New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, a Democrat, has hired the liberal consulting group that helped Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign, the New York Daily News reported on Monday.
Revolution Messaging will assist Schneiderman, who is expected to seek a third term in 2018 and may have gubernatorial ambitions, in generating lawsuits against President Donald Trump and his administration.
Earlier this month Schneiderman filed a suit accusing the Trump administration of violating federal law by delaying six energy efficiency standards for products such as ceiling fans, portable air conditioners, walk-in coolers and freezers, and commercial boilers.
Schneiderman is a member of a liberal coalition that includes attorneys general of California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington and municipalities like New York City, which oppose Trump’s policies, including his efforts to roll back the slew of regulations put in place by the Barack Obama administration.
“This is yet another example of how the Trump administration’s polluter-first energy policy has real and harmful impacts on the public health, environment – and pocketbooks – of New Yorkers,” Schneiderman said at the time the suit was filed.
The D.C.-based consulting firm is raising money and pushing positive messaging about Schneiderman’s record, including those in opposition to Trump.
In the Daily News report, State Republican Party spokeswoman Jessica Proud said Schneiderman has “completely abused his office for political purposes.”
Proud cited Schneiderman’s investigation last year into Exxon-Mobil — which sued the state over the probe — about whether or not it lied about the threat of climate change and his lawsuits against Trump “while letting the Clinton Foundation slide.”
“Watching him and other Democrats trying to trip over themselves to be the Trump antagonists is laughable,” Proud said. “They’re all lining up to raise their national profiles.”