February 8, 2007
Everyone Loses With DiNapoli As Comptroller
Newly anointed State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli may be a "nice guy" who finished first, but the State Legislature's dealings to put him in place makes our head spin. The Legislature, and more importantly the Assembly, had agreed to select someone an outside panel would find qualified. The thing is, no one on the shortlist was an Assembly member, so the Democratic-run Assembly which calls the shots in Comptroller selection, decided to pick Assemblyman DiNapoli of Nassau County. Check out these editorials from the region:
NY Times "A Member of the Club": "The choice is a setback for a legislature that is already considered one of the worst in the nation — and a further sign that its members are not listening to the public’s demands for reform."Yeah, it's pretty depressing. Steamroller Spitzer is very angry, saying the Legislature's action marked a "turning point" in his 38 day relationship with them, "You have just witnessed the insider game of self-dealing that unfortunately confirms every New Yorker's worst fear and image of all that goes on in the Legislature of this state." Spitzer also questioned DiNapoli's lack of investment experience, given the Comptroller's oversight of the State's $140 billion dollar pension system. From the NY Times:NY Post "Their Worthless Word": "Now all New Yorkers know what As sembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's word is worth: Nothing."
Newsday "Good choice, bad process": "Public cynicism about Albany would have been better blunted if Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) and the Democratic majority had stuck with their agreement to choose a state comptroller from a list vetted by a panel of former fiscal watchdogs."
NY Daily News "Stunning lack of integrity": "Nothing good will come of this for the leaders - particularly for Silver, who directed a charade screening process - and the worst awaits DiNapoli. He is now the poster boy for Albany dysfunction and bears the stigma of being a third-stringer who doesn't belong in the job."
Times Union "The Legislature's gall": "Take that, New Yorkers. It's what the state Legislature -- and, most insidiously, the dominant bloc known as the Assembly Democrats -- thinks is best that matters. It's what they want, mainly political reward and advancement for themselves, that comes before the public interest."
Mr. Spitzer said that in recent days he had been asking lawmakers this question: “If Candidate X — take Tom — were approaching you and saying, ‘You know what? I’ve never done this before. Never invested a penny. Never made an asset allocation decision. Don’t know a swap from a derivative. But I’m setting up a money management firm tomorrow. I want your pension money to be my first investment. Will you give me your pension to start with?’For his part, DiNapoli said, "I don't intend to be anybody's lap dog. I'm going to be a watchdog." Yes, we hope DiNapoli will be a good comptroller, but if this is the face of NY State government, we're so screwed. Heck, it's almost like having Pataki as governor!“Nobody said they would,” he said. “Nobody. That, to me, is dispositive. They wouldn’t do it with their money. But they’ll do it with the public’s money.”
Photograph of new Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli at the State Assembly by Tim Roske/AP
|
seeing as how they promised to choose a candidate suggested by the search committee, can't we get them on breach of their verbal contract!
A lot of the problems in Albany have one source: Sheldon Silver, poster child for term limits and old school back room politics. God forbid we have an open process selecting a new comptroler, since that would eliminate the doling out of a nice politifcal gift. One has to ask what the hell was the quid pro quo between Thomas DiNapoli and Silver. Until he proves otherwise, DiNapoli should be seen as a lapdog of Silver due to the shady nature of his ascent to the post of comptroler.
Now the nicest thing I can say about Mr. Silver is that he is not a New Jersey politician.
that's some nice reporting, gothamist.
Can't we do something about this? The Comptroller is supposed to be an elected official - not a favored appointment. Sheldon Silver has really gone blatantly over the line this time. There has to be something that can be done about this and ultimately about him.
Does anyone know when Silver is up for re election?
How can this assembly have such a blatant disregard for public credibility?
The only difference is that Pataki would have been okay with the whole thing.
This is ridiculous. Even a "partisan hack" like me knows that Silver has ruled past his time. And take Bruno with you when you go.
No more mozzorella from lawn guyland, please.
Silver really outslimed himself this time. ugh.
silver is represents the absolute worst back room slime in new york politics. we cant get rid of him soon enough!!!!!!!!!!!1
Gothamist - Do us a favor and put up a link to Shelly's comment page. This guy apparently didn't get the message in November.
Just wonderful. A man with no experience investing and handling millions and millions of dollars. Mr. Governor, you brought this on yourself. You should have left Hevesi in office and none of this would have happened. He was re-elected with the full and overwhelming support of the voters!
Ace, it's billions, not millions. As in $140B+
not that anyone will be reading the comments on this post anymore, but, in response to "Ace," i'm not sure if hevesi was any better qualified for comptroller, by some objective standard, like having investment management experience, than dinapoli. the governor's opponents in the assembly would say that the position is political, not technocratic, as this gothamist post would have readers believe, and that the most relevant criterion is the ability to work well with others. i'm agnostic on that, but i still side with the governor. the difference between hevesi, who also came out of the legislature, and dinapoli, is that hevesi went through a contested general election, wherein the voters were given the opportunity to have a say. not sure if he ever had a primary, or if his having that coveted spot on the democratic line was purely attributable to similarly shady back room party machinations. In my opinion, Spitzer did the right thing in forcing the resignation of a politician caught betraying the public trust red handed. The blue ribbon panel was a commendable attempt at legitimizing a flawed replacement process prescribed by the state's constitution.
Ah, Shades of Tammany!! I'd be be pleased to call Silver and Bruno my "boys". Good job you pathetic mass of flesh known as the NY State Legislature. I think it's time for a good old Jeffersonian revolution by the people of NY State!!