Taking on Wall Street Abuses
Wall Street malfeasance has had devastating consequences in New York. It precipitated the foreclosure crisis, in which tens of thousands of families lost their homes, others faced an unrecovered loss in property values, and many jobs were lost. Ten years later, the Administration under President Donald Trump and the Republican Congress are weakening oversight by watering down the Dodd-Frank Act and undermining the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB).
At the same time as important federal reforms are being gutted, new and emerging risks threaten investors’ financial security. The combined effect of loosening controls on risky investments, growing debt, and an active market in collateralized debt, is a real threat to the American economy and the American people.
New York City is the center of the financial services industry and New York’s state laws provide one of the toughest mechanisms for oversight of that sector.
As Attorney General, I will have both the power and the responsibility to prosecute financial fraud that harms consumers and investors. I will:
Utilize the broad powers of the Martin Act to pursue investigations that protect shareholders and investors, including workers’ pension funds and savings.
Vigorously investigate fraudulent business practices by strengthening the Criminal Enforcement and Financial Crimes Bureau.
Investigate and pursue actions into discriminatory and abusive payday lending, mortgage lending abuse, for-profit college student loans; and,
Scrutinize practices and industries that have benefited from deregulation under the Trump Administration, and those that are currently posing a significant threat to our economy.
Protecting Immigrants’ Rights
One in five people in New York State is an immigrant. While Donald Trump’s anti-immigration policies harm all immigrants, they particularly impact children, poor people, and refugees, while undermining the very system of judicial process that protects us from tyranny. Immigrants -- with and without legal status -- are increasingly afraid to travel, to access essential services, and to simply live their everyday lives in the United States.
I am proud to have fought for immigrants’ rights in and out of the courtroom. As a pro bono attorney, I represented a child from Honduras in applying for, and obtaining, Special Immigrant Juvenile Status. He came to New York after his father’s death and was scared to return to his home country because of gang violence. He is now free to live and work in the United States, recently graduated high school, and is a soccer player.
Earlier this summer, I acted as “next friend,” bringing a petition seeking a writ of habeas (court order) on behalf of a child forcibly separated from her mother at the border. The child had been traumatized by the separation and was terrified of being placed in a prison-like setting. The case resulted in the child and mother being reunified on July 27, 2018, and released without detention.
As Public Advocate, I have fought tirelessly on behalf of immigrants, immediately making submissions in the lawsuit challenging the Muslim ban, calling for Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) to discontinue its practice of detaining people seeking access to New York Courts, and making pleas for pardons that would justify termination of removal proceedings.
In this time of increased hostility towards immigrants, it is critically important that the New York Attorney General protects New Yorkers from federal policies that hurt them and fights perpetrators of fraud who manipulate fear for profit. As Attorney General, I commit to doing just that. If elected, ensuring that New York welcomes immigrants and safeguards their rights will be one of my top priorities. In addition to continuing the advocacy and legal work on behalf of immigrants I have done throughout my career, I will:
Bring legal action to keep ICE out of our courts: our system of justice cannot function if people are frightened to seek the protection of our courts or participate in the administration of justice.
Investigate companies profiting from Trump’s draconian policies: this administration’s immigration policies have led to a drastic increase in the number of immigration detainees, and publicly-traded companies are providing much of the necessary infrastructure.
Work with other Attorneys General to protect 18 to 21 year old children: because of an illegal change in policy by the Trump Administration, children who have been abused, abandoned and neglected are now at risk of deportation. I will join with other Attorneys General to give them a voice.
Bring legal action to stop a rule that will make immigrants fear public benefits: no one should be afraid of seeking emergency medical care or using food, housing, and subsistence benefits.
Establish an anonymous hotline for victims of discrimination based on immigration status.
Protecting New Yorkers from Gun Violence
Thirty-three thousand Americans die each year from gun violence. Approximately 5,500 of these deaths are homicides of young, men of color. In New York State, there are nearly 3,000 shootings each year.
The mass shootings that make the front pages and nightly news are devastating, but represent a fraction of the gun violence on our streets. This violence is devastating our families and communities, and is causing financial ruin to our local economies. It is estimated that gun violence costs New York State $5.6 billion each year.
New York State has the third lowest rate of gun deaths in the country. Strict gun control laws in the state have reduced gun violence over the decades, but homicides continue to plague low-income communities of color.
New York’s gun laws have made it exceedingly difficult to purchase a gun in the state, meaning that when a gun is used to commit a crime in New York, there is a 75 percent chance it was originally purchased in another state. In New York City, nearly 90 percent of crime guns originated elsewhere.
Having strong gun laws in New York State is not enough. Particularly with the NRA waging a full-throated propaganda campaign to thwart any common sense gun laws passing at the federal level. New York has long been a leader in the fight against gun violence, but we must do more to make our laws even more comprehensive, ramp up enforcement of the laws already on the books, and use creative thinking to make up for obstruction on the federal level and lax gun laws in other states.
As Public Advocate, I have used my office to fight the scourge of gun violence. I led the way on divesting New York City’s largest pension fund from gun retailers, stood up to banks that funded the makers of assault weapons, took on Walmart and pushed them to change their gun sale policies, took action against gun makers that failed to disclose risks to their shareholders, and successfully advocated for increased funding for the public health model of gun violence prevention.
As Attorney General, I will:
Investigate the legitimacy of the NRA as a charitable institution;
Investigate arms dealers and enforce prohibitions against the sale of illegal firearms;
Go after fraudulent business practices by gun companies that deceive their shareholders by failing to disclose risks;
Target weapons manufacturers that knowingly sell to bad apple dealers;
Investigate the financial backing of gun makers and sellers;
Take on interstate trafficking working with coalition partners; and,
Pushing a legal and legislative agenda to close legal loopholes.
Police and Prosecutorial Accountability
Four years ago, Eric Garner was killed at the hands of police in one of many high-profile police-involved killings in recent years. While the families of Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, and Alton Sterling still wait for justice, these tragedies helped spur a grassroots movement to fundamentally reform our criminal justice system. That movement has already achieved significant victories: the use of stop-and-frisk in New York City is down 98 percent, a special prosecutor is appointed for police-involved killings in New York State, and the age of criminal responsibility has been raised. But there is an immense amount left to do, because too many in our city, state, and nation still feel that the scales of justice are tilted away from fairness.
That is why, as Attorney General, reforming the criminal justice system will be one of my top priorities.
Throughout my career, I have fought for measures to build trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve. I believe that the vast majority of police officers and prosecutors are dedicated public servants who uphold the law every day. But when there is no accountability or transparency, incidents of misconduct are magnified and it becomes impossible for people to trust that the process is fair and the right result is being reached. When systemic flaws continue to lead to unjust outcomes even in incidents where there was no wrongdoing, it means we must change the system.
In the wake of Eric Garner’s death, I was the first elected official to call on the Governor to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate his killing. I stood with the former Attorney General when he requested the authority to investigate the deaths of unarmed citizens at the hands of police officers. I sued for the release of the minutes of the Grand Jury proceedings concerning Eric Garner’s death, because I fundamentally believe that sunlight is the best disinfectant. I have been proud to be a leader in the fight for implementing the use of body-worn cameras by police officers, and championed the use of such technology by the NYPD.
As Attorney General, I will:
Expand and codify the Attorney General’s role as special prosecutor;
Push to end unnecessary and harmful police secrecy;
Lead the way on real criminal discovery reform; and push to bring body-worn cameras statewide.
Reproductive Healthcare Access
With the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, access to reproductive healthcare is in greater peril than ever before. Women are at critical risk of losing the protections guaranteed by Roe v. Wade, safe access to health clinics, and access to birth control.
In New York, over 1.2 million women receive publicly-funded contraceptive services and supplies, either through Title X or Medicaid. And our state, a leader on many issues of reproductive healthcare access, has failed to enshrine the fundamental right to choice into state law. This means that millions of women and families are at risk of losing core healthcare services, and basic rights and freedoms.
I have been a champion of women’s reproductive healthcare access for my entire career. As Public Advocate, I successfully pushed for the expansion of New York State Medicaid coverage for more accurate breast cancer screening technology; convened a roundtable with leaders to combat proposed changes to Title X funding; sponsored legislation supporting the Reproductive Health Act; and have been a vocal supporter at every rally and in every fight for a women’s right to reproductive health access.
As Attorney General, I will:
Enforce access to reproductive healthcare, protect a woman’s right to choose;
Investigate fake crisis pregnancy clinics;
Protect women from workplace pregnancy discrimination;
Protect access to birth control; and,
Work with other Attorneys General to fight against attacks on women’s healthcare.
Gender Equity in the Workplace
Equal pay for equal work is the law of the land. Yet nationally, a woman makes 79 cents for each dollar earned by a man. New York State has a smaller wage gap, at 89 cents on the dollar. And for women of color in New York, the wage gap grows exponentially. Black women make only 66 cents, Latina women make 56 cents, and Asian women make 82 cents for each dollar a man makes. Righting this wrong requires a commitment to examining the root causes of the inequity, amending or re-applying the law to affect those root causes, stepping up enforcement, and changing workplace culture.
Pay disparities, even those based on deep-seated prejudices based on a woman’s “appropriate” role, are not the only aspect of work life that keep women down. The #MeToo movement has demonstrated the shocking and pervasive violence that has been accepted as a regular part of working life.
As Public Advocate, I sponsored a landmark law that prohibits employers in New York City from inquiring about a job applicant’s salary history -- a vital way of stopping the perpetuation of the gender pay gap. I published a series of reports addressing the gender wage gap including a first-of-its kind report identifying gender and salary data for all 300,000 New York City employees that shed light on the hiring, pay, and promotion practices of every City agency. I recently introduced legislation to create affordable child care for city employees by using space within city buildings.
As Attorney General, I will:
Fight for statewide legislation to mirror the law I helped to pass in New York City which bans employers from asking workers about their salary history;
Create a Wage Discrimination Task Force to investigate and prosecute instances of systemic wage discrimination that currently evade enforcement because they are hidden behind deep misconceptions about the role of women in the workplace;
Take on the wage gap by taking legal action to root out the myriad forms of discrimination against women that result in unequal pay: pregnancy discrimination, caregiver discrimination, and the chronic and wide-spread devaluation of “women’s work.”
Make sexual harassment and gender equity a central focus, ensuring that women have a reliable ally in the office who will use the full extent of her powers to defend women’s right to equal pay and to equality in all facets of our society.
Protecting Our Environment and Holding Polluters Accountable
The health of planet earth is under attack by the Trump Administration every day. With a philosophy of deregulation-at-all-costs and policies that put business interests ahead of public interests, forces in Washington, D.C. are jeopardizing decades of environmental progress and the health and safety of Americans. Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the rest of his Administration have tried to undermine environmental protections at every turn. They’re working to change or withdraw regulations to the benefit of the fossil fuel industry and asbestos manufacturers at the expense of the safety of the American people.
At the same time, New York faces serious environmental challenges of its own, which impact communities throughout the state, particularly communities of color. Lead poisoning cases in black and Hispanic neighborhoods in Buffalo are some of the highest in the State, drinking water sources are contaminated in Newburgh, and smog-filled air in black and Hispanic communities leads to asthma rates in Erie County significantly higher than the national average. With that and damage resulting from climate change, our environmental challenges are growing by the day. At a time when the federal government is abandoning its responsibility to enforce the laws that protect our food, air, water, and the rest of our environment, the role of the Attorney General is vital to protect the health and safety of New Yorkers everywhere.
I have been an advocate for the environment throughout my career. As Public Advocate, I used my position as a trustee of the City’s largest pension fund to pressure the City to divest from fossil fuels -- the first trustee of a New York City pension board to call for such action. As a member of the City Council, I led the comprehensive rewriting of the City’s residential recycling program, the largest such program in the country, including expanding composting, simplifying and expanding plastics recycling, and significantly increasing the availability of recycling in public spaces. I have also been a staunch defender of environmental justice, ensuring that neighborhoods of color are not overburdened with more than their fair share of solid waste infrastructure.
As Attorney General, I will not hesitate to use the courts to force the Trump Administration to enforce environmental laws and other federal protections, while holding polluters accountable here in New York, taking action to address environmental racism, and more. I will:
Investigate and take legal action to stop environmental injustices that exacerbate racial disparities in asthma rates, lead poisoning, and other environmental illnesses;
Advance legislation and take legal action that would ban fracking infrastructure in New York;
Lead the fight for the State to divest fully from fossil fuels;
Litigate to prevent the rollback of federal regulations that protect the our air, our water, and our food;
Investigate and prosecute corporate polluters who collude with federal officials to mislead New Yorkers about the risk of climate change;
Litigate to protect against toxic products that harm workers and consumers; and,
Advocate to strengthen New York’s environmental laws by increasing the penalties for illegal dumping.
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