Dennis Vacco

Dennis Vacco

Dennis C. Vacco (born August 16, 1952, Buffalo, New York) is an American lawyer and politician. He graduated a B.A. from Colgate University in 1974, a J.D. from University at Buffalo Law School in 1978, and was admitted to the bar in 1979.

He was an Assistant District Attorney of Erie County from 1978 to 1988, and US Attorney for the Western District of New York from 1988 until the beginning of the Clinton administration in 1993. He was New York State Attorney General from January 1, 1995 to December 31, 1998. In 1994 he defeated Karen Burstein, the Democratic nominee. Vacco brought national attention through a series of prosecutions brought against ISPs, including Dreamscape Online for distributing child pornography. The principal defendant, Buffnet, eventually pled guilty to a charge of fourth degree facilitation of a felony and was fined $5,000.

Vacco played a prominent role in Mayor Rudy Giuliani's attempt to require Time Warner Cable to carry the Fox News Channel. An attempt by Vacco to bring an anti-trust violation charge against Time-Warner failed. In 1998, Vacco was defeated in his bid for re-election by future Governor Eliot Spitzer. During his tenure as Attorney General, Vacco also argued the landmark assisted suicide case Vacco v. Quill before the United States Supreme Court. He successfully defended the state's ban on the practice, winning the case by a 9–0 vote. After leaving the Attorney General's office Vacco worked as Vice-President for New York Operations of Waste Management, Inc.