Race for New York State comptroller heats up

Even Harry Wilson admits that Democratic State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli can't take all the blame for the steep plunge New York's employee pension funds took amid the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

"A lot of it, not all of it," Wilson estimated at a campaign stop in Hauppauge last month.

But that hasn't stopped Wilson, the Republican contender for the job in this year's election, from blaming the entire mess on the incumbent. Wilson has blasted away all summer at what he calls a $1,300 "DiNapoli Tax" he calculates the average New York household will have to shoulder to fill the hole left in pension funds, plus the interest on a delayed-contribution plan championed by the incumbent.

The incumbent has fired back with the specter of a $10 billion "Wilson Tax," the amount he says New Yorkers would have to fork over if Wilson's recommendations were followed. Wilson, scoffs DiNapoli, is "of and by and for Wall Street," opposed reforms of his industry and has betrayed "almost complete lack of familiarity with how a pension fund operates and is managed."

Their best shot?

With the ongoing probe of the administration of former Democratic Comptroller Alan Hevesi hanging over the race, many New York Republicans believe this is their best shot at taking statewide office this year. The comptroller is the sole trustee of the pension fund for state and local employees and the state's chief fiscal watchdog.

The political newcomer Wilson, a Harvard MBA and Scarsdale hedge fund investor, says he wants to rebuild New York's ailing finances the same way he helped restructure the U.S. auto industry as a Republican member of the president's task force last year. He has issued a pair of densely researched white papers and promises two more before Election Day.

This year, Wilson believes voters are ready to agree with his party that pension and health care benefits for New York public employees are unsustainable. He takes aim at New York's relatively generous Medicaid offerings, borrowing a favorite theme of the last Republican comptroller, Edward "Ned" Regan. Trimming personal care hours to the U.S. average would save the state $2.5 billion annually, Wilson estimates.

DiNapoli, the longtime Great Neck assemblyman and former Nassau Democratic chairman who was appointed by his peers to fill the job vacated by Hevesi in a plea deal, emphasizes the new ethics rules he instituted after taking office to end the "pay to play" abuses of the state pension fund under Hevesi.

DiNapoli, who has a comfortable 18-point lead over his opponent, according to an Aug. 18 Siena poll, enjoyed the most unmistakably affectionate ovation of anyone on the ballot when Democrats nominated him at their convention last spring, and has solid union support.

But he also retains his status as the least-known of statewide office holders, with 61 percent of the electorate yet to form any opinion of him more than three years after he took office, Siena found.

It's even worse for Wilson, unknown by 81 percent. For both, victory in November depends on how well they fill in the blanks on their opponent: whether voters learn to see Wilson as a Wall Street sharpie or a nationally recognized restructuring expert; whether DiNapoli sells his image as the man who has cleaned up his agency and given it transparency with projects such as Open Book New York, his taxpayer-friendly database of government spending.

At the moment, voters are getting a different spin in Wilson's television ads statewide: "Albany Tom DiNapoli: Political insider. Twenty-three years on the public payroll. Appointed comptroller in a backroom deal. Under investigation. Totally unqualified. Clueless . . . "

Wilson, who loaned his campaign $2.25 million, launched this ad at the end of July; DiNapoli says he is raising money to begin his own ads sometime this month. But the salvos, launched in the middle of an unusually crowded primary season, registered scant shifts in their standing in Siena's poll.

Balance of power

But even if some voters never learn his name, Wilson may enjoy a peculiar advantage on Election Day utterly beyond DiNapoli's control: New Yorkers seem to like having a state comptroller in the opposite party from the governor - in any case, for 41 of the past 50 years, they've chosen a statewide slate balanced in this way. DiNapoli contends that trend has faded in recent years, as Democrats' numerical edge has expanded.

But that history might may be one reason DiNapoli's Republican adversary has fallen into the habit of linking himself to the top of the Democratic ticket.

"This is not dissimilar from what Andrew Cuomo is doing," Wilson volunteered at one point Friday, describing his campaign's efforts to build his momentum without the benefit of face-to-face debates. "We're going straight to the people."

The candidates

Harry Wilson

Republican

38

Scarsdale

Hedge-fund investor and restructuring specialist; first-time candidate. In 2009, tapped as sole Republican member of the Obama administration's auto-industry task force that restructured General Motors and Chrysler.

Partner in Silver Point Capital, a Greenwich, Conn. private investment firm specializing in distressed debt; retired in August 2008. Earlier stints at the Blackstone Group, Goldman Sachs and Clayton, Dubilier & Rice.

Served in 1991 as president of the Harvard Republican Club, where he earned B. A. and M.B.A. degrees; quintupled club's membership.

Thomas DiNapoli

Democrat

56

Great Neck Plaza

Appointed State Comptroller on Feb. 7, 2007 after incumbent Alan Hevesi resigned in a plea deal.

Served 20 years in the State Assembly, chairing the environmental conservation committee.

Became Nassau Democratic chairman in 1999; in 2001, lost a county executive primary to Tom Suozzi.

In 1971, elected to the Mineola school board at age 18, the youngest person in state history to win elective office.