Upstate N.Y. Dems Back Former Insurance Superintendent

The Democratic Rural Conference of New York is backing former Insurance Superintendent Eric Dinallo for the party’s nomination for attorney general.

Dinallo won among a field of five Saturday in the straw poll that’s often been a bellwether for the summer convention, where a nominee will be chosen pending a potential primary.

Dinallo beat Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice, former prosecutor Sean Coffey, Assemblyman Richard Brodsky and state Sen. Eric Schneiderman.

Dinallo was a key member of then-Attorney General Eliot Spitzer’s team and is credited with the idea of using a little-known, Depression-era law known as the Martin Act so Spitzer could aggressively go after fraud on Wall Street.

Republicans haven’t yet settled on a candidate.