How nice to see Gov. Spitzer standing shoulder to shoulder with state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli yester day to announce some reforms to New York’s pension-fund management.
What a difference a year of, um, political tumult (not to mention sub-basement public-approval ratings) makes.
(A Quinnipiac University poll yesterday marked another 10-point drop from October in the gov’s waning positives. That parallels a Siena Research Institute survey Monday that cited an 18-point fall since then. Just 27 percent of New Yorkers give Spitzer good marks for his job performance, Siena showed.)
To be honest, their plan for better oversight of the $150 billion pension fund is a bit premature. (More on that below.)
But consider that, last February Spitzer couldn’t possibly have been more dismissive of DiNapoli, blasting him as “thoroughly and totally unqualified for the job” – the product of “politics and cronyism.”
That broadside came after the governor lost a bitter fight with the Legislature over who should replace disgraced Comptroller Alan Hevesi, who had pled guilty to a felony.
But yesterday Spitzer insisted that he had “absolute confidence” in DiNapoli. So maybe he’s starting to realize that being governor doesn’t have to mean non-stop rancor, threats and to-the-death confrontation – 24/7.
Hey, it’s progress.
It was also progress, of sorts, that the two men were pushing ideas to safeguard the pension fund, of which the comptroller is the sole trustee.
With that much dough up for grabs (in Albany, of all places), you can bet someone’s jockeying for an undeserved piece of the action at any given moment.
Indeed, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is probing allegations that Hevesi’s friends, associates and family benefited from his control of the pension fund – via, for example, fees from investment firms seeking business with it.
So Spitzer and DiNapoli yesterday proposed steps to “improve efficiency, protect the pensions of 1 million government employees and help restore confidence in the governance of the fund.”
These include: a new audit committee, new standards for investments, a ban on campaign donations by staffers, appointment of a permanent inspector general to handle claims of ethical misconduct and boosting the state Insurance Department’s oversight.
Which sounds fine, as far as it goes.
Cuomo’s sleuths, meanwhile, are hard at work – and who knows what they’ll find?
So doesn’t it make sense to wait until he’s done, to see the nature of the malady, before prescribing medicine?
Unless, of course, officials want to be ready when he presents his case so they can say, “Not to worry, it was fixed long ago.” That may help ensure that the vault isn’t totally sealed to them forever . . .
Cuomo, for his part, said through an aide: “We agree that the comptroller’s office needs significant reforms and will comment on them at the end of our ongoing investigation concerning that office.”
For now, give Spitzer and DiNapoli the benefit of the doubt. Greater oversight of the fund is imperative. So is, for that matter, the gov’s display of détente.
As they say: Little steps for little feet.