On Thursday’s Capital Tonight, we spoke with incumbent state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, a Democrat who has held the office for 19 years. He discussed his tenure, his investment strategy and the importance of his office’s credibility, among other issues.
DiNapoli’s challenger, Republican and Conservative nominee, entrepreneur Joseph Hernandez, joined Capital Tonight’s Susan Arbetter in the studio just after speaking to the assembled crowd at the New York State Business Council’s annual meeting at the Sagamore Hotel in Bolton Landing.
“We have immense fraud and abuse in our system,” Hernandez said when asked what he discussed at the event. “We haven’t done enough in 20 years to make sure that people aren’t stealing from our taxpayers.”
He specifically mentioned the state’s Medicaid system and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). He told Capital Tonight he also wants to address the state’s debt burden.
“I would argue that our tax policies, our anti-business climate and our vilifying success, which we have seen permeating out of New York City, these things are driving business and business leaders out of the state,” he said. “We’re in a fiscal crisis, in my humble opinion, and we need to straighten the ship.”
As a longtime entrepreneur who has helped build 12 companies, some publicly traded, Hernandez is familiar with the markets. Most of the companies he’s associated with emerged from the pharmaceutical sector and led to the development of a series of tests linked to healthcare.
“We’ve been involved with companies like the company that developed the HPV test, the company that developed the test for thyroid cancer, the test for multiple myeloma,” he explained.
Hernandez’ company’s offices are on the 85th floor of the World Trade Center.
He acknowledged that if he wins this race, he will have to create “walls” and will ensure that other people manage his portfolio.
“For this role, you have to have a very strong moral compass,” he said. “There’s no question about it.”
