As the screening panel starts interviewing comptroller candidates in order to pick the five people they’ll recommend to the legislature for the position, here are a few predictions about who might make the cut:
Bill Cunningham, political consultant and former deputy mayor
Richard Brodsky
Bill Mulrow
Tom Dinapoli
Martha Stark
Joe Morelle
Says we may need to wait “for white smoke” to know when there is a winner.
Ryan Karben, lawyer, consultant and former Assemblyman
Tom DiNapoli
Andrew Eristoff
Dave Hancox
Bill Mulrow
Marsha Stark
Predicted winner: DiNapoli
Edward-Isaac Dovere, Editor of City Hall magazine
Martha Stark
Tom DiNapoli
Richard Brodsky
William Mulrow
Alphonse Fletcher
Frank Morano, outspoken Independence Party member
Tom DiNapoli
Bill Mulrow
Richard Brodsky
Joe Morelle
Martha Stark
“I think DiNapoli gets it in the end.”
A junior assembly member
Bill Mulrow
Tom Dinapoli
Joe Morelle
Andrew Eristoff
Philip Latessa
A Democratic operative not associated with any candidate
Martha Stark
Bill Mulrow
Tom DiNapoli
Richard Brodsky
Joseph Morelle
Next comptroller: Morelle
An aide to a city official
Bill Mulrow
Tom Dinapoli
Howard Weitzman
Alphonse Fletcher
Philip LaTessa
A knowledgeable Brooklyn Democrat
“If Eliot Spitzer gets behind Martha Stark, it’s hers.”
A Brooklyn-based journalist with a twisted sense of humor
Thomas E. Dewey. Dewey’s record as a fearless prosecutor and reform-minded governor will match well with the “new Albany” that Eliot Spitzer is trying
to bring into being, while his reputation as a “wise old man” of New York politics is a nod to tradition. Since he’s a Republican, albeit a liberal one, his appointment will strike a blow for bipartisanship, yet he can’t beseen as threat to Spitzer’s future ambitions, seeing as he’s been dead since 1971. Ask yourself–would a dead Dewey really be any less dynamic than some
of these stiffs they’re considering?
Your predictions?
Update: The financial disclosure statements from the candidates are here.
– Azi Paybarah
