Thomas DiNapoli

Wall Street Bonuses Are Up 8%! Happy Hump Day!

No better time than a Wednesday to hear a headline we're unfortunately (yet willingly) accustomed to. New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli announced yesterday that the collective pool of Wall Street bonus rewards is now up to $20 billion, showing a 8 percent rise in extra paychecks to the den ... More >>

What The Fiscal Cliff Means For New York

New Year's Eve is a night to reflect on the year that's past. It's a night to commit to a resolution you'll never follow, a night to face the next year with a massive hangover and a night to over-plan and over-commit to. And, for Washington, it's a night to jump off the fiscal cliff.As soon as ... More >>

Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli: Wall Street Is Doing Kinda/Sorta Better Than You

Whether you're a part of the 47 Percent, the 99 Percent, the 1 Percent or some other slogan-driven demographic, this news should not surprise you: Wall Street is making a ton of money. Actually, it had its 5th best start of all time, doubling its profits from last year. In 2012 alone, the securities ... More >>

State Senator Shirley Huntley Tells Crowd She Will Be Arrested on Monday

At 11am this morning, the State Senator representing the Jamaica, Queens area called an emergency press conference at her home in the neighborhood. There, Shirley L. Huntley told the crowd that she expects to be arrested on Monday. Although she did not make clear what the charges against her would b ... More >>

The Power of New York City's Farmers' Markets

In a populist sense, a farmers' market is like the gastronomic version of a town hall; citizens come to barter with other citizens, trading locally grown strawberries instead of talking points. Every day of the week, you can find one of these fine establishments in almost every borough. It is a tren ... More >>

Oops! City Missed $24 Million in Cell Phone Antenna Taxes

The City Department of Finance didn't collect an estimated $24 million in cell phone antenna-related taxes because it didn't ID all the people collecting cash from antennas, Comptroller John Liu announced today. Yes, you read that correctly: because the Department of Finance didn't look at Departm ... More >>

Cuomo Might Call for Cuts in Tuesday's Budget Proposal

​Gov. Andrew Cuomo isn't releasing his 2012-2013 budget proposal until Tuesday, but early reports suggest more cuts are on their way, The Associated Press reports (via Wall Street Journal). Because Cuomo has to address a $2 billion shortfall -- and has promised no additional taxes -- this me ... More >>

New York City Public School Bureaucrats Need To Learn Their Math

​Those in charge of New York City schools may need to re-take some math classes.Thomas DiNapoli, the New York State comptroller, audited the Department of Education and found that the graduation rate for 2008 was between 62.9 percent and 63.6 percent. But the NYC Department of Education listed ... More >>

Wall Street Bonuses Down, But Nobody's Making Less

With profits higher than ever on Wall Street, executives are starting to shift their compensation packages away from bonuses and into higher salaries, State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli said in an annual report today. While Wall Street salaries were up by six percent in 2010, bonuses declined by 8 perc ... More >>

Andrew Cuomo Goes to Albany, Where Lobbyists Are Waiting

Silver Election Lining: Ego-Fueled Millionaire Candidates Went Down in Flames

​Those suffering the slings and arrows of Tuesday's election results should avoid the big map in the Times today showing a shower of nasty little red-colored and rightward-surging darts flowing across America. Each little arrow shows a Congressional district where the Party of No gained ground ... More >>

Tom DiNapoli's Appointment Logs: He's Just Too Nice a Guy

​Tom DiNapoli is too nice a guy. The state comptroller apparently can't say no to anyone who wants to meet with him, though he has a mixed record when it comes to delivering what his bellringers want. I've been reading half a foot of DiNapoli's appointment schedules from 2007 to now an ... More >>

Harry Wilson Gets Backing By Our Media Overlords

Wilson​All three New York City newspaper owners have endorsed GOP comptroller candidate Harry Wilson, who is also backed by our mogul mayor. The real Gang of Four hasn't caballed like this since the term limits extension of 2008 and the re-election of Bloomberg in 2009. Like term lim ... More >>

Andrew Cuomo and Black Voters -- The Key to his Father's Victory, Will They Help the Son?

​Having set the national stage for the Carl Paladino roll-out yesterday, with CNN citing the Times as their reason for interviewing him, the paper did a nosedive today on the Sienna and Marist polls that rebut the Quinnipiac numbers that were featured in a front page story the day before. Th ... More >>

NARAL's Endorsement of Eric Schneiderman: The Backstory

​NARAL New York just produced a video and hosted a press conference for Eric Schneiderman, the Democratic candidate for attorney general. NARAL has yet to even endorse Andrew Cuomo, the sitting attorney general who is running for governor. Yet it is governors who shape abortion policy; Ne ... More >>

Steve Rattner's Book, Overhaul: the Cuomo and Schumer Revelations

​Steve Rattner, the financier and Democratic fundraiser who served in 2009 as President Obama's car czar, takes some guarded shots at New York's political elite in his yet-to-be-released book, Overhaul. He paints himself as a victim in the ongoing Securities & Exchange Commission investigati ... More >>

Andrew Cuomo's Opportunity is Here: When Will He Endorse an A.G. Candidate?

​Andrew Cuomo will show us in the next few days if he has the balls to be a change agent as governor. His feud with Eliot Spitzer caught fire when Spitzer got stuck in neutral during Cuomo's 2006 primary race for attorney general against Mark Green, refusing to endorse Cuomo when it mattered. ... More >>

State Comptroller Will Audit MTA for Fradulent Overtime Payments

via the Daily News​The MTA is a bit of a mess lately with upcoming fare hikes, the Second Avenue subway hell-hole, people falling onto the tracks all the time, and, possibly, employees giving themselves overtime for no better reason than "It's Monday!" Now the transit company is really under a ... More >>

Al Sharpton Attacks Rush Limbaugh, the Last White Guy He Isn't In Bed With

​Thank God for Rush Limbaugh. So long as he's calling George Steinbrenner a "cracker" who "made a lot of African-Americans millionaires," there's still a white guy with power in America that Al Sharpton is free to attack. So yesterday, "Silent Al" found his voice and called Rush "repugnant." ... More >>

Bronx High School Blows $90,000; Owes $100,000

​Staffers at John F. Kennedy High School in the Bronx apparently nibbled away at more than $90,000 that students had raised at bake sales and fund-raisers, state Controller Thomas DiNapoli found. The Daily News asks, "Who stole the cookies from the cookie jar?" Those must have been some cookie ... More >>

David Paterson Shadow-Boxes Himself; Press Awards Him TKO

​The biggest joke in Albany these days is the supposed rehabilitation of David Paterson. The New York Post kicked it off with an editorial salute on Thursday, June 17. By Monday, the Associated Press was posting a profile-in-courage hurrah, calling him "a bit of a hero in a time that despera ... More >>

Andrew Cuomo's Pledge Proving Tricky for Fellow Dems

By Gavin Aronsen Andrew Cuomo, New York's likely next governor, has made it known that fellow Democratic office seekers should sign onto a single-page pledge to reform Albany if they expect to win his endorsement for this fall's election. But only two of his hopeful AG successors, Nassau County DA ... More >>

Is John Liu Really Ready for All the Attention?

Doesn't John Liu, the city's youngest comptroller in nearly four decades, often appear not-ready-for-prime-time? After previous befuddling behavior, Liu took to the podium at the recent state Democratic convention to put state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli's name in nomination, an odd speaker selection ... More >>

Andrew Cuomo's Biggest Rival Won't Be the G.O.P.

It's Shelly Silver and the old-school Dems in his race to Governor

Adolfo Carrion Reminds Us Why He's Not the Latino NY Needs for Statewide Office

No, gracias​The wrong Carrion nominated himself for lieutenant governor in this morning's Daily News. Think of Gladys Carrion, the celebrated commissioner of the New York State Office of Children & Family Services, or a host of other prominent Latinos before Adolfo Carrion, the ex-Bronx boro ... More >>

Steve Rattner "Unethical" Say Quadrangle and Cuomo

​A pair of New York City political powerhouses took major public hits today in Andrew Cuomo's latest round of sanctions in his pension fund fraud investigation. The biggest is Steve Rattner, the ex-Times reporter who counts Mike Bloomberg and Arthur Sulzberger Jr. among his close pals. Here's ... More >>

Thomas DiNapoli, State Comptroller: Tax Take Down, Wall Street Bonuses Up, Pension Fund Healthier

​State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli reports that New York sales tax revenue went down last year by 5.9 percent versus 2008. And city sales tax collection declined even in the spender's paradise of New York City, by the same percentage. (It was worse elsewhere: in the Lower Hudson Valley collect ... More >>

Albany Special Sessions Grow Increasingly Less Special

​We know this stretches the definition of news, but the Albany special sessions haven't accomplished much in the way of deficit reduction. Sheldon Silver informs us the hard-working assembly has been churning out bills, including one inspired by the sad case of Leandra Rosado that will make it ... More >>

Times: Thompson's Investments Not Paying Off

The Times finds that the city's pension fund has "consistently lagged behind many of its public pension peers" under Comptroller (and mayoral candidate) Bill Thompson. For the past seven years, four of five city pension funds earned less than the 4.5 percent median annual return for large public pe ... More >>

Comptroller: Inmates Received Unemployment Benefits in Prison

​Well, they ain't working, so it's no surprise 11 inmates in New York state prisons filed for unemployment benefits. The surprise is that they got them, a state comptroller's audit reveals. "Crime should not pay," says comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, "but these prisoners figured out a way to game ... More >>

New York State, U.S. Governments Honor Trent Reznor for Helping Sick, Uninsured Man

While the state senate isn't getting much done, at least some state officials doing their jobs, including writing letters of commendation to Trent Reznor. The Nine Inch Nails auteur has been very active in the fight to get relief for 27-year-old severe cardiomyopathy sufferer Eric De La Cruz of Ne ... More >>

State Pension Fund Loses 26.3 Percent of Value in a Year

Considering how big New York State's pension obligations are, it was a cause for concern when the pension fund started to lose value as the market tumbled, dropping about 20 percent between April and October 2008. So in March the state started investing more in private equity markets -- which, as At ... More >>

Barrett: Dems Discuss Restricting Bloomberg's School Control

Assembly Democrats discussed mayoral school control for about four and a half hours yesterday, and virtually none of the dozens of members who spoke during the closed party conference supported continuing Bloomberg's control of city schools in its present form.    Speaker Shelly Silve ... More >>

City Money Made EZ: Yassky Web Site Offers Answers

Here's an early and useful dividend from the four-way race for the Democratic nomination for city comptroller: Candidate David Yassky, the Brooklyn city councilman who's been eager for an electoral promotion for several years now, today released his own Web site of city budget info. Yassky calls his ... More >>

DiNapoli Bans Placement Agents from Touching Pension Fund

In the current environment, it makes sense that comptroller Thomas DiNapoli would want to be as squeaky-clean as possible. He was the first statewide official to release his tax returns this year. And now, as the pension fund scandal under former comptroller Alan Hevesi unravels and the papers call ... More >>

Sick Senator Arrives to Push Budget Through Senate

Having cleared the assembly, the budget is getting kicked around the state senate as we write; Democratic senator Ruth Hassell-Thompson (above) rose from her sickbed, having been hospitalized for pneumonia, and entered the chamber to applause and to shore up her party's bare majority. The fiscally ... More >>

$9 Billion in Unclaimed State Funds Available

Gov Sticks Up for O'Byrne, Gay Pols for Term Limits, Goldberg for Powell at Pride Dinner

NYC RFD: In This Week's Queens Gazette

State Comptroller: MTA Fucked; You, Too

Daily Blog: Shock and awe; you just lost at Monopoly; Al Jazeera talks to a Jewish banker

Too Smart by Half

How Spitzer rigged the build-up to the war with the assembly

Smiling Assassins

Law & Disorder

EMERGENCY

Let the games begin

The Democrats' bash

Minority report

Looking up

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