Sean Coffey for NYS Attorney General

This summer I have been interning for Sean Coffey, one of the five Democratic candidates running for New York State Attorney General (now that Cuomo is giving up his position to run for Governor). Going in to the internship, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from it, or even what I was going to think of Sean as a candidate. The job ended up being a very hands-on and engaging internship. All of the interns were given a lot of responsibility, and we were almost always doing tasks that were visibly important to the campaign.

I learned an enormous amount about politics this summer. While I understand that I may seem biased, I genuinely believe Sean Coffey is the best candidate for the job of Attorney General based on what I have observed and learned these past few months.

The four other Democratic candidates in the primary are veterans to politics: State Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice, State Senator Eric Schneiderman, and former Superintendent of Insurance Eric Dinallo. Sean Coffey is a complete political newcomer, and, given the total dysfunction of our state’s government right now, this is a true asset to his campaign. He proudly says in interviews that one of the things that makes him such a strong candidate is, in fact, his lack of political experience. Sean Coffey as New York’s Attorney General would bring a breath of fresh air to Albany, something that is long overdue.

Sean has a very impressive background. He was born in the Bronx to Irish-immigrant parents and is the oldest of seven children. He grew up in a union household and moved around a great deal during his childhood. Sean attended the US Naval Academy and graduated in 1978. He served in the Navy for 8 years on active duty and for 18 years as a reservist. While stationed in Washington D.C., he attended Georgetown Law at night. Later he moved to New York to begin practicing law. He was an associate with Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton and Garrison and then became an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District. After several years, he joined Latham and Watkins as a corporate defense attorney, but then later returned to being a plaintiff’s attorney at the firm Bernstein Litowitz. During his years at Bernstein Litowitz, Sean led some of the most successful class action law suits in recent years, including the litigation against WorldComm in which the team recovered billions of dollars on behalf of defrauded investors and historically made WorldComm’s directors, officers, and others pay personally for their wrongdoing.

Sean is more than qualified to be our state’s top lawyer, but beyond that, he has proven his dedication to the position by pledging never to run for higher office (i.e. what Spitzer did and what Cuomo is now doing by running for governor). Sean Coffey truly wants to be the next Attorney General and clean up Albany’s corruption, get the government functioning once again, and protect the state of New York. He’s released several agendas explaining his positions on various issues, and those can be found at his website www.coffey2010.com

If you are a registered Democrat, when September 14th comes around, I really encourage you to consider Sean Coffey as the next Attorney General.