Dinallo Questions A.G. Cuts

WATERTOWN - New York faces a $9 billion deficit this year, but Democratic attorney general candidate Eric R. Dinallo questioned Monday the wisdom of cutting back in the office he'd like to lead.

"I can understand us wanting to cost-save and belt-tighten, but I'd question whether the people of the state would really think the attorney general's office - which I think has been probably one of the most successful state entities across the last 10 years - is the place where you'd really be seeking that," he said during a Watertown stop.

"It's the one that brings in fines. It's the one that brings in restitution. It's the one that brings in health insurance premiums to policy holders. I'd actually push back on that and say that's not an office that I'd be seeking to shrink very much."

Mr. Dinallo is one of a half-dozen potential Democrats seeking the seat. If elected, the New York City attorney has plans for the nearly 700 lawyers on staff, especially the four dozen he'll need to relocate for the "rural agenda" he's touting during an upstate campaign swing this week.

The Democrat wants to open one-room offices in each county and assign an assistant attorney general to staff it within the first two years of his administration.

"I think the regional offices do a really good job, but they're not always entirely present in the community," Mr. Dinallo said.

Having an accessible state lawyer nearby, the candidate said, is "something that would really help people who otherwise feel outgunned and out-resourced against companies and against different adversaries."

Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo has 13 regional offices, including those in Watertown and Syracuse, to handle local fraud complaints, civil rights and labor law violations and represent the state's interests in lawsuits.

Mr. Dinallo does not have a price tag for his rural agenda, which also includes expanding the office's Appeals and Opinions Division so it can offer more advisory opinions to municipalities on issues from hydro-fracking to health insurance.

The candidate said staffing each outpost should result in more cases being accepted, which could generate more fines.

"I'd like to keep it cost flat," he said. "I think that, by reallocating our resources in the first couple of years, that could be done."

Mr. Dinallo said he knows how to reallocate resources in a large state agency, saying he did so for two years as superintendent of the 1,400-member state insurance department. The Democrat also has experience in the state attorney general's office, serving as investment protection bureau chief under Eliot L. Spitzer.