Rival challenges Rice remark on prosecuting Spitzer

Nassau District Attorney Kathleen Rice gave no direct answer in a public radio debate in Manhattan Wednesday when challenged by a Democratic rival to disclose the law she could have used to prosecute former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer for patronizing a prostitute in Washington, D.C.

Rice is the only one of the five Democrats vying for attorney general who says she would have charged Spitzer.

"What's the state jurisdiction?" asked Westchester Assemb. Richard Brodsky.

"I come from specific experience in seeing that it's usually prostitutes who are charged and their patronizers who are not, and I think that's a double standard that we have to do away with," Rice replied.

"That's not the question . . .," Brodsky retorted. "If you're going to charge someone . . . explain the statutory basis for it under New York law."

Despite the exchange, it was Manhattan state Sen. Eric Schneiderman who took most of the shots in the final primary debate, held at WNYC.

Rice, for instance, asked him why he had not yet released his tax returns. Schneiderman replied that he'd release the returns by the end of this week.

With polls suggesting that most New York Democrats are still hard put even to know who's running, each candidate strove to project a distinct image. The primary is Sept. 14.

Schneiderman said he is the "progressive" in the race, saying he would "speak out for people who can't speak out for themselves."

Rice framed her role as "the people's attorney in a very pure, pure sense," promising "outside-the-box thinking" in protecting the environment, women's reproductive health and civil rights.

Brodsky portrayed himself as a fighter for everyday families, vowing to be more effective than Spitzer as attorney general - who, he said, "gave us a lot of noise and no action."

Sean Coffey, a former federal prosecutor, noted endorsements by both the conservative New York Post and liberal Minnesota Sen. Al Franken. He called himself the "outsider" poised to bring real reform to Albany.

Eric Dinallo, a former state insurance superintendent, said as a bureau chief when Spitzer was attorney general, he "did the Wall Street cases that transformed that agency into the powerhouse that people see today."

Also in the debate, Rice hung tough as rivals questioned her legal judgment in saying she considers the state law against same-sex marriage discriminatory and would refuse to enforce it. Brodsky, for instance, called her vow "extraordinarily dangerous."

"There are times when one has to take a courageous stand on a law that may be discriminatory in nature," Rice said.

But under that logic, said Brodsky, an attorney general who was opposed to abortion could refuse to enforce laws protecting women's access to the procedure. Schneiderman and Coffey agreed, saying their job was to represent the state. "We don't have the ability to pick and choose" which laws to enforce, Schneiderman said.

But Dinallo hedged, saying there was indeed some precedent for refusing to defend a law that had no constitutional basis or that put the state in an "unconscionable" position.