May 17th, 2010

Dear Fellow State Committee Members,

As you know the Working Families Party has a strong interest in ensuring that the next Attorney
General is independent, effective, and a true progressive. We need someone who understands and
shares the values and principles of the Working Families Party in their gut, and not just when it’s
politically expedient. And most importantly, we ought to support someone who is not just a reliable
vote, but it is a progressive organizer – helping to build support for our issues among elected officials
and the general public.

We’ve carefully examined all the candidates in the field and we feel strongly that Eric Schneiderman’s
record of independence, his lifetime of progressive activism and his unwavering commitment to the
issues and values championed by the WFP truly make him the only choice for the Working Families
Party’s endorsement.

Eric is, and always has been, a proud member of what Paul Wellstone called “the Democratic wing of
the Democratic Party.” He’s not afraid to stand up for unions, for the rights and dignity of working
people, for the critical role of the public sector in providing a social safety net and reining in the
excesses of the market. And he’s always been a vocal opponent of discrimination of any kind, whether
it’s against people of color, women, gays, lesbians, and transgender people, immigrants, seniors or
people with disabilities.

In every important fight the WFP has taken on, Eric’s been there with us. When we were fighting to
raise the minimum wage, Eric not only sponsored the bill, he led rallies with WFP members around
the state, he forced procedural votes on the floor to embarrass Republicans for their opposition, and
he recruited and supported candidates against the Republican Chairs of the Labor Committee who
were holding up the bill, first against Guy Velella and then Olga Mendez. And of course, when the
Senate Republicans finally capitulated, he helped to override Governor Pataki’s veto and make the
minimum wage increase law.

When Mayor Bloomberg proposed instituting nonpartisan elections, Eric not only opposed the
measure; he did the research to expose how the mayor’s commission had distorted the academic
evidence on nonpartisan elections, including how they disenfranchise minority communities and lead
to a documented “Republican advantage.” Eric spoke against the nonpartisan elections at hearings,
and at public forums and debates to educate the voters and defeat the proposal.

During the 2009 budget crisis Eric was the lead sponsor of the Fair Share tax reform proposal. He
went on TV and radio to defend it, taking his lumps from conservatives, and never backing down from
the argument for economic fairness—that the wealthiest in our society need to share in the sacrifice
and pay their fair share for the public services we all rely on. In the end, the fair share tax proposal
was included in the budget, saving critical public services and preserving thousands of jobs.

Also, Eric has shown the depth of his commitment to our party by supporting and building the WFP's
expansion efforts in other states.

Like the Working Families Party’s own David Soares, Eric has always been staunchly opposed to the
Rockefeller Drug Laws, and a supports of evidence based alternatives to incarceration. When the
Democrats finally took the majority in the State Senate (another long fight in which Eric was in the
forefront before it was politically popular), he made sure that his bill to end the Rockefeller Drug Laws
got passed in their first year in the majority. As Attorney General, Eric will continue to reform the
failed, and often racially discriminatory, “tough on crime” policies of the past, and replace them with
“smart on crime” policies that will make all of us safer, keep our communities whole, and save
taxpayer dollars.

There’s hardly a union in New York State that hasn’t had Eric’s vigorous support in one fight after
another, whether it was on a new organizing drive, or in contract fights, or both. Eric’s been there,
walking picket lines, speaking at rallies, organizing community support for boycotts, and pressuring
management behind the scenes to win the representation, wages, and benefits that working people
deserve.

On every issue, whether it was Fair Share for Health Care, fighting to strengthen rent regulations,
demanding fiscal equity for our schools, investing in infrastructure and creating jobs, or stopping
MTA fare hikes and services cuts, Eric has gone the extra mile, in the Senate, in the courts, and in the
streets to protect the interests of working people.

And Eric is independent. Anyone who knows Eric knows that he’s been a thorn in the side of political
bosses of both parties, whether it was Joe Bruno or Marty Connor.

But it’s not just Eric’s record as a Senator and an activist. It’s his vision for the Attorney General’s
Office that makes him the ideal candidate for the job. As AG, Eric will pursue equal justice,
independent justice, and progressive justice. Like the WFP, Eric stands up for the notion that in a
democratic society, the rich and powerful shouldn’t be able to buy themselves a different set of rules
to play by. He will make sure there is only one set of rules and one standard of justice for every New
Yorker, whether in the corner office suite, in the halls of government, on a factory floor, or sweeping
floors, no one will be above the law, or denied the just protections of the law.

We can rely on Eric to remain independent, as he always has been. Progressive New Yorkers have
experienced many disappointments under Governor Paterson, as we’ve watched him turn his back on
his progressive roots, attacking public sector unions, pushing for a property tax cap, and opposing
efforts to make the rich pay their fair share. The left has been on the losing end of triangulating
Democrats too many times to take anything for granted with the next administration. Whoever the
next governor is, Eric will be an independent check, and a rock solid progressive voice at the statewide
level.

We urge you to carefully consider what it would mean for the Working Families Party and its
members to have such an independent, progressive leader on our side in the next four years, and join
us in supporting Eric Schneiderman for Attorney General.

In solidarity,

Karen Scharff George Gresham Mike Fishman

Citizen Action 1199 SEIU SEIU 32BJ

Dorothy E. Siegel Lisa Tyson

District Leader, 52 AD Long Island Progressive Coalition