The Democratic candidates for attorney general agree that the state’s pension system is broken.
But they are sharply divided over how to fix it.
“We do not have a system here in New York state that can support pension obligations going forward. That’s just a fact,” Nassau County DA Kathleen Rice said yesterday at a Midtown forum attended by the five candidates.
Rice said she supports current AG Andrew Cuomo’s pension-reform proposal, which would replace the sole trustee at the New York State Common Retirement Fund with a board of trustees.
Assemblyman Richard Brodsky (D-Westchester) blasted Rice’s comments.
He said a board would create a culture of “investment decisions done on a horse-trading basis.”
Sen. Eric Schneiderman (D-Manhattan) also backed Cuomo’s plan, and said pension funds should be authorized to bring legal action to recover money if they’re scammed.
Former state Insurance Superintendent Eric Dinallo said he’d be worried about such a board, while ex-federal prosecutor Sean Coffey supported the idea.