Tom DiNapoli, left, and Paul Rodriguez
The State Comptroller is New York’s top fiscal officer, a position that has been held by Tom DiNapoli, a Democrat, for nearly 15 years. As DiNapoli seeks a fourth full-term in office this year, he is being challenged in the general election by Paul Rodriguez, the nominee of the Republican and Conservative parties and a veteran of several Wall Street financial firms.
A relatively obscure position from a public point of view, the comptroller’s office acts as a watchdog over the state’s $220 billion budget, auditing the work and spending of state agencies and public benefit corporations, reviewing and approving state contracts, managing state debt, administering the $16.7 billion payroll for state workers, and overseeing the $272 billion state pension system, one of the largest in the country.
As New York recovers from the economic devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic, the comptroller’s office has a crucial role to play. The threat of a recession is looming on the horizon, which could hurt state revenue and stagger that recovery, which has already lagged behind other states and the country.
DiNapoli, a former state Assemblymember, was first appointed as comptroller by the State Legislature in February 2007, shortly after the resignation of his predecessor, Alan Hevesi, under a cloud of scandal. DiNapoli went on to win statewide election three times, winning in 2014 and 2018 with the most votes of any statewide candidate. Polls show him with a commanding lead over his opponent this year in a race where New York Republicans have put very few resources as they mostly focus on the governor’s office.
DiNapoli’s Pitch
As he runs for reelection, DiNapoli, who is also running on the Working Families Party line, has touted himself as a “steady hand” in helping mind the state’s finances, even though he hasn’t always been the loudest voice in the room. “I've proven from when I first started, that I've had a steady hand at the job,” he said in an October 20 interview on Gotham Gazette’s Max Politics podcast. “I'm not the flashiest guy in politics, this isn't the flashiest office in politics. But…we are so fundamental in our work to keeping New York State moving in the right direction.”
In his time in office, DiNapoli has slowly taken a more “activist investor” approach to the state’s pension fund, using his position to encourage companies to diversify their boards, urging them to take action to tackle climate change, investing in green industries, and methodically divesting funds from the fossil fuel industry. In June 2019, he released a Climate Action Plan for the pension fund, which included a $20 billion commitment to sustainable investments and a goal of reaching net zero emissions in its portfolio by 2040.
DiNapoli, who hails from Long Island, has insisted that he brings a “mainstream New York” perspective to his strategy and not a partisan one. “The comptroller’s office is not going to be the place that you do the potshots, you throw the bombs, that's not what the job is about,” he said on the podcast, responding to frequent criticism, including from Rodriguez in this year’s election, that he is not outspoken enough in holding his fellow Democrats to account. “If you start doing that, you really lose credibility, you then just become a partisan. So I think we strike the right balance.”
DiNapoli has sought to strengthen his office’s oversight powers and called for more anti-corruption legislation. He has supported bills to fully restore his office’s authority to review certain state contracts in advance, power stripped under former Governor Andrew Cuomo, and also to ban companies seeking state contracts from making campaign contributions in certain periods.
DiNapoli has also supported campaign finance reform, long calling for public financing of elections and significantly lower contribution limits for statewide officials (In 2020, the State Legislature finally approved a public financing system that will go into effect for the next election cycle.)
Though he does not have a direct hand in approving the state budget, DiNapoli’s office affords him a bully pulpit from which he has called for more prudent fiscal management by successive gubernatorial administrations and the Legislature. He has been a consistent proponent of building up the state’s rainy day funds while also pushing for greater transparency in a budget that is often filled with pork barrel spending.
DiNapoli said that the pandemic has informed his recent work, as he has directed his office to focus on New York City trends, tracking federal relief funds, reporting on crucial revenue streams, auditing the MTA, and assessing inequities in housing affordability, food insecurity, and health outcomes. His office has issued a number of reports in recent years that have impacted the public policy discussion in notable ways, especially its examination of MTA finances.
DiNapoli’s campaign also boasts other accomplishments, including exposing corruption and theft of taxpayer dollars that led to almost 300 arrests and recovering more than $80 million in taxpayer money; working with the attorney general to create a Joint Task Force on Public Integrity, which led to recovering millions of dollars and the arrests of dozens of officials and contractors who stole or misused public funds; creating a new school accountability initiative to audit schools and Boards of Cooperative Educational Services statewide; creating a new Fiscal Stress Monitoring System to assess local government financial conditions; and developing a program to give women and minority asset managers the opportunity to partner with the state pension fund.
“I'm certainly mindful that I'm not a legislator. I'm not the governor. So in terms of making decisions on policy or budget, that's not the comptroller's role,” he said on the podcast, “but I do think we have an important opportunity to provide a thoughtful analysis and information to help guide policymakers, elected officials, and I think, equally important, having the public be informed.”
Rodriguez’s Pitch
Rodriguez is running because he believes that DiNapoli has sat on the sidelines as the state has been plagued by corruption and wasteful spending over the last 15 years. His campaign platform is focused on tackling pay-to-play politics, exposing fraud and waste in state spending, professionalizing the management of the state pension fund, enhancing transparency about state debt and pension obligations, increasing oversight of the budget, and investing in New York businesses.
Rodriguez is banking on his experience as a Wall Street investor for more than 25 years, which included stints at major firms including Salomon Brothers, Merrill Lynch, UBS, BBVA, and Morgan Stanley. He has previously served as an executive board member of the Manhattan Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the Brooklyn-Kings County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and as president of the New York Young Republican Club. Currently, Rodriguez works in fundraising and development for the Archdiocese of New York.
This isn’t Rodriguez’s first run for office. In 2004, he unsuccessfully challenged U.S. Rep. Nydia Velazquez, a Democrat, and he was the Conservative Party nominee for New York City Comptroller last year.
Though Rodriguez has expressed personal respect for DiNapoli, he has been critical of his tenure. The comptroller, he argues, has turned a blind eye to corruption in Albany, failed to adequately use his oversight authority to rein in state spending, and has taken an inappropriately ideological approach to pension investments.
“The unfortunate truth is that during the 15 years that Mr. DiNapoli has been in office, it has coincided with…one of the worst waves of corruption in state government,” he said during an October 20 appearance on Gotham Gazette’s Max Politics podcast. He said DiNapoli was first assigned the office because, “He's not going to rock the boat, he's not going to really stick his neck out.”
Though Rodriguez concedes that the comptroller doesn’t have authority over the state budget, he has said he will be a louder voice for accountability. “Yes, there are limitations but there's no limitations on that bully pulpit and how you utilize it and how you call out the people in power,” he said.
He has even called for either banning or severely limiting political contributions from companies or individuals seeking state business, rather than a blackout period that DiNapoli has supported. “If you want to instill confidence in New Yorkers that they have a government that is clean and that is accountable to its people, you can't have this sort of thing,” he said.
As with other Republican candidates, Rodriguez has also been focused on public safety, which he says is essential to ensuring that New York remains a competitive business environment. “One of the necessary pillars for economic development for the city or for the state is public safety because you don't want to work, invest or or live in a place where you don't feel safe,” he said.
Rodriguez has raised concerns about the state’s high tax rates, particularly with inflation at record highs and the specter of a looming recession. He has, for instance, opposed the congestion pricing system set to be instituted in New York City, which he said will punish drivers as it helps raise capital funds for the MTA. “You can only squeeze blood from a stone only so far,” he said. “You can’t expect to simply solve all your problems with higher taxation.” But, he did not offer an alternative for the $15 billion in capital funds for MTA repairs and upgrades that congestion pricing is set to fund.
Among Rodriguez’s criticisms of DiNapoli is his reliance on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investing in guiding the pension fund. Rodriguez has noted that the concept originated on Wall Street but has “degenerated over the years from a consideration or a tool in part of your investment management decisions to sort of an end game in and of itself, and to what I maybe crudely call a box-checking exercise.”
He also questioned DiNapoli’s focus on climate-related investments. “I certainly think that the whole issue of climate change as a whole should not be the primary driving force behind all the investment decisions that are made in the portfolio,” he said.
Rodriguez faces somewhat overwhelming odds in the race. Not only is he far behind in the polls, his campaign has shown almost no fundraising or spending.
Key Differences Between DiNapoli & Rodriguez
The differences between the two candidates were apparent at the sole debate in the race on October 19, hosted by Spectrum News. It was a relatively civil affair, as neither candidate tried to harshly attack the other and they even shared moments of agreement.
“When the comptroller's office was mired in scandal, a bipartisan coalition of Republicans and Democrats came together selected me to restore integrity and credibility to the office,” DiNapoli said in his opening remarks, arguing through the debate that he had accomplished that goal and that his experience matters in the trying times the state now faces.
Rodriguez said the public is barely aware of the comptroller’s office or the role he plays in state government. “I think part of this reason is because the office has for several years prioritized political activism through its pension plan, rather than its oversight powers to go after real corruption…I think we need a new direction and new leadership,” he said.
The candidates weighed in on a range of issues from their approach to preparing for a potential fiscal downturn and their pension investment strategies to taxes, economic development, ethics, gambling revenue, marijuana industry subsidies, the Buffalo Bills stadium deal, and more.
DiNapoli expressed optimism in shepherding the state pension fund through a possible recession with his current investment strategy. “We've weathered tough storms before…I’m confident that even if there's a downturn, short term for the markets, we'll be able to weather it,” he said. “The retirement security that we have guaranteed to our public workers, to our public retirees, we can deliver on that.”
He also later defended his activist investing practices. “I'm not interested in short-term quarterly results,” he said. “That's kind of the Wall Street mentality that got us in trouble when the Great Recession happened. I'm interested in long-term results and good corporate practices.”
Rodriguez, however, cautioned against DiNapoli’s approach, insisting that pension returns are being overshadowed by inflation. “I don't believe that public pension plans should be managed like private activist hedge funds,” he said.
When asked by the debate moderators, Rodriguez said he would support an extension of the state’s temporary gas tax suspension, which was approved earlier this year to limit the effects of inflation. DiNapoli did not take a definitive position on the issue. “I think that's a decision the governor and the Legislature are going to have to make,” he said.
Both candidates promised to closely monitor and audit the Buffalo Bills stadium deal, which was a last-minute addition to the state budget and will award $600 million in state subsidies to the stadium along with $250 million more from Erie County.
“[A]s we've done with other economic development programs, I'm sure this will be a part of our consideration when we do future audits when it's actually implemented,” said DiNapoli, who has been particularly critical of the state’s economic development strategy under former Governor Andrew Cuomo and now into Hochul’s tenure. “Hopefully with the Hochul administration, we'll see an improvement in that regard,” he added.
“[O]bviously it is the taxpayers who are basically getting the short end of the stick for this,” said Rodriguez. “We want to keep the Bills here, but we want to do it in a proper way, not just simply giving taxpayer money away to billionaires.”
The two were also on the same page in criticizing the governor and Legislature for awarding $350 million in economic development funds to Long Island in the state budget without specific purposes. “When has giving a politician or a bureaucrat just cash unallocated for unaccounted for, with no oversight, when has that made them or behave in a way that's more honest or ethical? It really hasn't,” Rodriguez said.
“There should not be these large lump sums that have no definition as part of the state budget process. It's not the proper way to do business,” said DiNapoli, who added that the proper way to allocate such funds is to determine projects ahead of time and line out the expenses in the budget agreement.
With the state having legalized mobile sports betting, they both agreed that the state needs to set aside revenue raised from it to help those with gambling addictions, which is part of the law. And they both expressed some concern about the state’s support for the marijuana industry.
“I don't think it's the right thing for us to be involved in,” Rodriguez said. “If we think gambling is bad, how is investing in cannabis any better, and particularly when we've divested in many instances from tobacco?”
“I don't want to see the state become the major subsidizer of the industry,” DiNapoli said, referring to some of the ways in which the state law legalizing adult use marijuana includes start-up funding for businesses.
There were other key areas of disagreement. While DiNapoli supported prevailing wage requirements for all state economic development deals, Rodriguez did not.
DiNapoli is a strong supporter of the $4.2 billion environmental bond act, which is going to be on the November ballot for voter approval. Rodriguez opposes it. “I think we are not at a time right now where we should be adding more debt to the balance sheet of the state,” Rodriguez said.
Polls and Money
Polls currently show DiNapoli sailing to reelection. A Siena College poll released October 18 had him in the lead with 54% of the vote to Rodriguez’s 30%, remaining steady from a previous poll that had him leading 52-29%. He had an overwhelming lead among Democratic voters (82-6%) and was also ahead with independent voters (44-32%). He was favored by New York City residents as well as by voters upstate and in the suburbs.
Though he still remains largely unknown to voters, 66% of them, he nonetheless fared better than Rodriguez, who was unknown to 86% of voters.
One of the benefits of incumbency is that DiNapoli also has a massive campaign finance advantage. He has raised a total of $3.6 million this election cycle and has spent nearly $2.4 million. He had about $2 million in cash on hand, as of October 7.
Meanwhile, according to the State Board of Elections, Rodriguez has reported only $3,184 in campaign donations, and has spent less than $11. Rodriguez’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment seeking clarity on his fundraising.
Election Day is November 8; absentee balloting has begun and early voting will be October 29-November 6.
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by Samar Khurshid, senior reporter, Gotham Gazette
@samarkhurshid @GothamGazette
Lee Zeldin & Kathy Hochul at their debate
October 25, 2022 - Max Politics Podcast: Breaking Down the Hochul-Zeldin Debate
After Gov. Kathy Hochul and Rep. Lee Zeldin debated Tuesday night in the race for Governor, two experts joined host Ben Max to analyze the big event: Dr. Christina Greer, political science professor at Fordham University, and Casey Seiler, editor of the Albany Times Union.
Listen to the conversation and let us know what you think, on Twitter @TweetBenMax. You can listen to the show through the embedded audio below or wherever you get podcasts at Max Politics.
Read more: Max Politics Podcast: Breaking Down the Hochul-Zeldin Debate
Lee Zeldin and Kathy Hochul at Tuesday's debate
Governor Kathy Hochul, a Democrat seeking her first full term as governor, faced off against her Republican opponent, U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin of Long Island, on Tuesday night in the only debate of the governor’s race.
In an hour-long debate hosted by Spectrum News, the two candidates attacked each other’s records and clashed on crime and public safety, the economy, abortion, ethics, democracy, and more. They outlined vastly different assessments of where New York stands today and visions for where to take it in the future, seeking to make an impression on voters with just two weeks till Election Day, November 8, and with early voting set to start this weekend. The debate was held at Pace University in Manhattan and moderated by Spectrum anchors Errol Louis and Susan Arbetter.
Going into the debate, Hochul, the state’s first female governor, held many advantages. Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans two-to-one in the state and Hochul has a significant fundraising lead, having built a massive war chest since she took office after the resignation of disgraced former Governor Andrew Cuomo. Polls have consistently shown her ahead, with the latest Siena College poll released October 18 giving her an 11-point lead over Zeldin.
But various polling has also shown a tightening race, and Zeldin is being boosted by a flood of outside spending by national Republicans and SuperPACs, somewhat mitigating his campaign cash disadvantage. Zeldin’s has also been laser focused on crime and inflation, which voters have consistently ranked at or near their top priorities, while Hochul has spent months highlighting Zeldin’s opposition to abortion rights and gun control and his support for former President Donald Trump.
In recent days, Hochul has refocused on public safety, making governmental announcements and releasing a new campaign ad on the subject. She has also touted her economic record after months largely focused on abortion rights and Zeldin’s ties to Trump.
“I’m here for one reason, to save our state and deliver a safer, freer, better future for you and your family,” Zeldin said in his opening remarks, criticizing Hochul for failing to reduce crime and inflation in the state.
“You will see a great contrast here tonight between myself and my record and someone who has been called one of Donald Trump's strongest and most loyal supporters,” Hochul said for her part, as she touted her accomplishments and called out Zeldin’s opposition to abortion and gun control.
For Zeldin, the overriding issue of the race is crime, which he repeatedly spoke to throughout the debate. He has called for a rollback of state bail reforms, legislation that limits solitary confinement in prisons, and other criminal justice changes made by Democrats in recent years. In particular, he wants to allow judges far more discretion to consider their assessment of defendants’ dangerousness when deciding to set bail and possible pre-trial remand.
But state data shows that bail reform has not led to a significant rise in crime or rearrests for those released before trial. Zeldin has repeatedly ignored those statistics, insisting that New Yorkers’ sentiments about crime are far more important. “You ask the will of the people, they want to see reform,” he said on Tuesday when asked to respond to the data.
Hochul has repeatedly stressed support for balanced reforms, highlighting her effort to tighten the state bail law earlier this year, giving judges more discretion especially when dealing with repeat offenders. “You can either work on keeping people scared or you can focus on keeping them safe,” she said at the debate. She also pointed to her administration's effort to convene a multi-state task force that has pulled thousands of illegal guns off the street, strengthening the state’s gun control regulations and her collaboration with New York City Mayor Eric Adams to tackle crime on the city subway system.
The governor also sought to shift to the offensive, taking the opportunity to repeatedly call out Zeldin’s record on gun control. As she did often throughout the debate, she pointed to his voting record in Congress, where he failed to appear to vote on a bipartisan assault weapon ban last year. “[T]here is no crime fighting plan if it doesn't include guns, illegal guns, and you refuse to talk about how we can do so much more,” she said.
Among the pledges that Zeldin has made is that, if elected governor, on his first day he would remove Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a progressive, from office for failing to be a sufficiently tough-on-crime prosecutor. “If he's not going to do his job, I'm gonna do my job and I'm going to remove as soon as I can,” he said.
“I'm not surprised, because in Lee Zeldin’s world, you overturn elections you don't agree with,” Hochul retorted, again referencing Zeldin’s votes against certifying President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory.
“It's not about governing by sound bites. I'm governing by sound policy,” she added.
During the debate, Bragg tweeted data showing murders and shootings down significantly in Manhattan this year over last, with gun prosecutions up during that time.
Later in the debate, Zeldin refused to say whether he would vote the same way given the overwhelming evidence that the presidential election was fairly decided. “Election integrity should always matter,” he said, instead promoting restrictive election laws such as mandated voter ID.
Asked if he would accept the results of the general election if he loses, he said, “First off, losing is not an option. Secondly, playing along with your hypothetical question, of course.”
With inflation at record highs and the economy facing the prospect of a recession, the candidates were asked about future economic plans.
Zeldin broadly floated reining in state spending and cutting taxes, but offered no specifics, and repeated his calls for reversing the state’s ban on fracking for natural gas and approving new fossil fuel pipelines to cut the price of energy. “New York is going to be back open for business baby, January 1,” he said.
Hochul largely touted actions that her administration has already taken including expediting a middle class tax cut approved under her predecessor, providing a property tax rebate in this year’s budget, and temporarily suspending the state gas tax. She acknowledged that the highest expenses that families face are mortgages and rent. “I have a plan heading into the next session, which is thoughtful,” she said, but gave no details until prompted in a question about affordable housing.
She also noted Zeldin’s votes against the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act passed by Congress, all of which are expected to provide many billions of dollars to New York and create many thousands of jobs. “It's so disingenuous to say you want to create jobs when you, as a member of Congress, vote against everything that would create jobs,” she said to Zeldin.
Keeping with his campaign’s limited policy platform, Zeldin also had no major ideas for solving the state’s affordable housing crisis. He vaguely criticized the length of time that it takes to receive approvals to build housing in the state and said that first-time homebuyer credits need to be ramped up. Hochul pointed to the state’s $25 billion housing plan, which includes funding to help ensure 100,000 units of affordable housing over five years. She touted a plan to foster conversion of office space into housing but that has not produced any housing or even specific deals promising its creation. She also spoke about shifting zoning regulations to foster more housing, previewing the promised pursuit next year, if she wins the election, of policies she dropped this year after they saw opposition from suburban lawmakers.
One of Hochul’s main lines of attack against Zeldin is his opposition to abortion, a particularly pertinent issue in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down Roe v. Wade. Hochul tried to corner Zeldin on that at the debate. “There’s very few people in Congress who have a more pro-life record, someone who said he would bring on a pro-life health commissioner…that’s a frightening spectacle. Women need to know that that's on the ballot this November as well,” she said.
Zeldin would not say whether, as governor, he would sign any abortion restrictions into law, only that there was little chance of a Democrat-led Legislature passing such a bill. He said he would choose a health commissioner who is “the best qualified person” for the job.
In the cross-examination round, the two candidates had an opportunity to pose one question to the other.
Zeldin pushed Hochul on steps she would take to curb pay-to-play politics, attempting to put her on the defensive given her massive fundraising from entities with state business and one particularly egregious example of a major campaign donor receiving a state contract. “There has never been a quid pro quo, a policy change or decision made because of a contribution,” Hochul said of her administration.
When the moderators later pointed to her fundraising from contributors with business before the state and being able to assure voters she is not influenced by such donations, she reiterated her defense. “I have always, for 30 years as an elected official, played by all the rules,” she insisted, noting that she has long been in favor of campaign finance reform.
Hochul, in turn, sought to highlight Zeldin’s association with former President Trump, asking him if he believes Trump was “a great president.” Though Hochul pressed for a yes or no, Zeldin responded by listing many specifics of work he said he accomplished while Trump was in office, from resources for Long Island to support for Israel. He even sought to praise Trump for some of his covid pandemic response.
“I’ll take that as a resounding ‘yes,’ and the voters of New York do not agree with you,” Hochul said.
The candidates found some common ground in their response to the crisis of thousands of asylum seekers arriving in New York City, burdening an already struggling local shelter system and straining the city’s precarious finances. Both candidates said the federal government needs to step up their role, though Zeldin proposed harsher immigration measures that Hochul does not support.
And they both said yes when asked if the state cap on charter schools in New York City, which has been hit, should be lifted. It was Hochul’s first time taking the position publicly.
Zeldin did have the governor on the back foot when the subject of the Buffalo Bills stadium deal was raised. The governor, at the last minute, added the deal to the state budget, approving $600 million in state subsidies for the $1.4 billion project. As the moderators noted, stadium deals rarely provide the level of economic development to justify the subsidies.
The question kicked off an intense back and forth between the two. Hochul said she structured the deal in a way that will keep the Bills in the state for 30 years while creating 10,000 construction jobs and providing ample economic benefits. “It was just important to make sure that the Buffalo Bills stay in New York State,” she said.
Zeldin said he would renegotiate the deal if elected. “We can absolutely have a better deal,” he said. “At the 11th hour of a budget deal, she slams it in, she screws over Seneca Nation and she puts the squeeze on legislators. No vetting, no debate. It was irresponsible on process and substance,” he added.
“Lee Zeldin hates job-creating projects,” Hochul said.
“I haven’t got a problem with job-creating projects, I have a problem with corruption-creating governors,” Zeldin countered.
There were key differences between the two candidates on other issues as well. With the state expediting the approval of three new casino licenses in downstate New York, Zeldin said he would “possibly” alter the process. “Local control is important. There is a process that is underway and it shouldn't be jammed into areas that do not want it,” he said. “We have to respect the will of the people.”
Hochul said she would not stop the process, and reminded that there is a robust local siting approval process already in the law.
Hochul also defended her decision to lift covid mask and vaccination mandates, even as the pandemic continues to plague the state and as the CDC recommends that the covid vaccine be added to the list of required vaccines for children.
Asked if she would mandate a covid vaccine for children, Hochul said, “Not at this time.” Though, she did say the decision would fall to the Legislature.
Zeldin was more absolute. “I will not mandate COVID vaccines for your kids ever,” he said, though he did not explain why. Asked if he would mandate a polio vaccine (as the state is experiencing a polio outbreak emergency), he drew a distinction between the two diseases and noted that a mandate already exists.
“You've been an election denier, a climate change denier. You and Donald Trump are the masterful covid deniers,” Hochul responded.
In a brief lightning round, the two offered different takes on many issues. Zeldin opposed the operation of two overdose prevention centers in New York City, while Hochul said she conferred with her health commissioner, Dr. Mary Bassett, who supports them. The governor indicated she would study them further before supporting any new sites.
Hochul said she is still studying a bill that would put a temporary moratorium on the reactivation of fossil fuel facilities to support the proof-of-work crypto currency mining industry. Zeldin said he would refuse to sign the bill. Hochul said the state should continue the rollout of its cannabis industry while Zeldin raised concerns about the legalization of marijuana.
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by Samar Khurshid, senior reporter, Gotham Gazette
@samarkhurshid @GothamGazette