Sean Coffey is okay with being the “other guy” in this year’s attorney general race—the lone non-elected or appointed official, the man with the least recognizable name. For Coffey, a Navy veteran and noted litigator who won his clients over $6 billion in the WorldCom class action lawsuit in 2004, running to succeed Andrew Cuomo as attorney general is just the next logical step.

Nonetheless, Coffey brought in an impressive $1.65 million in contributions, putting him among the top three fundraisers in the race.

Coffey talks about being the outsider candidate, how the rest of the field is shaping up, why voters should elect a class action lawyer and how to sink a submarine from a Navy jet.

What follows is an edited tran scri pt.

The Capitol: How does it feel to be the “other guy” in the attorney general’s race? The guy without government experience?

Sean Coffey: It’s almost, in this year, an unfair advantage. Let me be clear: I’m running because I was first frustrated with state government, then angry with state government, and I’ve decided to do something about it. They say it’s the year of the outsider, and I have good timing. Well, no, I’m running because I’m extremely frustrated with how the state government is no longer serving New Yorkers. And I’ve been very fortunate in my life. I’m in a position where I can do this, but it’s also consistent with how I live my life. From the time I was 17 until I retired, I’ve been in public service. And even in private practice as a lawyer, I’ve been fighting for people against the most powerful interests. So, being the outsider, I think it’s a benefit. I recognize that I begin at zero name recognition, except perhaps among members of the New York Bar that have seen me work over the past 20 years.


TC: If you are starting at zero name recognition, how does that affect the nuts and bolts of the campaign? Petition-gathering, fundraising, etc.?

SC: Well, clearly it’s going to take time, it’s going to take a lot of effort, but I’m putting in the effort, traveling the state. I’ve talked to a lot of folks. I recognize it’s a challenge, but I have lived a life of challenges. I’m a kid from Clay Avenue in the Bronx, originally, and Hempstead on Long Island, and Hempstead is a tough place to grow up. I went to law school at night. After becoming a lawyer and moving back to New York, despite the challenges of trying to be a young associate at a mega-firm, and then the challenges of being a federal prosecutor and then the challenges of trying to make partner at a senior law firm, and the challenges of practicing at a significant plaintiff’s firm, I stayed in the Navy Reserve. So I did that and I thrived and succeeded and even had two commands. And if you just take one of my cases, WorldCom … we were up against a lot of powerful forces, you know, the best lawyers in New York, and lots of them, and we received some success there despite the challenge. So now, for the first time in my adult life, I have really just one thing to worry about—other than my family—which is running for this office. So, in a way it’s liberating because I’m enjoying it, I’m learning a lot about the people of New York, and I view this as an interview to be hired as a lawyer.

TC: Looking at the field as it is now, you have yourself, Eric Schneiderman, Kathleen Rice, Eric Dinallo, maybe Richard Brodsky, and a few others. Who do you see as your most formidable opponent?

SC: Allow me to answer it this way: I think my biggest obstacle is ignorance, and I don’t mean that in a bad way, I mean it’s my biggest obstacle here, is getting my story out. And I’m going to work on that. … Listen, there are a lot of perfectly fine folks in the race. I think the question is, who has the track record of taking on the tough fights and delivering results and has the passion for public service that has been demonstrated by sacrifice. For 18 years, one or two weekends a month, I left my family, left my law practice, drove up to New England or flew up to New England, pulled on a flight suit and went out to practice sinking submarines.


TC: Did you ever sink any?

SC: No, I did not. But there is an exercise where we actually drop a torpedo on a U.S. submarine, for practice. The torpedo is programmed to turn away at the last minute. … When you track a submarine, they call it “prosecuting a submarine.”


TC: What do you think about the Wall Street Journal calling you the “the next class-action king” for your work on the WorldCom suit?

SC: You know, you can’t pick these labels. … You have a group of defendants that you know, when they’re hanging together, a way to deal with them is to try and break them apart—and the way I dealt with banks and WorldCom is something that’s now often studied because of the success we were able to get. And just the next step is when I am AG, I will apply the lessons I learned as a civil lawyer and as a prosecutor. For example, the principles I fought for as an investor advocate on Wall Street were transparency and accountability. The capital markets… I am a capitalist, I believe in the capitalist system—our capital markets work best when all of the important information, or, as they say in securities law, all of the material information is available to investors.


TC: Depending on how you look at it, Albany has chewed up and spit out a lot of really promising officials. David Paterson seems to be the latest. How do you protect yourself against that?

SC: I have lived a life of exceeding expectations, of taking on tough assignments and delivering results. If you want to boil down, really, what I am, I am a Navy guy about to undertake his next mission. They splice public service into your DNA when you’re in Annapolis. I don’t underestimate the challenge in Albany, but I am a stubborn Irish kid from the Bronx and Hempstead and I see this as my next mission—and I am very mission-oriented.


TC: There’s a joke that “AG” actually stands for “aspiring governor.” If elected, would you be interested in running for governor at some point in the future?

SC: No. I am running for attorney general. I see it as a capstone, not a stepping stone. It brings together beautifully the strands of my life.