On October 30 of last year I commented on former Bernstein Litowitz lawyer, Sean Coffey’s decision to run for Attorney General in New York. On several occasions I’ve mentioned the unseemly though commonplace practice of soliciting business with state pension systems while simultaneously acting as benefactors to the politicians tasked with running those same pension systems (e.g. here, here, here and here). Mr. Coffey’s former firm (and others cut from the same cloth as Milberg) have collected billions of dollars in fees because they’ve had the good fortune of being retained by large pension systems like New York’s.
In that context, Elizabeth Benjamin’s piece today at the NY Daily News reporting that Coffey managed to raise $1.5 million over the past six weeks hardly came as a surprise to those who know this industry. Benjamin reports:
This puts Coffey on near-equal footing with former state Insurance superintendent Eric Dinallo, the only other of the potential Democratic AG candidates (so far) who has never before held elected office. Dinallo reported raising $1.75 million.
To date, the contender with the most amount of cash is Nassau County DA Kathleen Rice, who reported raising $1.4 million over the past six weeks…
With his personal wealth, copious political connections and the class action industrial complex fully behind him, I’d be surprised if his campaign coffers were unable to keep up with his more well known competitors. What I’m curious to see is whether he can spin that spigot of campaign cash into name recognition and ultimately, votes.
Filed under: Law & Politics, Opinion, Bernstein, Milberg, pay-to-play, pension funds, securities
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