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Embattled Schneiderman resigns as attorney general

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Just hours after four women accused him of violence in the bedroom, New York’s attorney general Eric Schneiderman resigned Tuesday.

“It has been my great honor and privilege to serve as attorney general for the people of the state of New York,” Schneiderman said in a brief statement Monday. “In the last several hours, serious allegations — which I strongly contest — have been made against me.

“While these allegations are unrelated to my professional conduct or the operation of this office, they will effectively prevent me from leading the office’s work at this critical time.”

The four women claimed to The New Yorker that while their romantic relationships were consensual, violence like hitting and choking was not.

A Harvard law graduate, Schneiderman was first elected to the state senate as a Democrat, representing parts of Riverdale and Marble Hill, as well as portions of Manhattan’s Upper West Side — in 1998. Despite being shifted to a more Republican district after the 2000 census, Schneiderman would win re-election five more times before voters moved him into the attorney general’s office in 2010.

He had been succeeded in the senate by Adriano Espaillat, who would later be elected to Congress representing New York’s 13th District.

“No one is above the law, even New York’s top legal officer,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Schneiderman’s immediate predecessor, said in a statement. “My personal opinion is that, giving the damning pattern of facts and corroboration laid out in the article, I do not believe it is possible for Eric Schneiderman to continue to serve as attorney general.”

Barbara Underwood, the state’s solicitor general — and an acting solicitor general during President George W. Bush’s transition in 2001 — became the first woman to serve as attorney general in New York.

Although she was the country’s first female solicitor general as a Clinton holdover, when it comes to New York, she was part of a line of women serving as solicitor general, beginning with Shirley Adelson Siegel in 1979.

 

Morehouse honored by Salmagundi Club

One of the country’s oldest art organizations has honored a Riverdale man for his extensive work behind the scenes.

The Salmagundi Club awarded John Morehouse its medal of honor for a 23-year tenure that included 17 years on its board of directors. His work includes supporting art exhibits at the club’s Fifth Avenue brownstone, as well as fundraising to renovate the 1850s building in time for the club’s 100th anniversary acquiring it.

The club has given the medal of honor for more than 50 years to both prominent artists and active supporters of the arts.

Morehouse is an advertising account executive with The Riverdale Press.

Eric Schneiderman, Adriano Espaillat, Andrew Cuomo, Barbara Underwood, Shirley Adelson Siegel, George W. Bush, John Morehouse, Salmagundi Club, Michael Hinman,

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