Former US Sen. Alfonse D’Amato has penned a scathing denunciation of Democratic Sen. Eric Schneiderman’s AG bid, accusing the Manhattan lawmaker of being willing to “prostitute” the office to win the support of the Rev. Al Sharpton.

In an OpEd entitled “The Rev. Al Sharpton, Our Next Attorney General?”, which ran in a local publication in D’Amato’s home base of Long Island, the senator-turned-lobbyist wrote:

As hard as it may be to believe, that’s what State Senator Eric Schneiderman, the Democrat running for state attorney general, would have you believe. Schneiderman vowed that if he’s elected in November, the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network and the House of Justice, its Harlem headquarters, “will have an annex in Albany for the first time in state history.”

“God help us. Politicians have been known to do a lot of pandering to get elected, but this is an all-time low.”

“…To prostitute the office of attorney general for Sharpton’s support is shocking and appalling, and should automatically disqualify Schneiderman from this important office. To say that you would follow in Sharpton’s footsteps is frightening. How soon we forget the case of Tawana Brawley.”

In the piece, D’Amato echoes the criticism lobbed at Schneiderman by his Republican challenger, Staten Island DA Dan Donovan, who used his first TV ad of the general election to highlight the senator’s pre-primary comment about providing Sharpton’s National Action Network an “annex” in Albany if he’s elected.

D’Amato is a little all over the map this election cycle, coming out strongly in opposition to the GOP/Conservative standard-bearer, Carl Paladino, while publicly praising and raising campaign cash for Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Andrew Cuomo.

The former senator also has long-standing ties to Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, even though he backed former Nassau County Legislator Bruce Blakeman in the three-way primary of would-be Gillibrand challengers. Blakeman lost on Sept. 14 to former Rep. Joe DioGuardi, who, to my knowledge, hasn’t yet received D’Amato’s nod.

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