See John Run

Republican attorney general candidate John Cahill has a penchant for running from his own record as an oil and gas industry lobbyist with zero law enforcement experience. So it’s not surprising he’s refusing to provide a list of policy positions on his campaign website–a common place for voters to learn about candidates running for elected office. In an effort to help get voters up to speed, here’s a brief primer on Cahill’s too-extreme-for-New-York record.

BUSINESS

Taxpayer Giveaway To A Wall Street Bank: In an effort to keep a big Wall Street bank in Lower Manhattan, Cahill negotiated an overly generous deal that, according to the New York Times, included “at least $150 million in new city and state tax credits, as well as $600 million of new Liberty Bonds to add to the $1 billion in previously issued bonds.” The Times reported that the deal was “one of the biggest incentive packages in city history.” The Daily News called Cahill’s deal “foolhardy,” saying it “hammered” taxpayers. Observers noted that the bank was never going to leave lower Manhattan, while government watchdog groups criticized the largesse and the lack of public input. “Talk about disdain for public input. It’s completely counterproductive,” said Bettina Damiani of Good Jobs New York. “I would like to think that the law would not allow you to increase a subsidy deal by half a billion and call it a done deal without having a public hearing first.” [New York Times, 8/11/05 and 5/13/08; New York Daily News Editorial, 5/12/08; New York Observer, 8/22/05]

Corporate Tax Haven: In 2007, Cahill joined the board of directors of TBS International, a shipping company whose operations – including annual shareholder meetings – are located in the United States. But according to public records, Cahill’s company is incorporated in Ireland and Bermuda – two notorious corporate tax havens. [SEC, 2011 Annual Proxy Statement for TBS International, 5/5/11; SEC, Form 10-K for TBS International Plc, 12/31/10]

EDUCATION

Cut Public School Funding: In 2003, when Cahill was chief of staff, Pataki submitted a budget proposal that authorized public university tuition hikes while decreasing state aid to schools and Medicaid by the billions. Newsday reported: “The state budget proposal [Pataki submitted] would authorize SUNY and CUNY tuition hikes of up to $1,200 a year and slice $1.2 billion out of state aid to schools and $1 billion from Medicaid.” [Newsday, 1/29/03]

Fought Against Fair Public Education Funding: Cahill was the top aide to Governor Pataki when his administration fought a lawsuit by the Campaign for Fiscal Equity (CFE), which successfully argued in court that the state underfunded NYC public schools and denied its students their constitutional right to a quality education. The Times reported that the court’s decision in favor of CFE “was a defeat for the administration of Gov. George Pataki, which argued at one point that the state was fulfilling its constitutional responsibility by providing poor children with the equivalent of an eighth grade education.” [Daily News, 3/1/99; New York Times, 6/27/03]

“Common Core” Flip-Flop: Less than a week after telling voters he supports the Common Core standards, Cahill admitted he would run on an ANTI-Common Core ballot line. Capital New York reported: “Last week, Republican attorney general candidate John Cahill voiced his support of the Common Core academic standards. On Tuesday, his campaign indicated he would run on a ballot line entitled ‘Stop Common Core.'” [Capital New York, 7/08/14]

ENVIRONMENT

AEP: Cahill’s energy consulting firm represents American Electric Power, a major operator of coal-fueled power plants. In 2004, New York City and eight states sued AEP for being one of the biggest emitters of carbon dioxide, the gas that causes global warming. And in 2007, AEP paid $4.6 billion to settle allegations brought by the federal government, New York and others states that the company spread smog and acid rain across the northeast. According to reports by the Natural Resources Defense Council, AEP “was the largest emitter of carbon pollution from power plants in the U.S. in 2012.” [Forbes, 5/28/14]

Koch Money: Cahill took $41,000 from David Koch, whose oil company is one of the nation’s worst polluters. The company, Koch Industries, spews more than 24 million metric tons of greenhouses gases into the atmosphere every year. That’s more than oil giants like Valero, Chevron and Shell. [Rolling Stone, 9/24/14]

Veolia Energy: Cahill’s energy consulting firm represents Veolia Energy, which has had an alarming history of environmental and oversight problems. Instances include: four workers injured after an Ohio plant exploded; water contamination with diesel fuel caused by a plant in Kentucky; disposal of tens of millions of gallons of raw sewage and a $95,000 EPA fine for Phoenix pollution violations. [U.S. Chemical Safety Board, 7/21/10; Lexington Herald-Leader, 2/22/11; Phoenix Business Journal, 10/29/13]

Corporations Avoiding Heavy Fines: When Cahill was DEC commissioner, he made heavy use of the State Environmental Benefits program, under which companies “were allowed to avoid heavy fines and other penalties for pollution violations by making tax-deductible ‘contributions’ to fund parks, boat launches and other outdoors-related projects,” according to the Associated Press. Then-chairman of the Assembly’s Environmental Conservation Committee Richard Brodsky said the DEC’s “sweetheart deals” with businesses were “horrific.” [Associated Press, 10/27/98]

ETHICS

Unregistered Lobbyist: When Cahill was in the Pataki administration, the governor sought to expand efforts to crack down on illegal lobbying. But several years later, Cahill and Pataki’s energy consulting firm represented corporate clients on contract procurement matters before the state without registering as lobbyists–an apparent violation of the New York State Lobbying Act. [New York Times, 6/16/03; Daily News, 4/28/14 and 5/12/14]

Do-Nothing Corruption Commission: John Cahill earned $101,000 a year as commissioner of the State Commission of Investigation – a committee that supposedly investigated organized crime but was widely panned as nothing more than a patronage mill. The New York Times editorial board said SCI posts are “at best highly paid sinecures” and said the SCI “is a sham, its members consisting largely of cronies of the politically powerful who do little to earn their annual salaries of $100,000 a year.” But while the position demanded very little time and effort from its members, Cahill recused himself from investigations at least twice. In 2007, he recused himself from an inquiry into Gov. Spitzer’s proposal to allow NYRA to continue operating the state’s racetracks after its franchise expired. And in 2008, he recused himself from a decision on whether the SCI should investigate the Albany police force. [New York Times, 1/22/07 and 10/5/07; New York Times Editorial, 8/4/07 and 1/7/07; Times Union, 4/9/08]

LABOR

Cahill-Pataki Administration Vetoed Minimum Wage Increase: Cahill served as Gov. Pataki’s chief of staff from 2001 to 2007. During that time (2004), the Administration vetoed a bill “that would have given a pay raise to thousands of New York’s lowest-paid workers by gradually increasing the minimum wage to $7.15 from $5.15 an hour by January 2007,” according to the New York Times. [New York Times, 7/30/04]

Cahill-Pataki Administration Blocked Unionization Of Child Care Providers: Cahill served as Gov. Pataki’s chief of staff from 2001 to 2007. During that time (2006), the Administration reportedly vetoed a bill “overwhelmingly passed by the State Senate and the Assembly” that would have given home-based child care providers the right to unionize. [New York Times, 5/12/07]

LGBT

Hostile Toward Marriage Equality: Cahill was a member of the RNC’s 2012 platform committee. The platform that year reiterated the GOP’s ideological opposition to same-sex marriage, and said efforts to make it legal were “an assault on the foundations of our society.” [Republican Party Platform, August 2012]

Anti-LGBT Sean Fieler Is Second Largest Donor: Cahill’s campaign accepted $20,000 from Sean Fieler, a conservative hedge fund magnate who said gay marriage promotes “a very harmful myth about the gay lifestyle” and that “it suggests that gay relationships lend themselves to monogamy, stability, health and parenting in the same way heterosexual relationships do. That’s not true.” [Observer, 7/17/14; New York Times, 1/29/13]

WOMEN & REPRODUCTIVE CHOICE

Opposes Women’s Equality Act: Cahill is against the 10th point of the Women’s Equality Act, which would update New York’s abortion law to codify the protections outlined in the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision, specifically a woman’s right to choose. Cahill said: “I don’t think the idea of another tenth point to further a women’s right to choose is a necessary piece of legislation.” [Cahill comments on “Fred Dicker Live From the State Capitol,” 4/29/14; State of Politics, 5/9/14]

Opposed Abortion Even In Cases Of Rape And Incest: Cahill rubberstamped the Republican National Committee’s extreme 2012 platform. The platform that year included what The New York Times called “strict anti-abortion language,” effectively prohibiting abortions in all cases–including instances of rape or incest. [Republican Party Platform, August 2012; New York Times, 8/21/12]

Hostile Toward Reproductive Rights: Cahill served as Gov. Pataki’s chief of staff from 2001 to 2007. During that time, the Administration vetoed a bill that would expand access to the morning-after pill; nominated a CUNY trustee who opposed abortion, contraception and same-sex marriage; and sponsored a fundraiser for a Senate candidate who, according to Planned Parenthood’s New York director, is “virulently anti-choice.” [Daily News, 8/1/2005; Daily News, 4/10/2002; New York Sun, 8/2/2005; Daily News, 12/6/2002]

Limited Birth Control And Abortion Access: Under Cahill’s leadership, the state contracted with Catholic-run HMOs that refused to provide reproductive health services to thousands of women, spurring NARAL to blast Cahill’s administration for limiting access to birth control and abortion. [New York Times, 1/27/2002]