DiNapoli wins comptroller race, defeats Wilson

State Comptroller and Long Islander Thomas DiNapoli defeated wealthy Wall Street financier and GOP candidate Harry Wilson Tuesday night.

In accepting victory Wednesday morning, DiNapoli said he was "humbled and honored to be part of making solutions for the people of New York."

But Wilson did not concede the race to DiNapoli.

"I want to thank my family and my supporters, including the hundreds of thousands of Democrats and Independents who crossed party lines today to vote for me," Wilson said. "This race is too close to call. . . . I remain hopeful that I will prevail in my campaign to bring fiscal accountability to Albany and professionalism to the office of the New York State comptroller."

Wilson's campaign manager, Chapin Fay, said, "More than 210,000 absentee ballots have been cast, and we expect that all will need to be opened to get a conclusive result."

Still, DiNapoli said his victory over Wilson was proof "you don't need to have a famous name or be rich to make it in politics." The Great Neck Plaza resident touted his middle-class, immigrant family, saying he would hold true to their values.

Flanked by his 86-year-old father and powerful patron Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, DiNapoli credited his victory to unions. "I could not have done this. . . . I thank my brothers and sisters in the labor movement. What you did for me I can never forget."

DiNapoli also used his victory to reach out to the youth of Long Island.

"If there's a kid out there, perhaps sitting in one of my old seats at Mineola High School, that has dreams of public service and going into politics, I'd like them to reflect on this campaign, and to really understand that you don't always need a famous name and you don't always need to be rich."

During the campaign, Wilson appealed to voters to bank on his expertise as an elite investment banker who did so well he retired at 37. DiNapoli argued that he has helped pull the state through a serious crisis and this is no time to change horses.

The comptroller is responsible for the $125-billion state pension fund.

The race attracted attention because DiNapoli's predecessor, Alan Hevesi, pleaded guilty last month to accepting nearly $1 million in gifts and contributions in return for a $250-million pension fund investment. DiNapoli was appointed by the State Legislature in February 2007 after fellow Democrat Hevesi resigned.

"I've turned around an office that was under a cloud of scandal ... integrity has been restored," DiNapoli said last month. "My opponent doesn't understand what this office does. You don't need to shift gears at this perilous economic time."

But Wilson, a Republican and retired hedge fund manager from Scarsdale, countered that "this state is totally screwed up financially and with my private sector experience, I think I can help. Mr. DiNapoli ... is totally unsuited for the job."

Wilson, 39, a Harvard graduate, worked at top firms such as The Blackstone Group and Goldman Sachs. In January 2009, he volunteered to serve on a presidential task force charged with reviving General Motors and Chrysler.

DiNapoli, 56, is a Hofstra University graduate who worked as an AT&T manager for 10 years. His government career began in 1972 when at age 18 he was elected to the Mineola school board, becoming the youngest person in state history to hold public office. He spent 20 years as a state assemblyman from Great Neck Plaza.

During the campaign the two clashed over how to handle the pension fund. Wilson said he would bring more stability to it by shifting investments from stocks, real estate and hedge funds to less volatile and slower growing bonds and other fixed income. DiNapoli countered that a fixed-income strategy would not produce the results necessary to provide retiree benefits.

With Elizabeth Moore and James T. Madore.