Sixteen candidates, several of whom are current or former elected officials, have applied to fill the vacancy created after Eric Schneiderman resigned as state attorney general.
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie’s office released the list of candidates who will be interviewed Tuesday by a panel of lawmakers. The state Legislature can appoint a replacement.
The applicants include Barbara Underwood, who is serving as acting attorney general after Schneiderman’s resignation. Underwood is the longtime state solicitor general. She has held that post since 2007, when she was first appointed by then-Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. Schneiderman reappointed her in 2011.
Former U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Holtzman, who is also an ex-Brooklyn district attorney and New York City comptroller, is among the candidates who will be considered. U.S. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, who ran for state attorney general in 2006, applied for the post. Two state Assembly members, Thomas Abinanti and Daniel O’Donnell, are also seeking the appointment.
Other notable candidates include Jose W. Fernandez, who is a partner with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher at the law firm’s New York office. Fernandez served as assistant secretary of state for economic, energy and business affairs during the first four years of the Obama administration. Nicole Gueron, an attorney who was deputy chief trial counsel under then-Attorney General Cuomo, will be interviewed. She is also a former assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.
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