NRA says AG candidate is an ‘enemy’

ALBANY – The NRA is taking aim at Democratic state attorney general primary candidate Zephyr Teachout for wanting to prosecute federal immigration agents.

“We have an enemy of law and order vying to be the next AG of New York,” tweeted Grant Stinchfield, a host of NRATV.com. “@ZephyrTeachout wants to prosecute @ICEgov agents! She calls agents criminals, I call them heroes.”

Stinchfield was responding to a video Teachout released on Monday in which she again calls for the abolishment of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and speaks out against what she called “consistent abuse” within the agency.

“As attorney general, I will continue to speak out against ICE, I will prosecute ICE for their criminal acts,” she said in the video titled “Now This.”

The criticism, which also came from Fox News, isn’t slowing Teachout down.

“Let me be clear: I will absolutely prosecute anyone who breaks the law under my jurisdiction, including ICE agents for illegal acts,” she said. “ICE supporters want ICE to be above even criminal law, and that claim of radical immunity is why it needs to be abolished.”

Meanwhile, in a rare move and a blow to city Public Advocate Letitia James, a progressive organization this week withdrew its position to stay neutral in the race for state attorney general and instead gave its support to Teachout, a Fordham Law professor.

The New York Progressive Action Network said it made its decision because James has allied herself with Gov. Cuomo while the organization is backing his Democratic primary challenger Cynthia Nixon.

A poll by Siena College of likely Democratic primary voters found therace for state attorney general has no clear front-runner as 42% of those surveyed remain undecided. Of those who had an opinion, James leads with 25% of the vote, followed by Hudson Valley Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney with 16%, Teachout with 13%, and Leecia Eve with 4%.