I have yet to pay much attention to the Attorney General race in NY State. The candidate I was hoping for (Denise O'Donnel) is not running. Many people I know favor Eric Schneiderman, who has gotten the endorsement of Democracy for NYC rather overwhelmingly. And many expected him to get the endorsement of Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats (CBID).

My wife and I hadn't talked about last Thursday's CBID meeting until today. We've been busy and I have still been on German time. So it was a surprise when I heard that CBID had NOT endorsed favorite Eric Schneiderman, but rather dark horse Sean Coffey. Sean Coffey had not been on my radar, but Joy tells me he was really impressive (though I wonder how much that has to do with his last name sounding like her favorite beverage).

Coffey, a military veteran, is solidly pro-marriage equality and for repeal of DADT. He has a solidly pro-union background. He seems like a real old-time liberal who also has worked with George H Bush and been offered a position by Barack Obama.

He has an engineering degree (I like people with skills like that who enter politics). He served in the Navy and was assigned to the Organization of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and was chosen by the Navy to serve as the personal military assistant to Vice President George H.W. Bush (who Coffey respects but disagrees with politically). He then graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown law school and has worked on cases protecting tenants rights, recovered billions of dollars for victims of corporate fraud, and handled the appeal of a wrongfully convicted death row inmate. He was the lead attorney in the WorldCom securities case representing thousands of investors, including the New York State Common Retirement Fund. His team recovered over $6 billion and, in a historic first, required all outside directors and key wrongdoers to contribute from their personal funds. You can read more at Sean Coffey's website.

And you can read Sean Coffey's CBID questionnaire answers here (Word Doc)

So far Coffey has only a handful of endorsements. Reps. Dan Maffei and Bill Owens, a fellow veteran, endorsed him. He has also, interestingly, been endorsed by Minnesota's liberal Senator Al Franken. He has also been endorsed by Brookhaven Town Supervisor Mark Lesko.

I have not yet decided who I am supporting. Schneiderman seems kind of the progressive default. But Coffey seems an excellent dark horse candidate whose chances will depend on his ability to use his own money to buy advertising time...something I am not exactly a fan of. But if he is an excellent candidate otherwise, I can accept it. So far none of the other candidates have impressed me, but I have not yet taken enough time to decide. So I like Coffey and am impressed that he so completely captured the CBID endorsement out of the blue. But I have not endorsed yet.