Comptroller candidate Jonathan Trichter: DiNapoli mismanaged technology contract
ALBANY — Republican candidate Jonathan Trichter says Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli has wasted millions of dollars on a high-technology contract for the state pension system in what Trichter called a “shameless boondoggle.”
Trichter said DiNapoli, the Democratic incumbent since 2007, entered a $132 million contract to handle information technology which has since increased in cost to $260 million.
“How can we possibly trust him to police all of the sate’s contracts if his very own projects double in cost under his watch?" Trichter said Friday.
DiNapoli’s campaign said Trichter doesn’t understand the technology contract for analyzing investment data for the massive pension plan for public workers, but didn’t deny that the cost of the project has escalated.
“Overhauling a 30-year-old technology system to better serve over a million members of the retirement system, divided into 335 separate pension plans over 6 tiers, is a complex process with shifting challenges,” said DiNapoli campaign spokesman Doug Forand.
Forand said the contract needed to be upgraded to meet new cybersecurity threats.
DiNapoli, 64, of Great Neck Plaza, was an veteran assemblyman before he was selected by the Legislature to fill the job vacated by former Comptroller Alan Hevesi, when he was arrested on corruption charges.
Trichter, 47, of Manhattan, has been an investment banker at J.P. Morgan, a public finance expert and managed a digital media startup. Formerly he was an enrolled Democrat.
Michael Gormley has worked for Newsday since 2013, covering state government, politics and issues. He has covered Albany since 2001.
