State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s legal war on fantasy sports betting “wasn’t very smart’’ and will seriously damage him with New York voters — who until now haven’t known much about him, influential Democrats tell The Post.
Schneiderman, an Upper West Side former state senator who is known, despite claims to the contrary, to be eyeing a run for governor in 2018, “isn’t well known to the public, but he’s defined himself to hundreds of thousands of fantasy sports players as the enemy,’’ said a prominent Democrat who has had frequent contact with the attorney general.
“Even if he wins this in court, this isn’t the kind of ‘definition’ you want to get, and sports bettors aren’t going to forget it,’’ he said.
A second senior Democrat compared Schneiderman’s efforts to ban the popular FanDuel and DraftKings businesses to former Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s ill-fated plan in 2007 to grant driver’s licenses to illegal aliens, which he was forced to abandon in the face of withering criticism and a sharp drop in his personal popularity.
“As with Spitzer, this wasn’t very smart. You get this on your résumé and it can take a long time to get it off. It becomes part of your brand,’’ said the Democrat, who has known Schneiderman for several years.
“Until now, Schneiderman has been known as the liberal he is, and all the liberals voted for him.
“But this has kind of outed him as someone who is saying even to liberals, ‘I’m anointed now, I’m going to rule, I’m going to decide what you can do in life,’ ” he said.
Despite many high-profile headlines, about half of the state’s voters haven’t formed an opinion of Schneiderman, polls show.
State Republicans are launching an unprecedented grass-roots effort to challenge Gov. Cuomo’s controversial plan to impose a $15-an-hour minimum wage on all New York businesses — a near-70 percent increase and the highest in the nation.
The GOP project, outlined in a memo whixh was sent to all 62 Republican county chairs on Sunday night, seeks to mobilize Republican activists, local businesses and business groups against Cuomo’s plan, arguing that it will force “many businesses to shutter their doors in what is already a high-cost, overregulated New York business environment,’’ says the memo, a copy of which was obtained by The Post.
“Up to 600,000 jobs could be lost as a result of Cuomo’s proposal,’’ said state GOP Chairman Ed Cox, citing figures recently released by the Empire Center for Public Policy, a conservative-oriented think thank.
“We’re the party of Main Street and this will really hit Main Street hard. It’s a job and business killer, as cities around the country that have done this are starting to realize, and I think we’re going to be able to have a major impact,’’ Cox said.