Politics on the Hudson

Attorney General-Elect Andrew Cuomo announced his transition committee this morning and the list includes some familiar names to Lower Hudson residents – most notably Westchester District Attorney Janet DiFiore and Rockland District Attorney Michael Bongiorno, both Republicans.

DiFiore, who succeeded the woman Cuomo defeated to become attorney general (Jeanine Pirro) will serve on a committee that’s goal is to recruit staff for Cuomo’s Criminal/Medicaid Fraud unit. Bongiorno will serve as a co-chair of that committee with former U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White and Eric R. Dinallo, former chief of the Investment Protection Bureau of the Attorney General’s Office.

Robert Abrams, who served as state attorney general from 1978-1994, has agreed to serve as executive chairman of the overall transition committee. Others who are serving on the committee include Charlie King, the former federal housing official who dropped out of the attorney general’s race in September; Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal; and former California Gov. Jerry Brown.