Before Tom DiNapoli left City Hall, I asked him, as a statewide Democratic official, how he felt about the fact that almost all the campaigns this year have the candidate vowing to “change” Albany.
DiNapoli is the state comptroller, and a Democrat—so his party is running the show in Albany.
And that’s the problem.
With the late budget, criminal scandals, ethical scandals and a lame duck governor, it is not, as a candidate, a good thing to be linked to.
Signals from the soon-to-announce Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo imply that he’ll make changing Albany a top priority, and a major theme in the campaign. (Republicans are vowing the same thing.) Even the Democratic candidates running for attorney general are debating whether serving in Albany should even count as an adequate qualification.
I asked DiNapoli if the “change” theme impacts negatively on the people, like him, who are currently in Albany.
“It depends on what their record is,” said DiNapoli. “Changing for the better is what my career has been about.”
DiNapoli went on to say, “President Obama ran on change. I think you’ll see all candidates using the word ‘change’ because there’s an anxiety out there and people don’t feel secure about the future. I think the challenge for voters and the citizens is to really analyze what is the change people are proposing and will it make their lives better.”
