By DNAinfo Staff on August 26, 2010 6:58am
By Jill Colvin
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MIDTOWN — Attorney General hopeful Sean Coffey said he plans to lend even more of his own cash to his trailing campaign.
In an interview with DNAinfo, Coffey, who has already invested $3 million in the race to replace Andrew Cuomo, said he expects to open his check book yet again — though he declined to say for how much.
“Let’s just say we’re going to have adequate resources to get our message out,” he said.
Coffey, a retired Navy captain and federal prosecutor, is facing a seasoned league of Democratic challengers, including State Sen. Eric Schneiderman, Nassau District Attorney Kathleen Rice, Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, and former Insurance Superintendent Eric Dinallo.
Despite several ambitious policy proposals, Coffey has continued to trail, both in money raised and endorsements earned.
During the most recent filing period, Coffey raised just $48,000 from outside contributors — about 1/13th as much as Rice, 1/5th as much as Schneiderman and half as much as Dinallo. Brodsky came in about even with $47,000.
Coffey’s comments come during a week of high-profile endorsements, including nods to Schneiderman from The New York Times and endorsements for Dinallo from Crain’s and the Daily News.
Coffey has been endorsed by Minnesota Sen. Al Franken and Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez.
Still, Coffey said he’s confident that as New Yorkers start to pay more attention to the race, he’ll spring ahead.
“I feel it’s going very, very well,” he said. “There’s certainly a lot of energy out there.”
When asked if he has any worries about regretting investing so much of his own cash if he doesn’t earn the nomination, he seemed unfazed.
“I haven’t really given a great deal of thought to what the consequences are of not winning because I intend to win,” he said.
Coffey’s key policy proposals include creating a new Member Item Accountability Unit in the Attorney General’s office that would track and investigate lawmakers’ misuse of public funds. He is also a strong advocate of mandating full disclosure of legislators’ outside income and strongly supports a property tax cap.
The winner of the Sept 14 primary will go on to face Republican Dan Donovan, the Richmond County District Attorney, in November.