\u201cBringing value and outcome to a voter is how you win the loyalty and the support of a voter to a political party,\u201d Goyle said in an interview. \u201cDemocrats need to be delivering for our voters, not just scaring them about the other side, and that\u2019s why I\u2019m running for comptroller.\u201d<\/p>\n
He further maintains that harnessing the power of the comptrollership to deliver for New Yorkers \u201ccan go a long way toward restoring the Democratic Party brand.\u201d<\/p>\n
How? Goyle goes into detail in his platform<\/a>, where he highlights what New York\u2019s chief financial watchdog can and should be doing more of to wield that power effectively. The topline of his vision is a comprehensive plan<\/a> to audit the state\u2019s investor-owned utilities, and otherwise leverage the comptroller\u2019s office to improve energy affordability. Goyle has also committed to divesting the $300 billion New York State Common Retirement Fund from fossil fuel companies, international bonds, and the surveillance company Palantir<\/a>, while ramping up investments in affordable housing across New York.<\/p>\n But in order to unseat incumbent New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, Goyle will need to come out on top in the Democratic primary on June 23. Given that New York is a reliably blue state\u2014the last Republican governor left office in 2006\u2014the results of the upcoming Democratic primary will likely determine the general election as well.<\/p>\n What\u2019s more, the primary is shaping up to be a three-way competition pitting DiNapoli\u2014who has been in office since 2007, making him the second-longest-serving comptroller in New York history\u2014against Goyle and another progressive challenger by the name of Drew Warshaw, a lifelong New Yorker and former co-CEO of the national nonprofit affordable-housing developer Enterprise Community Partners (ECP).<\/p>\n Goyle has been endorsed by the Progressive Victory Fund, Zephyr Teachout, Reps. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), New York Communities for Change (NYCC), Sunrise Movement NYC, and the Muslim Democratic Club of New York. His campaign contends that \u201cRaj has solidified himself as the leading progressive challenger,\u201d citing the endorsements in an email to supporters this week.<\/p>\n Despite this, City & State reported<\/a> that Goyle failed to advance to the second round of voting at a Working Families Party (WFP) state committee meeting earlier this month. Although Warshaw and DiNapoli did advance, the committee voted against endorsing either candidate for comptroller.<\/p>\n Warshaw secured the most WFP support out of any candidate, but it apparently wasn\u2019t enough. According to City & State, he had the backing of \u201cseveral advocacy organizations who are WFP members and have sway over the voting process,\u201d including Make the Road Action\u2014a \u201cmajor affiliate\u201d of the party that endorsed Warshaw after the vote.<\/p>\n GOYLE AND WARSHAW SHARE a strikingly similar vision for the comptroller\u2019s office, but it is instructive to consider where their platforms diverge.<\/p>\n Both candidates believe in exercising the power of the comptroller\u2019s office to scrutinize utility companies for saddling ratepayers with excessive costs. Goyle has been explicit about his intention to audit those companies directly, whereas Warshaw\u2019s platform has focused<\/a> on auditing the New York Public Service Commission (PSC), which regulates the state\u2019s investor-owned utilities.<\/p>\n Goyle has also made clear that, as comptroller, he would leverage the office\u2019s existing authority to audit PSC-approved spending, state contracts, subsidies, and tax breaks tied to utilities and high-load users, including data centers. During our interview, he argued that the PSC has not been \u201cproperly audited in 20 years of the incumbent, which is an absolute outrage.\u201d<\/p>\n The comptroller\u2019s office already audits the PSC, as well as municipal utilities like the New York Power Authority, but DiNapoli has never directly audited an investor-owned utility. To do that, Goyle has plans to push for new statutory authority allowing the comptroller to conduct utility fairness audits of rate-case claims and performance.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need a state comptroller who will look at every penny \u2026 to make sure that if these companies say they need the money, they better damn sure need that money\u2014and if they don\u2019t, it comes back to us,\u201d Goyle said. \u201cThat\u2019s what ratepayers need, a watchdog in Albany, because everybody\u2019s asleep at the switch.\u201d<\/p>\n Warshaw\u2019s approach to energy affordability, chronicled at length in a City & State <\/a>op-ed<\/a> he authored last month, shoots straight for the heart of the investor-owned utility financial model.<\/p>\n Publicly traded companies finance capital expenditures through a blend of debt and equity; utility companies are no different. Regulated utilities are considerably low-risk businesses. Not only do they have a captive customer base, but their overall revenues are set by regulators. In a rate case, regulators determine the rate of return, or overall revenue a utility can recover in the form of rates, and return on equity, which is the profit margin guaranteed to shareholders.<\/p>\n \u201cThe higher that return, the higher your bill,\u201d Warshaw observes. \u201cIt\u2019s that simple.\u201d<\/p>\n Unlike the cost of debt, the cost of equity is not directly observable and must be estimated. This becomes a key variable, and the way that additional capital expenditures translate into higher profits<\/a>. Consequently, utility companies have an incentive to overinvest<\/a> in capital-intensive infrastructure over less costly alternatives.<\/p>\n As Warshaw points out, \u201cif we lower the profit margin these monopolies are able to earn, we lower electricity bills.\u201d One way to do that is by financing utility infrastructure at a lower cost of capital. What\u2019s more, many long-term investors seem rather willing to take a modest haircut in exchange for stable, low-risk returns. Among those long-term investors are pension funds.<\/p>\n By co-investing the Common Retirement Fund alongside other, like-minded institutional investors, the comptroller\u2019s office could help finance utility infrastructure at a lower cost of capital, which is exactly what Warshaw would do if he is elevated to the comptrollership.<\/p>\n It actually might work, as the move would \u201cnot reduce returns below what is needed to attract investment,\u201d Warshaw writes. Rather, it \u201creplaces a portion of higher-cost, short-term capital with lower-cost, long-term capital that specifically seeks lower-risk returns.\u201d<\/p>\n Goyle\u2019s plan involves leveraging the pension fund to improve energy affordability, too. As comptroller, he would file shareholder resolutions at Consolidated Edison and National Grid, two of New York\u2019s major investor-owned utilities, linking executive pay and dividend increases to ratepayer outcomes.<\/p>\n \u201cRates keep going up,\u201d he told the Prospect. \u201cSomeone has to drop the hammer on that, and I will.\u201d<\/p>\n PENSION STEWARDSHIP IS a key pillar of the comptroller\u2019s role and responsibilities. For his part, Warshaw has criticized the exorbitant, taxpayer-funded fees paid out to asset managers by the Common Retirement Fund. He essentially wants to cut out Wall Street middlemen by tilting the Common Retirement Fund\u2019s asset allocation toward internally managed, low-cost index funds, and away from alternative asset classes like private equity and hedge funds, which are managed externally.<\/p>\n \u201cSince the dawn of modern finance, these managers, on average, do not beat the market\u2014and even when they do, they don\u2019t succeed enough to cover their high fees,\u201d Warshaw opined in a separate op-ed for <\/a>Jacobin<\/a> in March.<\/p>\n As Investigative Post <\/a>reported<\/a>, Warshaw\u2019s own analysis found that, under DiNapoli, the pension fund has paid out nearly $12 billion in fees to hundreds of asset managers despite underperforming its benchmarks by 39 percent.<\/p>\n What\u2019s more, DiNapoli was the subject of a New York Focus investigation<\/a> earlier this month which revealed that, throughout his tenure, the incumbent comptroller \u201cfiled lawsuits securing hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements from corporations he\u2019s accused of defrauding the state\u2019s main pension fund.\u201d Some of firms the comptroller\u2019s office hired to litigate those lawsuits \u201chave also contributed to his campaigns,\u201d according to New York Focus, which acknowledged that the contributions are legally permissible; DiNapoli has reportedly sometimes \u201crefused to accept donations from the law firms that seek to bring litigation on behalf of the pension fund.\u201d<\/p>\n When it comes to the pension fund\u2019s investments in international bonds, \u201cmy view is that we should cancel out the entire foreign bond portfolio and bring that money home to New York,\u201d Goyle said. He contends that it would be prudent to reinvest those assets in corporate and municipal bonds, which not only offer superior, risk-adjusted returns, but also \u201chelp build our infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n Within that bucket, the Common Retirement Fund has roughly $350 million invested in Israel bonds.<\/p>\n \u201cMoody\u2019s downgraded Israel bonds recently, and \u2026 we have an obligation to not fund human rights violations,\u201d Goyle told the Prospect. \u201cWe should be criticizing human rights violations wherever they occur.\u201d<\/p>\n Warshaw, a Jewish New Yorker, has also pledged to divest the Common Retirement Fund from Israel bonds, writing in <\/a>The Forward<\/a> last month that \u201cmost New Yorkers have no idea that their tax-funded pension fund, as invested by State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, helps finance Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s wars.\u201d<\/p>\n Finally, Goyle and Warshaw<\/a> have committed to leveraging the pension fund to support affordable housing across New York. It\u2019s a proven strategy, one that former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander carried out<\/a> when Signature Bank collapsed in 2023, to grow workers\u2019 retirement savings while simultaneously helping them, and their families, afford to remain in-state.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can invest smartly to address our housing crisis while also using the office\u2019s massive audit authority to hold bad actors accountable,\u201d Warshaw told the Prospect.\u00a0\u201cIn addition, a central part of our $20 billion housing plan is a first-of-its-kind tenant-centered Housing Table to help guide investment strategy, tenant protections, affordability measures, and enforcement priorities.\u201d<\/p>\n WARSHAW IS NO STRANGER to the affordable-housing crisis. His campaign website boasts that, as co-CEO at ECP, \u201che helped lead a non-profit that has created and preserved more than 1 million affordable homes.\u201d<\/p>\n What you will not find on drewwarshaw.com<\/a> is any mention of Bellwether Enterprise, which is, ironically, one of the nonprofit\u2019s for-profit subsidiaries.<\/p>\n Warshaw served as co-CEO of ECP for five years before kicking off his campaign in May 2025. Three months earlier, Shelterforce <\/a>reported<\/a> that \u201cfor several years, Enterprise has been earning money from a for-profit subsidiary that regularly lends to companies whose business practices contradict Enterprise\u2019s mission of preserving affordable housing.\u201d Of course, that for-profit subsidiary is Bellwether Enterprise.<\/p>\n In 2012, ECP affiliate Enterprise Community Investment acquired a majority ownership stake in Bellwether Real Estate Capital, \u201cthen a Midwest-focused market-rate commercial and multifamily lender,\u201d according to Shelterforce. ECP has always been and continues to be a nonprofit. While it no longer appears to have a majority stake in Bellwether, ECP\u2019s most recent audit<\/a> indicates that it still has majority voting power over the lender.<\/p>\n Shelterforce\u2019s reporting chronicles Bellwether\u2019s longtime lending relationship with Havenpark Communities, a manufactured housing\u2013focused private equity venture notorious for \u201cissuing large rent increases at its parks.\u201d ECP has continued to benefit indirectly from Bellwether and, by extension, Havenpark, but the nonprofit claimed to have no influence over the lender\u2019s strategy or standards because the lender operates as an independent subsidiary.<\/p>\n \u201cUnder our current leadership, Enterprise has used its ownership position to review and strengthen Bellwether\u2019s underwriting standards to go above and beyond GSE-mandated tenant site lease protections for manufactured housing communities,\u201d an ECP spokesperson previously told Shelterforce.<\/p>\n Warshaw has never been a member of the nonprofit\u2019s board. The 501(c)(3) where he served as a chief operating officer and Enterprise Community Investment are separate entities, though both are under the ECP umbrella.<\/p>\n To be fair, Goyle\u2019s record is less than spotless when it comes to progressive priorities.<\/p>\n Five days after he was arrested in Albany<\/a> for protesting Gov. Kathy Hochul\u2019s rollback of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, Politico<\/a> unearthed a video<\/a> from September 2010 where Goyle\u2014then a member of the Kansas legislature\u2014appeared to voice opposition to cap-and-trade, a market-based policy designed to drive down emissions. In the video, he can be heard saying: \u201cI oppose cap-and-trade because I think it actually would kill jobs here in Kansas, and it\u2019s a one-size-fits-all regulation that doesn\u2019t make sense.\u201d Goyle also expressed concern toward the Environmental Protection Agency \u201coverreaching\u201d in its regulation of the fossil fuel industry.<\/p>\n Still, that incident was 16 years ago, and in a much more conservative state. Goyle has since positioned himself as an ardent supporter of climate justice.<\/p>\n Speaking at a March 15 rally outside ConEd\u2019s East River Generating Station, Goyle told demonstrators: \u201cWe can indeed make a future where energy justice is climate justice, and where we tackle the affordability crisis and put justice for ratepayers back on the table in Albany.\u201d<\/p>\n Update, May 18: This article has been updated with a comment from Drew Warshaw.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Raj Goyle isn\u2019t in Kansas anymore. In fact, after leaving that state 15 years ago, he has lived…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":237596,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[51276,29159,9,24,11,10,49,51,50,87,92917,51282,10448],"class_list":["post-237595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-drew-warshaw","tag-energy-the-environment","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news","tag-politics","tag-public-utility-commissions","tag-raj-goyle","tag-thomas-dinapoli"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237595"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237595\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Baratta-New-York-State-Comptroller-051826-2.jpg\")
Raj Goyle. Credit: Raj Goyle for New York<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Baratta-New-York-State-Comptroller-051826-3.png\")
Goyle has a plan to audit the state\u2019s investor-owned utilities and leverage the comptroller\u2019s office to improve energy affordability. Credit: James Baratta<\/p>\n