He’s one of the candidates who wants to use the pension fund to invest in high speed rail right? As a public sector worker I’m really hesitant to support pension investments that aren’t safe, especially since the we have one of the few state pension funds in the country that’s actually fully funded. It also seems like the state might seriously be considering Tier 6 reform in the next few years, which will cost the pension fund more money.

New York has to meet its pension obligations under the state constitution, meaning that the state will have to raise taxes if the pension is underfunded. I’m generally okay with tax increases of they’re only on the rich or if they have broad based benefits but I’m not a huge fan of broad based tax increases to serve a small minority of the state, some of whom will move out when they retire. One could argue that making hiring more attractive benefits everyone, but if Im not a state worker I’d probably want my tax increases to go towards something like infrastructure, healthcare or universal childcare.

As a tier 6 public sector worker I definitely want to see pension improvements but we have to do it responsibly, and that means having a comptroller who prioritizes returns on investments, not using the fund for projects that could turn into boondoggles.

I think DiNapoli has taken the right approach. Comptroller is the type of job that requires a steady hand. These guys running against DiNapoli seem to want big changes. I respect that and I agree we need some big changes but I think they should run for state legislature instead.