Comptroller
New York City
New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer has spent his public service career fighting for New York’s middle class, strengthening the City’s fiscal health and championing good government. The New York Times described Mr. Stringer as a public servant “committed to the principles of good government” and “a strong voice for civil rights and marriage equality, a defender of immigrants and the poor.”
Mr. Stringer was elected to the New York State Assembly in 1992, representing Manhattan’s West Side for 13 years, and won election in 2005 as Manhattan Borough President. He was elected Comptroller on November 5, 2013.
ACCOUNTABILITY AND OPPORTUNITY
As investment advisor, custodian and trustee of the City’s five pension funds, Mr. Stringer implemented a six-point ethics reform package for the administration of the City’s $160 billion public pension system. This groundbreaking effort includes a ban on placement agents, who have repeatedly been embroiled in pay-to-play scandals in previous administrations. He appointed the City’s first-ever Chief Diversity Officer, to increase participation of Minority and Women-Owned Businesses seeking to do business with the City and diversify corporate management, workforces and boards.
GROWING THE VALUE OF PENSION FUNDS
Mr. Stringer has launched key initiatives to protect and grow New Yorkers’ pension dollars, and to increase the overall value of the City’s pension funds. He has enhanced integrity and professionalism in fund management and worked to achieve strong, consistent returns by calling for more comprehensive assessment and diversification of pension investments.
CREATING JOBS AND BUILDING ONRAMPS OF OPPORTUNITY
Mr. Stringer has forged and led coalitions to create economic opportunity for New York’s middle class and those striving to get there. As Manhattan Borough President, he worked with Columbia, Fordham and New York Universities to help their campuses to grow and create thousands of new jobs while protecting the essential character of surrounding neighborhoods. He has also launched initiatives to boost the City’s burgeoning tech economy and its ability to create entry-level middle class jobs, including a new financial aid program to encourage engineers to build their businesses in the Empire State. As a result, New York is now seeking to expand broadband connectivity citywide and upgrade computer science education in public schools.
OPEN GOVERNMENT AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
The New York Times wrote that Mr. Stringer has a “sterling reputation as a catalyst for reform,” citing his record as a champion of open government and community engagement. He implemented sweeping reforms in the State Legislature—building a coalition to end empty seat voting in the Assembly—and to the appointment process for Manhattan Community Boards—ending patronage and launching a groundbreaking land use fellowship program. His initiatives to promote greater transparency in the budget process have given New Yorkers a stronger voice in how government spends their tax dollars.
EQUAL RIGHTS FOR ALL
A longtime champion of equal rights for all New Yorkers, Mr. Stringer has fought hard for immigrant rights, speaking out on behalf of the DREAM Act and publishing the City’s first-ever Immigrant Rights and Services Manual—in English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean and Russian. He was one of the first co-sponsors of the marriage equality bill in the State Assembly and has been an outspoken supporter of the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA) since it was first introduced in 2003. In addition, Mr. Stringer fought for and won passage of landmark legislation protecting the victims of domestic violence.
PROTECTING EVERY TAXPAYER DOLLAR
As Comptroller, Mr. Stringer has used his audit power to investigate school overcrowding and the New York City Housing Authority. He created a Sandy oversight unit to monitor how federal disaster relief and recovery dollars are being used to rebuild neighborhoods and make New York a more sustainable city. His ClaimStat program—a data-driven analysis of the thousands of legal claims filed against the City each year—is designed to save tax dollars by identifying troubling trends across all City agencies before they lead to multi-million dollar settlements.
ADVOCACY THAT GETS RESULTS
A longtime advocate of community-driven planning and environmental justice, Comptroller Stringer authored an amicus brief to the New York Court of Appeals in a case in which the Court ruled that local communities had a right to ban fracking under their zoning code. Earlier this year, Comptroller Stringer’s report on arts education in NYC public schools revealed that 28 percent of schools had no fulltime, certified arts teachers, with the biggest gaps being felt in New York’s poorest neighborhoods. The report led to a restoration of $23 million in funding for students throughout the five boroughs.
Scott M. Stringer was born and raised in Washington Heights, where he attended local public schools and graduated from John Jay College of Criminal Justice. He and his wife, Elyse, live with their two sons, Maxwell and Miles, on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.