Scott Stringer’s first year in office showed he was able to speak up and get things done, but he didn’t seem to be a forward thinker. Though he still gains some respect for always being honest.
“His public statements have been measured,” said Kathryn Wylde, president of the Partnership for New York City. “This means a lot to the New York business community, which is used to politicians who will sacrifice truth for a headline.”
Despite other political figures that were dragged into the issue, Mr. Stringer has sidestepped various PR landmines, avoiding the tension between Mayor Bill de Blasio and NYPD.
“In the Madisonian sense of checks and balances, the office of the comptroller often serves as the closest thing to a check on the mayor,” said Kenneth Sherrill, professor emeritus of political science at Hunter College.
But Mr. Stringer might have overplayed that role last August when he accused the mayor of rolling out his treasured prekindergarten expansion before the comptroller’s office had approved all the contracts, noting that one vendor once had an employee accused of possessing child pornography, and another had failed to screen workers for child-abuse allegations, according the Crain’s New York.
Since then the Stringer has had no meetings with the mayor, but he doesn’t seem much concerned about it.
“I don’t count the number of events I go to with the mayor,” he told Crains over coffee at a Chelsea diner. “I don’t think the public cares at all about that. They want to know that someone’s watching out for the fiscal health of the city.”
Only about half of New Yorkers support the job Mr. Stringer is doing, but the rest don’t know enough about him to create an opinion.
Mr. Stringer was also the first city official to call on Sheldon Silver to step down as Assembly speaker. But he did so in a press gaggle, overriding the speech he had just given about his first-year accomplishments and second-year priorities.
As the city charter mandates, he has audited municipal services, initiating 38 in 2014. Mr. Liu started about 90 audits in his first year, but Mr. Liu said that Mr. Stringer appears to have completed more.
The work has “improved people’s lives,” Mr. Stringer said, adding that the “creative tension” with the mayor is an important aspect of his job as an independent watchdog.
When he entered office he promised to boost returns, cut adviser fees and better manage risk in the five funds that compose the city’s pension system.
“He’s functioned like every other comptroller,” said John Murphy, a former executive director of the New York City Employee Retirement System and a critic of the city’s pension governance since resigning after a scandal in 2005.
Mr. Stringer has also signed off on a $17 million settlement for three wrongful-conviction claims, and is reportedly negotiating with the family of Eric Garner on its $75 million civil-rights claim against the city.
“He’s been aggressive in settling claims,” said Mr. Liu. “Settlements are a tricky issue. … Scott is carving his own path with regard to claim settlements. It seems like he’s on the right track, but time will tell.”
Carol Kellermann, executive director of the Citizens Budget Commission, praised Mr. Stringer’s insistence that City Hall shift hundreds of millions of dollars of teachers’ pay to the current budget.
“It may seem dry to the outside world,” Carol Kellerman, executive directior of the Citizens Budget Commission, said. “But from the point of view of doing the job that the comptroller is intended to do, I think he’s been excellent at that.”
The post Scott Stringer Has Growing Support But Can’t Seem to Stand Out appeared first on JP Updates.