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JUNE 10, 2021 | The Jewish Home OCTOBER 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home
Bringing Her Experience to the City TJH Speaks with Terri Liftin, Candidate for NYC Comptroller BY SUSAN SCHWAMM
Terri, when did you decide to run for New York City comptroller? I have various friends in my neighborhood, on East 67th in Manhattan, who are very involved in politics. One of my friends ran for city council and state assembly. Since last August, I had been fielding calls about the comptroller’s race and how desperate the city’s financial fiscal situation was, how it was going to get much worse in the coming years, and that it was really time to bring in someone, a professional. There is a need to bring someone in with a finance and asset management background, someone who would understand what it meant to be a fiduciary, and someone who would have the courage to speak up against some of the spending practices. It took me a while to fully appreciate that what I was being asked is whether I would run, and I finally made the decision over the Thanksgiving holiday to run for NYC comptroller. We officially announced my run in early January. So it’s been a crazy half a year
for you – crazier than most people’s, I guess. Can you tell readers what exactly the New York City comptroller does? Broadly speaking, the comptroller is the chief fiscal officer of New York City. There are a few primary responsibilities. Number one is that it’s a fiduciary to the city’s five pension funds. It’s the final say on all contracts with the city – the comptroller ensures that there’s integrity in those contracts. The comptroller has the authority, under the city charter, to audit every city agency every four years. The comptroller also dispenses with, and otherwise deals with, all litigation brought against the city and by the city. And then finally, the comptroller provides general oversight and counsel to the city, the mayor, and the city council on the budget. It sounds like somebody with your experience – and we’ll get to your experience in a few minutes –would be the perfect candidate for this position. Why do you think the comptroller position has become more of a
political position, as opposed to a position based on merit? I love that question because it’s something that I’ve been thinking about as well. When people ask me, I’m trying to make the point that the comptroller really shouldn’t be a political position. I do appreciate the fact that the person who should run for election needs to be independent and needs to be a check on the mayor and city council and spending. But I think, at its core, the office really should be held by a professional. In terms of why politicians generally end up with the position of comptroller, I would say, the answer is twofold. One, I think the hardest part of becoming a politician is your first run. And once you’re in office, you have the infrastructure you need to stay in office, and then to run for other offices. Now, for myself, because I have never been involved in politics, I’m finding a lack of infrastructure, constituency, and a fundraising support base does make it difficult for outsiders. If you’re already in political office, you have relationships with the press and other politicians. So it’s
easy to get noticed and covered and raise money and endorsements. And, two, some people say the comptroller’s office is a stepping stone for mayor, although, there haven’t been too many comptrollers that have been successful. I think the last one was Abe Beame.
Well, Scott Stringer is running for mayor now, so I guess he sees it as that stepping stone. That’s right. But we’ll see whether he gets there. Because of Scott running for mayor, I think it’s become a big question in this race. And it’s a fair question: How many of the candidates running for comptroller are running because they’re bumping up against term limits and they need another political job? And how many of them see it as a stepping stone to mayor? Political ambition is not an attractive quality, I have to tell you. Wanting to do the job because you want to do service for New York City – that’s what it should be about. You bring a lot of experience to
