Comptroller Questionnaire - New Questions Based on Your Feedback

Democracy for NYC will be holding an endorsement vote in the race for Comptroller of New York City. Voting will open after our August 13th forum in Manhattan. For endorsement rules, click here.

The Democratic primary will take place on Sept. 10th, and the candidates in that primary are Scott Stringer and Eliot Spitzer.  (The Democratic nominee is highly likely to win the general election on Nov. 5th)

DFNYC leadership, after talking with our active members and friends in the progressive community, has put together this candidate questionnaire. (We previously had a draft here, asked for feedback, and made changes.)

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Democracy for NYC's 2013 Candidate Questionnaire - Comptroller

1. Shareholder Power. One of the most significant powers of the NYC Comptroller is management of NYC’s five pension funds, valued at approximately $140 billion, which are invested in stocks and other assets.  Would you seek to use this power as an activist shareholder, for the purpose of making corporations and Wall Street more responsible and ethical? How would you seek to accomplish this? Each pension fund has its own Board of Trustees with decision making authority. Please include in your answer your experience in working with Boards or other groups to change or improve policies.

2. Qualifications. The role of Comptroller will require expertise in financial strategy and investing, knowledge of markets, as well as experience in effective management and cooperation with others, including shareholder groups, Boards, and government agencies to effect positive change. Please briefly give your qualifications for the position of Comptroller.

3. City Contracts - Accountability. Would you seek to actively use the power of the Comptroller's office, as currect Comptroller John Liu has done, to review city contracts (including those entered into before his tenure), to ensure they remain within budget constraints, at the most competitive pricing, and that vendors are paying their fair share of taxes to the city? 

4. Relationship with State & Other Comptrollers. As City Comptroller, how would you view your relationship with the New York State Comptroller, and the officials that control pension funds in other States? Do you feel these relationships could be used advantageously for common goals, such as curbing irresponsible risk taking on Wall Street or supporting sensible budget policies for properly funding pensions (as opposed to simply redoing the math to assume the market will go up)?

5. We can’t believe we have to ask this.  In light of some of the past scandals with pension funds in New York State, do you agree not to accept personal favors and gifts from people or corporations that are likely to be seeking favorable treatment from the Comptroller’s Office?

6. NYC Council Member Items – Slush Fund. Do you think the powers of the City Comptroller should be used to change or improve the use of City Council member items, including the “slush fund” as described in a NY Times OpEd, to make it more fairly distributed, properly used, and less dependent on the discretion of whomever holds the position of Speaker?

7. Protecting Tenants - Divesting in "Predatory Equity".  Former Comptroller Bill Thompson
stopped the city's pension funds from investing in "predatory equity"; specifically private companies that would buy buildings with rent-regulated apartments at inflated prices, with the goal of trying
to evict rent-regulated tenants who have lived in these apartments for several years, most of whom cannot afford market rate rents. Do agree with this ban on investing city pension funds on firms that seek to undermine affordable housing laws?  (City Limits article - March 3rd, 2008)

8. Cable & Internet Companies - Options & Customer Service.  There are many areas of NYC that still lack quality options for cable television and internet service.  In addition, many customers have had
horrible service experiences, for example waiting at home during a 4-hour "window" for a cable technician who never shows up, only to be told that the appointment can't be rescheduled for a week, and the customer will receive nothing more for this trouble and lack of service than a small bill credit. The Comptroller's office has significant regulatory authority over telecom companies, including auditing and approvals of upgrades and expansions to existing systems. Would you use this power to ensure that broadband companies expand service to all areas of NYC and actually provide better customer service, (not just transparency about their service) and face real penalties when they fail to do so?

9. Your Ideas. Are there other ways you would seek to use the Comptroller's office to help push and support a progressive political agenda in the city?

Bully Pulpit Questions: Issues where the Comptroller has a voice but not a vote:

10. Home Rule for NYC. One of the biggest obstacles to enacting policy for New York City is that we do not have "Home Rule"; so many issues that affect New York City are actually decided by Albany, leaving NYC in the precarious position of begging Albany for action.  Examples include rent-stabilization laws that protect tenants, congestion pricing, taxation, and even some parking policies. Will you advocate for stronger home rule for NYC? Both Democratic candidates have served in state government. Please tell us what, if anything, you did during your time of service in favor of Home Rule for New York City.

11. Getting Big Money Out of Politics. Large donors have a huge amount of influence in local and national politics due to their campaign contributions. While NYC’s matching funds program is seen as one of the most innovative public funding campaigns in the country, many DFNYC members feel that big money donors still have too much influence, candidates still spend too much time fundraising, and the matching funds come to the campaigns too late to make a real difference in how we run elections.  Would you support a change to full public financing of campaigns, similar to the Clean Money Clean Elections programs in Arizona, Connecticut and Maine? Do you feel that Citizens United, the Supreme Court case that strengthened corporate personhood and struck down many campaign finance laws, was wrongly decided?

12. Tax Against High Frequency Trading. In NYC, Wall Street is Main Street; protecting the markets means, in some sense, protecting the economy of New York City.  In December, DFNYC members met with staffers at the offices of both U.S. Senators from New York. One of our proposals was a federal financial transaction tax that would strongly discourage the risky practice of high frequency trading (which has cause flash crashes and other market disruptions while only benefitting a few) that would be very small – fraction of a penny per share – so that it would not discourage regular trading, only HFT.  If such a proposal is raised again at the federal level, would you publically support it?  (For more on this issue, lease see Lee Sheppard’s article in Forbes.)