News
Nov 01, 2010
State Comptroller
Wilson has proven he can make a difference
In this year’s race for state comptroller, New Yorkers are fortunate to have one of the strongest candidates for this specific job the state has seen in decades.
Harry Wilson, the Republican candidate, brings a distinguished career of working for top Wall Street investment firms with a focus on restructuring struggling companies. He took his talents to Washington to work on a bipartisan automotive industry task force, and was the person who successfully guided General Motors through a bankruptcy restructuring.
With Wilson we see a man striking positive qualities. First and foremost, he has the skill and intelligence to oversee the state’s troubled finances, and the experience to run the state’s pension fund.
It’s also worth noting that it’s likely the winner of this race will be working opposite a Democratic governor, which would provide a nice check on that office if a Republican was the comptroller.
Democrat Thomas DiNapoli was given this job four years ago when Alan Hevesi resigned in disgrace. DiNapoli, who had served as an Assemblyman held his own during his tenure, but the truth is he was not the qualified person to take over the job then and he is not today, either.
The Citizen endorses Harry Wilson for state comptroller.
Oct 31, 2010
ALBANY - Democrat Andrew Cuomo still holds a commanding lead in the governor’s race, but the contests for attorney general and controller are up in the air heading into Tuesday’s elections, a new poll shows.
Republican controller candidate Harry Wilson has closed a 17-point gap from two weeks ago to draw even with incumbent Democrat Thomas DiNapoli, the Siena College poll released Sunday morning shows. Each now has 44% of the vote.
“It’s clear momentum is on Wilson’s side,” said Siena poll spokesman Steve Greenberg.
Oct 21, 2010
In the hyper-competitive and cutthroat world of Wall Street, Harry Wilson was a star.
In a meteoric 15-year career, he leapfrogged from one prestigious firm to another — Goldman Sachs, Blackstone Group and Silver Point Capital — earning more than $20 million and admiration from the industry’s power players.
“I would say that Harry was one of the top two or three people that came through Blackstone at his level,” said Bret D. Pearlman, a former Blackstone senior executive who spent 15 years at the firm and helped hire Mr. Wilson when he graduated from Harvard Business School. “He combined smarts with a tireless work ethic and had insights well beyond his years.”
Mr. Wilson specialized in restructuring troubled companies, and last year, with the financial crisis still reverberating, he set his sights on rescuing another floundering institution: New York State.
After leaving the financial world at 36and completing a much-praised turn on President Obama’s auto-industry task force, he decided to run for state comptroller, New York’s chief financial officer.
In dire times, he believed, voters would choose a financial professional to manage the state’s finances.
Mr. Wilson, the Republican candidate, who is financing much of the race himself, said that he intended to turn the comptroller’s office from what he has described as a backwater of state government into a powerful post that will play a leading role in cutting taxes and spending. He has been endorsed by The New York Times, The New York Daily News and The New York Post, but trails in polls.
While Mr. Wilson, who is 38, has boasted of his credentials as a financier, Thomas P. DiNapoli, the Democratic incumbent, has used those credentials to bludgeon him. He has painted Mr. Wilson as an out-of-touch hedge fund tycoon whose “Wall Street values” make him unsuitable for public office. In their only televised debate, Mr. DiNapoli cited “Wall Street” four times in a one-minute opening statement.
Even though Mr. Wilson calls Mr. DiNapoli’s attacks unfair, they have at times forced him to edge away from citing his own career. In a recent advertisement, he introduced himself as “a fiscal expert,” a clunky phrase that reduced his glittering résumé to a euphemism.
He has fought back, dismissing Mr. DiNapoli as a financial novice and seeking to link him to his predecessor, Alan G. Hevesi, who resigned in disgrace in 2007, by bringing up Mr. DiNapoli’s meetings with investment placement agents soon after taking office.
Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo cleared Mr. DiNapoli of any wrongdoing the same day that Mr. Hevesi pleaded guilty two weeks ago to taking part in a sprawling corruption scheme involving the public pension fund.
But Mr. Wilson, more wonk than firebrand, has struggled to gain traction, with a poll this week showing that most voters still were not familiar with him.
“He hasn’t succeeded in breaking through the clutter for the public to even figure out who he is,” said Scott Levenson of the Advance Group, a political consulting firm.
In white papers and policy reports, Mr. Wilson has outlined bold plans to revamp the comptroller’s office, winning praise from economists and pension experts. He wants to drastically expand the office’s audit function, throw out traditional accounting practices for public pensions that he says distort performance and lower the assumed rate of return on the fund’s investments.
Mr. Wilson’s campaign has money — $2.6 million on hand, compared with $1.4 million for Mr. DiNapoli, according to the most recent disclosure reports — and Mr. Wilson said he planned to increase spending in the final days of the campaign. Since January, Mr. Wilson has lent his campaign at least $2.75 million.
Although Mr. Wilson has been interested in politics all his life, his first taste of political campaigning has left him exasperated with the no-holds-barred tactics of a statewide race.
“Whether it’s accurate or not, whether it’s telling or not, he’s going to try to distort everything I’ve ever done in my life,” Mr. Wilson said of his opponent in a recent interview.
Mr. Wilson’s ascent follows an American archetype: the son of working-class parents; the first in his family to go to college; a self-made millionaire.
He traces his values not to Wall Street, but 200 miles north, to Johnstown, N.Y. a city of tanneries and textile mills, where he grew up watching his father work double shifts as a bartender and his mother, a Greek immigrant, fret over money.
The Wilsons’ life revolved around the Rainbow, a Main Street restaurant owned by Mr. Wilson’s uncle, Pete, where his father worked and where Harry helped bus tables and wash dishes through high school. The Rainbow also doubled as the clubhouse for the localRepublican Party, offering Mr. Wilson an early exposure to conservative politics.
From Johnstown, he went to Harvard, and then to Goldman Sachs, where he worked in the prestigious investment-banking-analyst program. He moved on to Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, a New York private-equity firm, before enrolling at Harvard Business School.
His business school classmates were impressed by his intelligence and exhausted by his appetite for endless study sessions. When his classmates gathered for goodbyes and toasts on the final day, Paul Lehman, a class officer, stood up to salute him.
Mr. Lehman held up a $100 check he had written on the spot, made out to “Harry Wilson for President.” The room rang with applause.
Despite his interest in running for office, Mr. Wilson’s experience growing up in a family that worried about its budget made him determined to earn a lot of money before entering government.
“If I was going to go into public life, I was going to build enough of a nest egg to take care of my family first,” said Mr. Wilson, who still looks the part of an investment banker, sporting Ferragamo ties and a Timex Ironman watch — both de rigueur Wall Street accessories.
After a stint at Blackstone Group, the world’s largest private-equity firm, where he worked on a team that pushed the firm into distressed-debt investing, he left to join Edward A. Mule, a mentor from Goldman Sachs. Mr. Mule was starting his own hedge fund, Silver Point, where Mr. Wilson went on to earn more than $20 million, according to documents released by his campaign. He left Silver Point in 2008 because he wanted to spend more time with his three young daughters (he now has four) and, he said, “I felt I was insufficiently giving back.”
He has maintained close ties to the financial elite, including Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who has endorsed him.
In January 2009, Mr. Wilson’s first foray into public life began with a blind e-mail offering his expertise to Steven Rattner, the high-profile financier then gearing up to lead the White House’s efforts to overhaul the auto industry.
Although Mr. Rattner had never heard of Mr. Wilson, he was impressed with his credentials and quickly brought him into the team. Mr. Wilson went to Detroit, where he worked grueling hours to restructure General Motors.
While Mr. Wilson’s highly praised performance earned him job offers he called “far more lucrative” than the comptroller’s office, he became fixed on the idea of helping to solve New York’s fiscal problems.
But his crash course in bare-knuckle New York politics — the taunts of “Hedge Fund Harry” and “Don Juan of Wall Street,” the false rumors that he was fired from his last job — has been disillusioning.
“I didn’t appreciate how broken this was until I was in it,” he said. “This is why good people don’t go into public life.”
Oct 21, 2010
Republican comptroller hopeful Harry Wilson today picked up the endorsement of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and the pro-business group Unshackle Upstate.
“Harry Wilson is an extremely impressive individual with the ideal qualifications to serve as our next state comptroller,” Giuliani said in a statement. “He understands how to make broken organizations work again, and there is no entity more broken right now than New York State government. I believe that the voters will recognize the enormous potential that Harry brings to the table, and they will elect him overwhelmingly in November. Harry Wilson has the skills to revolutionize the function of the New York State comptroller’s office to better serve the taxpayers.”
One of the more recent candidates Giuliani endorsed for statewide office, David Malpass, didn’t fare so well. He lost a close primary battle against former Rep. Joseph DioGuardi for the GOP line to challenge U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.
In its endorsement, Rochester-based Unshackle Upstate said Wilson, a former hedge-fund manager from Scarsdale, Westchester County, “has been one of the most refreshing we’ve heard from any candidate for office at any level of government in quite some time.”
Oct 17, 2010
Wilson’s talents and experience are superbly suited to the job
In the first public debate for state comptroller, the two candidates clarified the choice facing voters. Incumbent Thomas DiNapoli repeatedly characterized his opponent, Harry Wilson, as “a wizard of Wall Street.” The challenger disparaged Mr. DiNapoli as “a creature of Albany.”
For the job of investing the $125 billion state pension fund and auditing state spending, we’ll take the wizard.
From humble beginnings, Mr. Wilson became an academic star, earning Harvard degrees on scholarships, then making a fortune in finance. As the only Republican on President Barack Obama’s auto task force, Mr. Wilson played a key role in returning General Motors to profit.
Mr. Wilson, 38, has demonstrated a knack for fixing troubled companies by improving management practices and company culture. State agencies, Medicaid and other programs, and school districts would benefit from his expertise. Unlike typical Republican candidates, Mr. Wilson does not claim that tax cuts will solve our problems—he says that solving our problems would allow for tax cuts. He is no slave to political ideology.
Voters following the race should look past the name-calling, which plays on legitimate public antipathy toward Wall Street and Albany. Not all hedge fund partners are reckless swindlers destroying the economy. Not all Albany politicians are corrupt schemers bankrupting the state.
Mr. DiNapoli, appointed by Assembly colleagues to succeed disgraced comptroller Alan Hevesi in 2007, has been trying to do the right thing. His reforms—such as banning middlemen from arranging deals with the pension fund—have aimed to insulate his office from the kind of corruption that brought down his predecessor. Mr. DiNapoli initially rejected campaign contributions above $10,000, though he abandoned that limit when his fundraising faltered. And he has dutifully warned of risky budgeting by his former colleagues, despite supporting such practices as a legislator.
However, there is nothing in Mr. DiNapoli’s background to suggest he is cut out to be comptroller. Mr. Wilson’s talents and experience, in contrast, are superbly suited to the job. His financial acumen would let him lead rather than be steered by the staff that manages the pension fund.
Mr. DiNapoli is fond of warning that “Hedge Fund Harry” would hand the pension fund to his “Wall Street buddies,” but in fact Mr. Wilson proposes to do the opposite—to move assets into fixed-income and low-cost index funds over time. It is Mr. DiNapoli who favors the riskier strategies that enrich financial firms. His warnings about Mr. Wilson are disingenuous and hypocritical.
Mr. Wilson promises to be a greater check on Albany’s fiscal abuses than past comptrollers have been. He would refuse to sign off on imprudent borrowing and other legerdemain that lawmakers use to disguise dishonest budgeting. Critics say comptrollers lack such power, but we’re eager to see what Mr. Wilson can do.
Harry Wilson has the courage, talent and independence to invest responsibly, and the skill to excel at the other elements of the job. We strongly endorse him for state comptroller.
Oct 17, 2010
New York needs a controller who knows what he’s doing.
New York needs a controller who can rescue the office from the hash made of it by the corrupt Alan Hevesi and the underqualified Tom DiNapoli.
New York needs a controller who can be a force for reinventing state government, in the process lifting dead weight from taxpayers’ shoulders.
Give the job to Harry Wilson. Superbly qualified, and brimming with cogent, ambitious plans, Wilson is by far the best choice for these times.
Charged with safely growing New York’s $125 billion pension fund, the next controller must have the ins and outs of money management down cold. Wilson fits the bill perfectly, having prospered at four of the world’s smartest investment houses.
Charged with rescuing New York from insolvency as the state’s chief fiscal officer, the next controller must lead the way toward streamlining Albany. Wilson proved his turnaround skills in helping to run the Obama administration task force that rescued the U.S. auto industry.
Charged with ferreting out waste as chief auditor, the next controller must follow the money and report back without fear or favor. On this score, Wilson is the ultimate Capitol outsider: a self-made man with zero ties to the corrupt old guard.
Newcomer to politics that he is, Wilson would apply fresh, astute ideas to banish the same-old, same-old ways of doing business.
Most importantly, his strategy for serving as sole trustee of the pension fund is dead-on right.
He would shock Albany - and New Yorkers at large - by presenting a truthful accounting of the retirement system’s costs, along with the means to meet the expenses without raising taxes.
He would shift investments away from the fantasy of scoring outsized returns on risky bets, a move that would save hundreds of millions of dollars that flow to private advisers at little or no gain to the retirement system.
He would establish an independent board to scrutinize the wisdom and propriety of handing pension money over to anyone.
He would document why New York must shift to providing 401(k)-style retirement savings accounts to newly hired workers.
Wilson, a Republican, is challenging DiNapoli, a Democrat. The winner will serve beside the incoming governor, presumably Andrew Cuomo. Most tellingly, Cuomo has declined to endorse fellow Democrat DiNapoli.
To do so would be to severely undercut Cuomo’s central thrust - that he will be the leader who finally defeats the Albany special interests to usher in a new day of taxpayer-friendly, merit-based governing.
Clearly, Cuomo knows that DiNapoli was ill-prepared to serve when pals in the Assembly appointed him to serve out Hevesi’s term after Hevesi was revealed to be a crook.
DiNapoli had one qualification: He had affably bided his time as a member of the Assembly for nine terms. He had never managed so much as a mom-and-pop store - nor did he have the slightest bit of financial experience.
You wouldn’t have hired DiNapoli to handle a dime of your retirement savings, let alone $125 billion.
And you still wouldn’t, because his performance fell beneath low expectations.
As but one example: DiNapoli’s returns on pension investments have lagged behind those of other large public retirement systems, costing the fund hundreds of millions of dollars.
Wilson is not just an alternative. He’s an excellent alternative. So who is the guy?
The son of Greek immigrants, Wilson grew up in Johnstown, a city of 8,000 west of Albany. His roots are working-class. His father was a bartender; his mother operated a sewing machine.
President George H.W. Bush named Wilson a presidential scholar when Wilson was a senior in high school, a distinction earned by only 141 students that year. Subsequently, Wilson graduated from both Harvard College and Harvard Business School. Then he made his mark at the top ranks of New York’s financial industry.
In 2009, Wilson volunteered for the task force established by President Obama when General Motors and Chrysler verged on liquidations that would have thrown hundreds of thousands out of work and further pounded the economy.
The lone Republican in the group, Wilson was key to restructuring GM so the company is now competitive and will likely prove a profit-making investment for taxpayers. New Yorkers need him to do the same for this state.
Oct 16, 2010
Harry Wilson
New Yorkers will soon elect the first comptroller since Alan Hevesi disgraced the job. Almost four years ago, Mr. Hevesi was replaced by Thomas DiNapoli, who was picked by fellow Democrats in the State Legislature.
Mr. DiNapoli, who started with little experience or knowledge of finance, has been a worthy caretaker. New Yorkers, however, have a chance to choose someone who knows finance and is not beholden to the Democrats in control in Albany.
That person is the Republican candidate, Harry Wilson, who helped turn around General Motors last year.
Mr. DiNapoli has made some helpful changes in the comptroller’s office in an effort to shield the $125 billion pension fund from political influence. He has also repeatedly warned about problems in the state budget. But he adopted a questionable plan from the pension fund, and he has failed to push hard enough to create public campaign financing for the comptroller’s office.
It is rare for someone of Mr. Wilson’s talents and expertise to compete for one of the most important and least glamorous jobs in state politics.
Mr. Wilson went to Harvard Business School and worked for Goldman Sachs, the Blackstone Group and Silver Point Capital. Mr. DiNapoli tries to make that résumé sound tainted, but the investment and management skills exhibited with General Motors are just what are needed for New York’s financial and ethical blight.
Mr. Wilson promises to strengthen ethics rules, make better audits of state agencies and drastically reduce the $350 million a year in investment fees paid for the state’s pension fund.
Oct 06, 2010
The two candidates for state comptroller faced each other Monday in their first debate and the general consensus is that current Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli performed better than his Republican challenger, Harry Wilson. I beg to differ, at least on the issues.
The debate, which I watched before participating in an analysis show on the statewide television network anchored by NY1, featured Mr. DiNapoli’s relentless effort to portray Mr. Wilson as a greedy Wall Street wizard who had profited at the expense of middle class New Yorkers and would recklessly squander the state’s pension fund. Mr. Wilson spent his time characterizing his Democrat opponent as a product of the failed Albany political system.
I find this ironic because it is Mr. DiNapoli who has increased the percentage of the pension fund assets invested in private equity, hedge funds and real estate to more than 20%. It is Mr. Wilson who says he wants to lower the risk of the fund by reducing investments in these areas.
The issue was referenced only once the debate. The panel failed to follow-up and Mr. Wilson didn’t seize the opportunity to make the point. Also not explored sufficiently was Mr. Wilson’s support for a sixth, lower-cost pension tier for new state and local employees. With pension costs soaring, this is a common sense step. Mr. DiNapoli was not pressed on the issue and chose not to say where he stood.
Better explored were the differences between the candidates over the power the office. Mr. DiNapoli sees it as constitutionally limited to oversight of the pension fund, audits of state and local governments and an advisory role on the budget. Mr. Wilson claims he can revitalize the budget function by being the general of an army in charge of finding ways to reduce spending. Such a plan is untested, but given the situation in Albany, why not try it?
The experts who think Mr. DiNapoli won the debate are primarily political reporters. On the panel both The Wall Street Journal’s Jacob Gershman and I gave Mr. Wilson a big edge. Maybe that says something.
The next big development in the race will be the endorsements from newspapers, whose editorial writers understand the issues. That may be the real verdict on the debate.
By Greg David
Sep 28, 2010
If ever there was a time when New York needed an astute, tough-minded outsider to safeguard its cash—as opposed to a longtime insider beholden to Shelly Silver—this is it.
Republican Harry Wilson fits the bill to a tee, and today The Post enthusiastically endorses him for state comptroller.
New Yorkers rarely focus on this office, which acts as the state’s chief fiscal watchdog and sole trustee of its $130 billion pension fund. But state finances are imploding, and the economy—especially upstate—is in dire straits.
Albany needs a serious financial cop—and Wilson couldn’t have been better groomed for the task.
Reared in upstate Johnstown, the son of working-class immigrants, he holds an MBA from Harvard and has experience at several top financial firms. Best of all: He’s never held elected office.
His rival, by contrast, current Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, got his job in ‘07 when Assembly Speaker Silver tapped him to replace Alan Hevesi—a reward for DiNapoli’s 20 years of loyal service in the Legislature.
Could there be a clearer choice?
With Wilson, New York would get a true pro—with formal training and relevant, real-world experience.
And he understands the problem: Albany continues “to ratchet up spending to placate special interests,” he says. Thus, “New Yorkers bear the highest . . . tax burden in the nation,” which drives away businesses, jobs and revenue.
The result: “An ever-dwindling tax base supporting an ever-increasing state government—an unsustainable dynamic.”
As an outsider, Wilson would serve as an effective check on Silver (a cinch for re-election), the next Senate boss and the next governor—whoever that might be.
Yet, Wilson—who helped save GM as the only Republican on President Obama’s auto task force—can also be highly effective on a bipartisan basis.
To be sure, DiNapoli is hardly the worst of the lot in Albany. Indeed, he’s usefully warned of New York’s dire fiscal woes for years.
But, let’s face it: He’s too close to Silver and part of New York’s status quo.
Should Cuomo become gov, Wilson would be better able to work with the AG’s plan for fiscal reform—or stand up to him, and to Silver, should they continue down the current ruinous path.
New Yorkers who care about the state’s finances, economy—and their own pocketbooks—should back Wilson.
Sep 13, 2010
New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg (I) today endorsed nationally-recognized restructuring expert Harry J. Wilson (R-I-C) for New York State Comptroller at an endorsement news conference in City Hall Park in Manhattan, Mr. Wilson’s campaign announced. Mr. Wilson, 38, led the restructuring effort of General Motors last year for the Presidential Auto Task Force.
“Harry Wilson brings serious credentials to the race for state comptroller,” Mayor Bloomberg said. “He is one of the country’s best and brightest, and the state could significantly benefit from his restructuring skills. His highly-acclaimed work in turning around General Motors for President Obama’s Treasury Department also shows that Mr. Wilson is willing to look beyond partisan politics to serve the American public. I am pleased to offer him my endorsement today, my support over the next 50 days and my vote on November 2nd.”
Mr. Wilson grew up in upstate Johnstown, NY (Fulton County) and now lives in Westchester County with his wife and four children. He is the son and grandson of working class Greek immigrants and was the first person in his immediate family to go to college. He is a graduate of Harvard University and the Harvard Business School. After fifteen successful years at four highly distinguished firms - Goldman Sachs, Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, The Blackstone Group, and Silver Point Capital - Mr. Wilson volunteered for and was selected to serve on the President’s Auto Task Force. He was the only Republican to serve in its leadership team.
“Mayor Bloomberg brought to New York City government a no-nonsense approach that values accountability and performance over politics,” Mr. Wilson said. “I will serve as state comptroller with that same core philosophy because the challenges New York State is facing demand it. I am honored to have Mayor Bloomberg’s endorsement and support.”
Wilson: Capitol Confidential
Sep 03, 2010
The timing here is surely not coincidental, but it’s interesting nonetheless: GOP Comptroller Candidate Harry Wilson — hours before incumbent Dem Tom DiNapoli will announce the latest pension fund numbers and the expected return — is out with a report that predicts a dire future for the fund as well as New York State’s taxpayers, who are obligated by the state constitution to pay public sector pensions, regardless of how the fund does.
Wilson, a Wall Streeter who served on President Barack Obama’s task force to rescue General Motors, charges that the state’s fund is a “Ponzi scheme” that will implode as it becomes apparent in future years that it can’t spin off 8 percent annually, which is the current assumed rate of return (which DiNapoli is expected to lower during an 11 am news conference).
State Pension Fund Faces Shortfall, Candidate Says
Sep 02, 2010
NYT - Every year, New York State issues a report that depicts its pension fund at the peak of health — not a penny short of what it needs to pay retirees their benefits. In some years, the report even shows a little surplus.
But now a Republican candidate for state comptroller, Harry J. Wilson, says those rosy numbers are little more than an accounting illusion. In fact, the pension fund is papering over a shortfall in the tens of billions of dollars, says Mr. Wilson, who has an M.B.A. from Harvard.
Republicans want control of N.Y.’s government
Aug 31, 2010
BROADALBIN - Area Republicans heard from candidates urging them to support fellow Republicans in the polls and push to take back the Democratic-controlled state government at the annual Fulton County Republican Party picnic and rally at Mary Ann’s Restaurant on Sunday.
Organizers said about 100 people attended the picnic, where candidates for several seats lobbied for their support. Fulton County Republican Chairwoman Sue McNeil said all of the candidates will be expected to keep their promises and account for their actions.
Wilson presses DiNapoli for debate
Aug 27, 2010
Carl Paladino isn’t the only Republican candidate in New York anxious to debate his opponent.
Former hedge-fund manager and Scarsdale, Westchester County, resident Harry Wilson today pressed Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli to agree to a debate before the November election.
RE: Rising pension costs: That didn’t take long
Aug 23, 2010
Republican Comptroller candidate Harry Wilson, who is seeking to replace Democrat Tom DiNapoli in the job wasted no time in blasting his opponent for news that the state pension fund would likely lower its rate of return, meaning that municipalities, school districts and other entitities the following year will have to increase their pension contributions.
To be fair, other states have already looking at lowered pension fund return estimates from the 8 percent now used in New York to 7.5 percent or 7.75 percent.
Either way, here is Wilson’s statement:
Phillips Welcomes Harry Wilson to Spiedie Fest
Aug 18, 2010
From Phillips For Congress:
George Phillips, candidate for Congress in New York’s 22nd congressional district, will be hosting a booth at Spiedie Fest this year. George will welcome Harry Wilson, GOP nominee and candidate for Comptroller, on Friday August 6, 2010 at 3pm. Mr. Wilson will meet with and take questions from voters and the media. He will also discuss the role of Comptroller in New York State, his plans to reform the office and his campaign to unseat Democrat Thomas DiNapoli.
Harry Wilson Pension Concerns
Aug 16, 2010
(newschannel34.com) Republican candidate for New York State Comptroller, Harry Wilson says some Southern Tier residents are going to be socked with what he calls the DiNapoli tax. Wilson, who most recently served on the auto industry crisis federal task force team, was recently in Binghamton outlining his concerns.
Wilson says over the next six years the pension contributions of state and local governments will roughly triple and as a result the average New York household will see its share of pension contribution costs skyrocket by $1,300. Currently, the average is $500 and Wilson says they will increase to $1,800 per household. He says the reason is due to a secretive pension borrowing scheme to mask an under-performing pension fund, which state comptroller Tom DiNapoli is in charge of.
Gomez Stands With Harry Wilson Against $1,300 Property-Tax Increase
Aug 12, 2010
Hauppauge, NY – Local businessman John Gomez (left), Republican/Conservative candidate for New York’s 2nd congressional district, is seen here standing at a recent press conference with Harry Wilson, New York’s Republican candidate for Comptroller. The press conference was held to protest the “DiNapoli Tax,” a budgetary quick-fix that will increase Long Islanders’ property tax $1,300 over the next six years.
If We’re Both In Rochester, Let’s Debate, Wilson Says
Aug 11, 2010
Rochester is the hotbed for state comptroller’s race today as both Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli and his Republican challenger Harry Wilson are in town. To read more, click below.
Wilson Raises Off DiNapoli “Pop Quiz” Answers
Aug 05, 2010
(PoltickerNY) Harry Wilson is out with a fundraising email entitled “Back To School” that cites two tabloid stories that question Democratic Comptroller Tom DiNapoli’s financial acumen.
In the first, The Post tries to revive a pop quiz that they sprung on DiNapoli three days after he was named to the office by his Assembly colleagues. The reporter asked the Comptroller again what an inverted yield curve was—for the record, it’s a term for economic condiditions that can herald a recession—and he declined to answer.
Candidate for Comptroller Harry Wilson Meets with Orthodox Union Leadership
Aug 04, 2010
Harry Wilson, Republican nominee for New York State Comptroller, met today with leadership from the Orthodox Union (union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America), the nation’s largest Orthodox Jewish umbrella organization in Manhattan to discuss the community’s public policy priorities.
Jul 28, 2010
Two state comptroller race-related e-mails arrived in my in-box this morning within a 10-minute span.
The first, with the subject line “Now is the Time!” came from the Democratic incumbent, Tom DiNapoli. It’s a fundraising appeal, and it’s pretty straightforward:
Dear Friends,
There are 96 days to go until Election Day! In this short time, I will be hard at work traveling our great state, continuing to promote fiscal responsibility, accountability in government, and economic opportunity. I am eager to share my platform with New Yorkers, from Buffalo to Brookhaven. But, I need your help!”
As we gear up our field operations and our advertising efforts at DiNapoli 2010, it is crucial that we build resources. Please make a donation to the campaign today, to ensure that we can reach every voter in New York State. With your support, we will achieve victory this November and deliver the reform that New Yorkers deserve.
Best regards,
Tom DiNapoli
To read more of the news release, click here.
Comptroller Candidate Accuses DiNapoli of Pension Fund Abuse
Jul 27, 2010
Republican Harry J. Wilson showed an early indication Monday of the hard-hitting campaign for state comptroller he plans this year after calling incumbent Democrat Thomas J. DiNapoli’s management of the state pension fund “the largest Ponzi scheme in New York State history.” To read more of this Buffalo News story, click below.
Jul 15, 2010
On Monday Harry issued a detailed statement outlining the failures of the Wall Street Reform Bill. Instead of issuing threats, like that of unelected candidate, DiNapoli, Harry addressed the issue with real concerns that the bill will hurt an industry that serves as the main economic engine for both the city and the state.
Read the full story from Capital Tonight.
Jul 12, 2010
Comptroller candidate Harry Wilson, has unveiled ethical reforms to clean up the Comptroller’s office. To read an article about his ethics proposals, take a look below. Also, you can read the ethics white paper in its entirety here.
Wilson challenges DiNapoli to debate on pension
Jun 16, 2010
Republican comptroller candidate and Scarsdale, Westchester County, resident Harry Wilson this morning challenged incumbent Democrat Thomas DiNapoli to a debate on his handling of the state’s pension fund.
Comptroller Backflips on Pension Borrowing
Jun 15, 2010
State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli is trying some political acrobatics as he voices opposition to the tentative deal reached by state leaders last week to borrow billions of dollars from the state pension fund.
Watching The Watchmen
Jun 14, 2010
Republican state comptroller candidate Harry Wilson wants a no-holds- barred debate with incumbent Democrat Tom DiNapoli “in every statewide media market” through Election Day.
Controversial Pension Plan Could Sink State Controller Tom DiNapoli
Jun 14, 2010
Wilson, the GOP candidate, said borrowing from the pension fund to cover pension costs would be a “perverse situation where the controller is reversing his historical role of defending the pension fund at all costs.” He called the plan a “purely naked political attempt to raid the pension fund to cover up for [DiNapoli’s] performance shortfall.”
State Plan Makes Fund Both Borrower and Lender
Jun 12, 2010
ALBANY — Gov. David A. Paterson and legislative leaders have tentatively agreed to allow the state and municipalities to borrow nearly $6 billion to help them make their required annual payments to the state pension fund.
And, in classic budgetary sleight-of-hand, they will borrow the money to make the payments to the pension fund — from the same pension fund.
As word of the plan spread, some denounced it as a shell game and a blatant effort by state leaders to avoid making difficult decisions, like cutting government spending or reducing pension benefits.
“It’s a classic Albany example of kicking the can down the road,” said Harry Wilson, the Republican candidate for comptroller, who holds an M.B.A. from Harvard.
DiNapoli Gets Hit Twice
Jun 11, 2010
“Mr. DiNapoli took his recent flip-flops and acts of hypocrisy to new lows today, when he reversed his own pledge to limit campaign contributions. We have come to expect Mr. DiNapoli to deny his spendthrift 23- year record in a vain effort to pretend to be a reformer, but reversing a self-made pledge that is only a few months old is a new low, even for a career politician like Mr. DiNapoli.
A zebra can’t change its stripes and Mr. DiNapoli cannot fool voters into thinking he’s anything but a typical politician.”
Wilson: Bring It, DiNapoli
Jun 08, 2010
GOP State Comptroller hopeful Harry Wilson just threw down this gauntlet before incumbent Democrat Tom DiNapoli, challenging him to debates in every major media market across the state between now and Election Day:
“New York taxpayers have been badly burned by the current leadership in Albany and they need to hear what the two state comptroller candidates plan to do about it,” Mr. Wilson said. “Our taxpayers are supposed to have a chief fiscal watchdog overlooking state budgets, so how is it possible that we are in the shape we are in? Mr. DiNapoli probably doesn’t want to answer questions like that, but it his obligation to the voters of this state to make himself available to them.”
Wilson Says DiNapoli Is Using Fuzzy Math On Pension Fund
Jun 03, 2010
Republican comptroller candidate Harry Wilson is taking an opposing view of Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s announcement earlier this week that the state pension fund grew by nearly 26 percent in the past fiscal year.
Wilson, who won the GOP nomination unanimously on Tuesday, said the $133 billion fund is actually down for the past three years, after a 26.3 percent drop in the 2008-09 fiscal year. Wilson said DiNapoli has estimated an 8 percent return in the fund each year, but the fund has fallen short of those projections by $40 billion.
“DiNapoli is digging a hole not for himself, but for the State of New York and all of us taxpayers who are on the hook to bail out our pension fund when it can no longer afford to cover promised benefits to its more than one million retirees and beneficiaries,” Wilson said in a press release.
The fund’s losses has coincided with the declines on Wall Street in recent years, but benefited from the recent uptick in the stock market.
Wilson charged that DiNapoli has assumed more risk in the state’s portfolio “than is prudent.”
There was no immediate response from DiNapoli’s campaign.
GOP Nominates Harry Wilson for NY Comptroller
Jun 01, 2010
NEW YORK (AP) - New York’s Republican Party has nominated former hedge fund manager Harry Wilson to run for state comptroller against incumbent Democrat Thomas DiNapoli.
GOP State Convention Opens
Jun 01, 2010
Republicans have largely agreed on candidates for attorney general and comptroller. Harry Wilson, a hedge fund manager from Westchester County, is running unopposed against Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, and Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan is running for attorney general with only a nominal challenge from Onondaga County Comptroller Bob Antonacci.
“The choices that will be made over the next four years will be difficult, and it’s critically important to the progression of our state. And that’s why I think it’s incredibly important we get the right people in place,” said Wilson. “Certainly all the parties—Republicans, Democrats and Conservatives—have faced contentious primary processes before. ... And I think the (GOP) has shown an ability to unify around the standard-bearer after that—but certainly the sooner and more quickly that gets done, the easier it is to do.”
Conservative Party
May 28, 2010
In the races for attorney general, comptroller and governor, Conservatives seem pretty clear who their candidates will be: Dan Donovan, Harry Wilson and Rick Lazio.
Wilson Clinches GOP Nod
May 27, 2010
Wilson is the one bright spot for Republicans, who are warring over every other statewide slot on their ballot.
He’s the only candidate for whom state Conservative Party Chairman Mike Long and state GOP Chairman Ed Cox have been able to put aside their differences and join together to endorse.
May 21, 2010
Harry recently had another article written on his qualifications to become the next New York State Comptroller. Here’s an excerpt from the article:
“Wilson, a political newcomer, was in town Monday to receive the endorsement of Erie County Republicans but spent part of his day off the campaign trail at GM’s Town of Tonawanda engine plant.
‘GM went through a near-death experience last year,’ Wilson said after his visit to the plant. ‘That’s the experience New York State is going to face unless we bite the bullet now.’”
Tioga County GOP Endorses Wilson
May 12, 2010
‘The Tioga County Republican Committee today endorsed restructuring expert Harry J. Wilson (R) for New York State comptroller.
‘Harry Wilson has tremendous skills to bring to bear on New York’s State’s fiscal mess,” said Tioga County Republican Chairman Don Leonard. “His work revitalizing General Motors was nothing short of extraordinary. New York taxpayers need his restructuring expertise working for them.’
Harry Wilson: The Great GOP Hope
May 10, 2010
‘As Republican Comptroller candidate Harry Wilson sat answering questions at his campaign office in Manhattan, he strained to speak over an old air conditioner whining in the background. The walls of the small office were almost completely bare and the skeletal space contained few amenities beyond an odd desk or chairs. Despite the racket caused by the air conditioner, the place was brutally hot.’
‘At least in his campaign office, the former hedge fund manager does not look like the fat cat caricature that Comptroller Tom DiNapoli’s campaign would like to project on him.’
Orange County GOP Chairman Endorses Wilson
May 06, 2010
Recently Harry has received many endorsements from all over New York State. One endorsement this week came from Orange County Republican Chairman William DeProspo. In his endorsement of Harry, Mr. DeProspo said, “Harry Wilson stepped forward to help the federal government when it needed a top-notch restructuring expert to save General Motors; now he’s stepping forward to help New York State government work through a terrible fiscal crisis.”
DiNapoli’s Focus is on Sears, Not State Budget
May 03, 2010
In a Wall Street Journal article today, New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli voices his opinion on Sears’ CEO troubles. DiNapoli owns stock in the company, however, he is using his public position as a means to gain influence in a company that he benefits from when it does well. It has become clear that by publicly getting involved with Sears’ company business, DiNapoli is diverting his attention from the state budget to matters that benefit only his own wallet.
Wilson Receives Conservative Nod
Apr 22, 2010
At a meeting of the State Executive Committee of the New York State Conservative Party, a resolution was passed to recommend Harry Wilson for State Comptroller at the Spring Convention. Here is an excerpt from the article:
‘Chairman Mike Long noted that the leaders of the party were wholeheartedly on board with Mr. Wilson. Mr. Wilson brings a wealth of experience from the financial world, wit expertise in determine how to fix problems, particularly rooting out waste and inefficiencies Most voters focus on the top of the ticket, so it is important for voters to know that the comptroller candidate has the background necessary to manage the State’s assets,” said Long. “Harry Wilson will be able to draw on his experiences, especially from being able to negotiate with the members of the President’s Auto Task Force. As a fiscal conservative who believes in free markets, Harry wanted a say in how the auto bailout plan was administered. Harry Wilson was the right man then for that position and is the right man to be the sole trustee of New York’s retirement funds,” concluded Long.’
A Candidate Makes An Asset Of His Wall Street Past
Apr 19, 2010
ALBANY — Harry Wilson, a former hedge fund manager, has a novel idea for New Yorkers. Why not put a Wall Street veteran in the state comptroller’s office to oversee the $129.4 billion pension fund?
Certainly, the recent history of the comptroller’s office under career politicians has been undistinguished and dotted with corruption, scandal and resignations in disgrace.
Wilson Campaign Uses DiNapoli’s Report Against Him
Apr 05, 2010
You just knew this one was coming.
A Democrat called me in the wake of state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli’s report earlier this morning that accused the state of playing budget games and moving money around to make it harder to pinpoint the actual dollar amount of the deficit.
“How many of those budgets did Tom DiNapoli vote for when he was in the Assembly?” the indignant Dem demanded.
Long And Cox Call Temporary Truce For Wilson
Apr 01, 2010
State GOP Chairman Ed Cox and state Conservative Party Chairman Mike Long, who are warring over the governor’s race, put their differences aside today to unite behind the lone Republican state comptroller hopeful, Harry Wilson.
When I asked the chairs why Wilson is the only candidate they have been able to agree on, Wilson, who referred to his Democratic opponent, incumbent Tom DiNapoli, as “the appointed comptroller,” stepped up the microphone and quipped: “I’m that good.”
Bronx GOP Endorses Wilson
Mar 22, 2010
Bronx County Republican Chairman Joseph Savino today endorsed Harry J. Wilson for New York State comptroller.
“The experience and credentials Harry Wilson will bring to the comptroller’s office is a breath of fresh air,” said Savino. “We have a failure of leadership in Albany and Harry is exactly the kind of professional we need to overhaul state government. The Bronx Republican Party is proud to support him.”
An Interview With Harry Wilson
Mar 19, 2010
A veteran of the Obama administration’s auto task force doesn’t, on the face of it, seem the most likely candidate for comptroller in New York state – at least on the Republican side.
“So far, every free market guy has been skeptical when we start talking,” the candidate, Harry Wilson, tells me over lunch at a Greek restaurant in Midtown Manhattan. None of them, he says, have still been skeptical when he is done talking.
GOP Comptroller Candidate Attacks Ravitch Deficit Plan
Mar 12, 2010
Republican Harry J. Wilson hasn’t generated a whole lot of attention in his young campaign for state comptroller, but Lt.Gov. Richard Ravitch’s new deficit reduction plan, which hinges on $6 billion worth of borrowing, now grants him the bulliest of pulpits to criticize what he calls Albany’s overspending ways.
Red Tide 2010?
Feb 21, 2010
By the end of 2008, the Republican Party seemed to be in disarray. That year, Democrats took control of the New York State Senate for the first time in more than four decades. Barack Obama was elected President, and his party had bolstered its majority in Congress. For a moment, anything was possible for the Democrats.
Then 2009 happened.