Issues

Why I Am Running

I am running for State Comptroller because New York State government has failed us.

There is no other way to put it.

Our elected leaders have driven this state to the brink of insolvency, and we are all paying a price for it. It is time for a tough, independent businessperson – not a politician – to force the tough choices that our state needs to get back on track.

Our state is marching toward insolvency because our elected leaders in Albany continue to ratchet up spending to placate special interests. New Yorkers bear the highest state and local tax burden in the nation, so it is no wonder that very few businesses (particularly outside of financial services) decide to move here to create jobs. Too many businesses already here decide to leave for more business-friendly locales. Too many of our fellow New Yorkers choose to move and commute from neighboring states for tax reasons or move to other states with better job prospects.

The net result is that we have an ever-dwindling tax base supporting an ever-increasing state government – an unsustainable dynamic that will eventually tip over with catastrophic results (see “California, State of”).

While this state of decline has been true for some time, the current economic crisis served as the last straw for me. We should be facing up to this crisis, making tough choices to right-size our government to make New York an attractive place in which to live and do business again. Instead, the folks in Albany keep increasing spending and feel they can pay for it by just increasing taxes and fees on overburdened, hard-working people. New York, the land of opportunity to which my mother and my father’s parents moved from Greece, is slowly dying. And I think we need a fundamental restructuring of this state’s fiscal approach, if we are to have any hope of New York providing the same opportunities for our children as it has for me and so many others.

I believe the Comptroller’s office is the best position from which to attack this culture of overspending. In addition to managing the state pension fund, the Comptroller has the power to audit every dollar of government spending in New York – the state budget, every municipality and school district and every one of the 800-plus (no one knows the full list because no one keeps track – hard to believe but true) authorities like the MTA and the Port Authority. Government takes well over $250 billion of taxes and fees out of New Yorkers’ pockets, and I intend to cut through that out-of-control spending in a way that no Comptroller has done in decades.

Obviously this aggressive approach toward spending will invite attacks from many quarters. Why would I want to put myself through that?

Because I believe the decline our state is suffering is a result of a series of bad choices – bad decisions, weak leadership and an inability to focus on the long-term at the expense of short-term demands by special interests. In the same way, the rejuvenation of New York State can be a choice – if we have leaders willing to make those tough choices.

I have seen this dynamic play out many times in troubled companies with which I have worked. Companies left for dead, or bankrupt, could be rejuvenated with new leadership and a focus on core products or services. And we have seen it play out in New York City – recall that the pundits deemed the Big Apple “ungovernable” before strong leaders proved them wrong.

I am a professional, not a politician. And that’s how I plan to approach the job of comptroller, applying the same skills I developed in the private sector to our state government.

If I am fortunate enough to be hired by the public this November, I’ll do the job you hired me to do because that’s the only way I know how to work. I am confident that the public’s disgust with Albany will provide a receptive audience and support for the tough choices we need to make.

I believe we can do better. And I believe, if we want our children to have the same opportunities that were available to us, we have to do better.

We can take our government back this year and begin turning this state around. I will be working on this campaign full-time for the duration. I will be traveling around the state, spreading this message of fiscal discipline at every available opportunity. I would greatly appreciate your support in this mission.

Thank you.