Thomas DiNapoli for New York State comptroller

If every New Jersey household were forced to cough up its share of that state’s unfunded pension liability, each would owe $27,000. In Connecticut, the cost per household to get the state’s pension funding to 100% would be $30,000. In Pennsylvania, $12,000.

In New York, on the annual day of reckoning that comes each March 31, the state’s pension funds held assets of $272 billion, or 102.9% of its total obligations. It is one of just a few fully funded pensions in the United States, and by far the largest.

Democratic Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, 68, of Great Neck, can take significant credit for that. The policies he’s put in place and decisions he’s made as sole trustee of the fund — including hiring and heeding top investment experts, lowering the expected rate of return to allow for more stable investing, and setting contribution rates from public employers at appropriate rather than politically popular lower levels — have served the state well.

For 685,000 active public employees, about 500,000 people getting monthly retirement checks, and every taxpayer who would pay if the pension fund runs low, that should be deeply reassuring.

SCANDAL-FREE TENURE

DiNapoli also deserves credit for running a scandal-free office. His predecessor, Alan Hevesi, went to jail for abusing the power that comes with overseeing such a huge fund, and the two comptrollers before that sent business to campaign contributors. DiNapoli abolished that practice early in his 15-year tenure as part of a slate of ethics improvements that eliminated influence-peddling in the office.

His opponent, Queens Republican Paul Rodriguez, 53, works as a development officer, raising money for the Archdiocese of New York. He spent 25 years working in investing and finance, and ran for New York City comptroller on the Conservative line last year.

His biggest knock on DiNapoli is the assertion that the incumbent is too committed to “ESG” investing, where environmental and social issues and corporate governance are taken into account. Rodriguez argues that the only factor the comptroller should consider is profit, and points to fossil fuels investment as an area where DiNapoli has paid too much attention to politics.

But DiNapoli’s “ESG” stance is both moderate and responsible. He's attacked far more from the left flank of his own party for not basing decisions more on ESG than by Republicans for doing so too much.

DiNapoli argues that a sole focus on a product that could go by the wayside, like oil, makes a business too risky, while a similar company that is nimbly looking to new income streams or energy sources might be a better investment. He’s not afraid to use the power of the fund to push companies toward adaptation, or equity and diversity, because those are good business practices as well as good human ones. And on the rare occasions when he has divested smallish sums from businesses New Yorkers often abhor, like private prisons and gun manufacturing, he’s been right on both the principles and the profitability.

The comptroller is the state's auditor, with authority to examine the operations of any public entity that receives state funds, from fire districts to school districts to counties. DiNapoli has done mountains of work in those areas, but could do more.

He should be more aggressive in decrying political contributions when they go hand in hand with overpriced contracts, as happened recently with Gov. Kathy Hochul and a batch of COVID-19 tests. It’s a blind spot worth eliminating. But he could also do more if Hochul signs a bill passed by the legislature that would restore much of the comptroller’s oversight of state contracts, as she should.

DiNapoli’s office could also be faster in turning around analyses of state agencies, school districts and municipalities, releasing reports before the information is obsolete.

IMPORTANT LIPA TASK

Recently launched audits of cyber vulnerability are timely and laudable, as the attack on Suffolk County reminds us. After DiNapoli's office does enough of them, guidance should be issued on best practices. And the office’s access to massive troves of data creates opportunities for deep analysis of everything from who needs what Medicaid services, and what preventive medical steps that suggests in certain communities or demographics, to which industrial development authority tax breaks actually create jobs. 

For Long Islanders, the comptroller’s most important upcoming task could be his legislative mandate to opine on the conclusions of a state commission created to examine the feasibility of fully municipalizing the Long Island Power Authority. The commission will report on system reliability, customer satisfaction, future utility bill costs, storm hardening, and the accelerating conversion to renewable energy. It's DiNapoli's job to make sure the panel's assertions are accurate. 

It’s hard to imagine an official more perfectly placed to assess an issue so important to Long Island than DiNapoli, who this year celebrated the 50th anniversary of his first foray into public office, his election to the Mineola school board at age 18. Coincidentally, the Employees’ Retirement System celebrated its 100th anniversary last year.

DiNapoli’s longevity of service, and his contribution to the fund’s success and stability, are admirable.

Newsday endorses DiNapoli.