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Pataki Law Partner Chosen As GOP Candidate For Attorney General

New York Republicans have chosen their candidate for Attorney General. John Cahill is a former top aide to Governor George Pataki . 

Cahill has been in private practice with former Governor Pataki for the past seven years. Cahill says he’s running because he misses public service, and because he believes the current Attorney General, Eric Schneiderman, has not been effective.

Cahill says he wants to do more to protect children at Charter Schools, who often come from the poorest families in the state, and says he sees it as “the civil rights issue of our time.” Cahill, who has also served as the state’s environmental commissioner, says he believes the state should go forward with hydro fracking, but make sure that adequate protections are in place.

“It’s going to happen,” said Cahill, who said key watersheds like the New York City reservoirs and reservoirs in the Finger Lakes should be exempt from the gas drilling process.

“There’s going to have to be a rigorous oversight of the people who want to do this,” Cahill said. “But I do believe we can do it right.”

Cahill says he’s also like to do more to combat public corruption, and he criticizes the current Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, for not speaking out  against a decision by Governor Cuomo and the legislature to end a Moreland Commission probe of corruption.

Karen DeWitt is Capitol Bureau chief for New York State Public Radio, a network of public radio stations in New York state. She has covered state government and politics for the network since 1990.