City Comptroller William Thompson picked up a pair of newspaper endorsements today in his quest to become mayor.

El Diario and the Amsterdam News both announced that they are backing the Democratic candidate.

In endorsing Thompson, El Diario cites Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s “gross abuse of power on extending term limits.”

The Amsterdam News says of Thompson, “we need a man of the people, not a king, not the richest guy in town.”

This morning, Thompson delivered a speech on the economy at the Crain’s New York Business breakfast.

Today, Bloomberg is being recognized for his philanthropic efforts and is receiving the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy.

Caroline Kennedy is presenting the award to the mayor.

Source: NY1

The New York city comptroller, William C. Thompson Jr., is staking his mayoral campaign on his skills as a financial manager, which he says are exemplified by his supervision of the nation’s largest municipal pension system.

But a review of how the $80 billion system has performed since he took office shows it has consistently lagged behind many of its public pension peers even as the city tripled the number of money managers it uses and the fees that it pays those firms.

Over the last seven years, four of the five city pension funds performed below the median for similar funds around the country. In fact, more than two-thirds of big public pension funds did better than the city’s largest fund, the New York City Employees’ Retirement System, according to a widely used financial yardstick compiled by Wilshire Associates, an investment advisory firm.

“It’s consistently below average, and that’s not where you want to be,” said Edward A. H. Siedle, president of Benchmark Financial Services, a Florida firm that audits pension plans.

Source: NY Times Continue Reading This Article Here

Controller William Thompson is expected to fall short of a key fund-raising goal Thursday, costing him $1.5 million in public matching funds in his race for City Hall.

His campaign told election officials he had raised $251,836 in small donations from New Yorkers – just over the $250,000 minimum to qualify for six-to-one matching funds.

But the Campaign Finance Board is expected to disqualify some of those donations when it double-checks his forms, putting Thompson below the threshold.

“If he doesn’t qualify for public matching funds, his campaign is in trouble,” said Dick Dadey, head of the Citizens Union.

“For a major candidate to not qualify one month out from the primary sends a disturbing signal about the strength of his candidacy.”

Candidates can accept up to $4,950 from most donors, but only the first $175 counts toward matching funds, and must come from New Yorkers.

Thompson was shy of the $250,000 minimum until July 11, the last day of the filing period, when a surge of donations included $4,989 that qualified for matching funds. Among the last-day donors was Thompson himself, who wrote his campaign a $175 check – the only contribution he has given to any candidate in this cycle.

Source: NY Daily News Continue Reading This Article Here

The Rev. Al Sharpton is endorsing Democrat William Thompson Jr. for mayor of New York City.

Thompson is the leading Democrat competing to run against billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a Republican-turned-independent.

The civil rights leader plans to campaign with Thompson over the weekend. Thompson is the city’s comptroller.

Even though he’s backing Bloomberg’s challenger, Sharpton has been careful in recent months not to criticize the mayor too harshly.

When Thompson’s office released a report this week showing that black unemployment has surged disproportionately during the recession, Sharpton would not directly blame Bloomberg.

Sharpton said everyone needed to come to the table and work together to solve the economic crisis.

Source: AP

New York City Comptroller William Thompson Jr. says his office will save $1 million by rejecting raises Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently approved for non-union city workers.

The Democratic mayoral candidate says he is forgoing raises for more than 100 people on his staff. Each makes more than $90,000, and the staffers’ average salary tops $121,000.

Bloomberg announced a 4 percent raise last week for nearly 7,000 nonunion workers. The non-union workforce typically gets the same raises as the city’s largest union but did not get a boost last year.

Thompson says the city should not give managers raises now because of the struggling economy.

Thompson’s $185,000 salary isn’t affected. He accepted a $25,000 raise through City Council legislation in 2006.

Source: AP

Working Family Party Executive Director Dan Cantor announced to his supporters that they will be endorsing William Thompson for Democratic candidate for mayor. Citing the Mayoral Forum as one of the key components in why he best represents the WFP’s choice.

“Thompson has a clear message. He believes that city government must always put the middle class and working families first – above the real estate developers and corporate interests that have dominated our city for too long. In a Thompson Administration, Wall Street won’t be the only street that matters anymore. Flatbush Avenue, Queens Blvd., The Grand Concourse, Victory Boulevard, and 125th St will have a real voice in City Hall.

At last Thursday’s Forum, in question after question, Thompson spoke boldly about his support for our values and issues. The Mayor mostly did not.”

Thompson Issues this statement:

“I thank the members of the Working Families Party for their support and I am proud to be on the WFP line. Tonight sends a clear message – I am the candidate for our City’s hard-working men and women. I will carry the momentum from the endorsement with me as I kick off my tour of the five boroughs this weekend. With the support of the WFP, an organization that embodies true progressive values, we will bring new leadership to City Hall.”

City Comptroller Bill Thompson has picked up the support of LGBT New Yorkers for his mayoral bid.

At a rally Saturday in Bryant Part, hundreds of LGBT New Yorkers and four of the largest LGBT clubs in the city backed Thompson, citing his support for marriage equality.

Assemblyman Micah Kellner, one of four LGBT members of the State Assembly, praised Thompson while throwing a jab at his opponent, Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

“I’m glad certain people have had election-year conversions and realized that marriage equality is something they should be for but nobody has been for marriage equality the way Bill Thompson has,” said Kellner.

“Let us also not forget that it was just a few years ago that when given the opportunity to have marriage equality here in New York City, Mike Bloomberg chose to appeal the decision,” said Thompson.

Representatives for a group called “LGBT For MIKE,” defend Bloomberg as a longtime supporter of marriage equality.

In a statement released Saturday, the group said, “At a time when he and the entire community are focused on passing a marriage equality bill in Albany, attacks like this are an unnecessary side-show.”

Source: NY1

City controller William Thompson wants to tweak mayoral control to create more transparency and give parents a greater voice.

“It is time to put the ‘public’ back in public education,” the mayoral hopeful told state Assembly members at the fifth and final in a series of hearings on the law giving the mayor full reign over the schools. The law expires in June.

Thompson advocated for a school board made up of nine members chosen by the mayor and serving two-year terms.

Nominees would be picked by a 19-member committee drawn from a broad pool, including four parents, a teacher, a principal and five mayoral picks.

The mayor now gets to appoint a majority of members to the Panel for Education Policy and can replace them at will.

Thompson also said an independent body should be formed to audit test scores and graduation rates, since “concerns over data manipulation have arisen.”

Pointing to the millions of dollars spent by the Department of Education on no-bid contracts, he urged that the DOE be held to the same purchasing rules as any other city agency.

DOE Deputy Chancellor Chris Cerf later defended the agency’s procurement policies, saying no-bid contracts made up only about 3% of the total pie.

To help shore up parental involvement, Thompson said principals should be held accountable for creating effective school leadership teams.

Source: NY Daily News

City Comptroller William Thompson, a Democratic mayoral hopeful, has received more than $83,000 in donations to his war chest from lobbyists with city business during the time he has been considered a likely contender for City Hall, a review of records shows.

And in the last 10 years, donations to his various campaigns from lobbyists or similar groups total close to $400,000.

The donations since 2006 were made during the time Mayor Bloomberg and Council Speaker Christine Quinn were trying to reduce the appearance of “pay to play” by severely limiting the size of donations from the amount lobbyists with city business could give.

Since Thompson’s first public-office run, in the 2001 comptroller’s race, his campaigns took in $382,000 from lobbyists or groups that lobby, according to campaign-finance records.

For his mayoral bid, Thompson has raised less from lobbyists than he did during his two comptroller races, and his campaign says he has fully complied with the law.

“This sounds like some opposition research that someone’s feeding you,” said Thompson campaign manager Eddie Castel.

“Bill Thompson has never looked at who’s contributing to him,” and it hasn’t affected his job, he added.

Another likely major Democratic candidate, Rep. Anthony Weiner, has received far less in donations from lobbyists, records show – tens of thousands to his congressional and mayoral campaigns combined.

But Weiner, who has no control over city policy in his current job, did receive four contributions from lobbyists after he pledged in May 2008 not to take money from them.

Spokesman John Collins said the congressman would return any funds from donors who were registered as lobbyists at the time they made the donations.

Source: NY Post

The city so urgently needs the $2 billion from deadbeats who’ve skipped out on taxes and fines that Controller William Thompson is calling for amnesty on interest and penalties.

“We need every dollar right now,” Thompson said after making his proposal in a letter to the mayor Thursday. “We’ll lose the interest and penalties but we’ll get the principal.”

His proposal comes in the wake of a Daily News series exposing scofflaws owing more than $2 billion in taxes, parking tickets and fines for things like code violations.

The letter says the city collected $106 million from similar amnesties in 2003 and 2004.

There’s one problem with the proposal, according to the mayor’s office: The city already has an amnesty program, which is advertised on the Finance Department’s Web site.

“What he’s calling for we agree with because we’re already doing it,” said mayoral spokesman Marc La Vorgna, noting the program has brought in $4 million since November.

But Thompson, who is running against Bloomberg for mayor, is not impressed.

“When I’ve seen amnesty programs in the past, I’ve seen TV ads, radio ads, ads in newspapers,” Thompson said.

“Let’s go out. Let’s advertise. Let’s attract attention so we can attract additional dollars that normally we wouldn’t receive. … The money is out there. Let’s go and get it.”

Source: NY Daily News