonomy.

As for the Martin Act, James says she will use it appropriately. “It’s really, critically important that I not be known as the ‘Sheriff on Wall Street,'” James said, referring to a sobriquet Spitzer — who resigned as governor after it had emerged that he had patronized a prostitute — earned for prosecuting financial fraud. “I don’t believe in labels.”

Asked about James’ remarks, Spitzer, who has donated money to Maloney’s campaign, said paying close attention to “integrity on Wall Street” is more important than ever for state prosecutors.

“There is uniform agreement that prosecutors must step into the void created by the Trump administration’s abdication of its enforcement role in critical areas,” Spitzer said. “For Tish James to question that role is, at a minimum, very, very surprising.”