Bill Thompson (New York politician)

"William C. Thompson" redirects here, for the cinematographer, see William C. Thompson (cinematographer).

William C. Thompson Jr.
Bill Thompson at a campaign event
New York City Comptroller
Incumbent
Assumed office January, 2002
Preceded by	Alan G. Hevesi
Personal details
Born	(1953-07-10) July 10, 1953 Brooklyn, NY
Nationality	American
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Elsie McCabe Thompson
Children	Jennifer Thompson
Residence(s)	Harlem, New York City
Alma mater	Tufts University

William Colridge Thompson, Jr. (born July 10, 1953), known as Bill or Billy, is the 42nd Comptroller of New York City. Sworn into office on January 1, 2002, he was reelected to serve a second term that began on January 1, 2006. He is the leading candidate to become the Democratic Party's nominee for New York City Mayor. Thompson is also the nominee of the Working Families Party.

Personal Life

Thompson was born and raised in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. He is the son of Elaine Thompson, a New York City public schoolteacher, and William C. Thompson, Sr., formerly a prominent Brooklyn Democratic Party leader, City Councilman, State Senator and judge on New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division. Thompson attended Midwood High School, a public school in Brooklyn, and graduated from Tufts University in 1974.

Thompson has been divorced twice and is currently married to Elsie McCabe Thompson, President of the Museum for African Art, whom he married in September 2008. A lifelong Brooklyn resident, Thompson moved to Harlem in September 2008 following his most recent marriage.

Political career

Upon his graduation from Tufts in 1974 until 1982, Thompson served as special assistant and chief of staff to former Brooklyn Democratic Rep. Fred Richmond, who pleaded guilty to income tax evasion, marijuana possession and making an illegal payment to a government employee and who resigned his seat pursuant to a plea agreement in 1982. Later, Thompson became the youngest Brooklyn Deputy Borough President. As Deputy to Borough President Howard Golden, Thompson was Golden's designee to the New York City Board of Estimate. Following the Crown Heights riots, Thompson worked to fix the racial divide that had paralyzed Brooklyn. In 1993, Thompson moved to the private sector for one year, taking a position as senior vice president of the investment firm George K. Baum & Co.

In 1994, Borough President Golden appointed Thompson to be Brooklyn’s representative to the New York City Board of Education. Two years later, with the backing of then-Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, Thompson was elected President of the Board, ousting the incumbent Carol Gresser. As Board of Education President, he worked for a more centralized management of the public school system that eventually led to mayoral control. Thompson also fought for better after-school programs, improved teacher quality, and an expanded arts curriculum.

While serving on the Board of Education, Thompson also supported himself by working as a political consultant, as a director of Keyspan Energy (now National Grid USA) and as a director of a small financial firm run by a Michael. W. Geffrard, a former deputy city comptroller. Thompson resigned from the Board of Education in March 2001 to run for the office of Comptroller.

New York City Comptroller: 2002-Present

Bill Thompson

As the city’s chief financial officer, he manages a staff of more than 700 professionals with a budget of $68 million.

Thompson has worked to diversify the pension portfolio from primarily public equities into private equity, real estate and other asset classes. Since 2003, the funds have grown at a pace of 12.33 percent a year, outperforming its actuarial return assumption of 8 percent. In addition, during Thompson’s tenure, assets managed by minority- and women-owned firms have increased from less than $2 billion to over $6 billion.

Thompson has called on American firms in the pension portfolio – including Halliburton, General Electric and Aon – to document the impact of their businesses on the environment. He has insisted that companies doing business in Northern Ireland embrace the goal of equal opportunity in employment and has supported the effort to prohibit workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Since Thompson took office, these funds have been reinvested back into New York City, leading to the creation and rehabilitation of more than 20,000 units of affordable housing, the development of thousands of square feet of commercial space, and investments related to creating clean and renewable sources of energy.

In 2003, Thompson led the effort that led to the deposit of $200 million in city funds to establish new bank branches in traditionally underserved neighborhoods, enabling more New Yorkers to open checking accounts and apply for business loans and mortgages. Thompson has developed a number of community service and education programs to help New Yorkers deal with the challenges of the economic crisis. These programs include consumer banking days (regular events that take place in every borough and feature workshops addressing savings and credit issues), predatory lending reforms and general investment strategies.

In a recent lengthy analysis of Thompson's use of the Comptroller's power to audit city government, the on-line journal City Limits opined that "Thompson has not been a ferocious antagonist to Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Instead, he has mostly praised the mayor's budgets, smiled on his economic policies and hailed Bloomberg's accomplishments with the city's schools." Nonetheless, City Limits found, the Comptroller's office and the Bloomberg administration have in fact engaged in hundreds of "low-level skirmishes" over the Comptroller's audits of city agencies and programs, but Thompson has not audited the mayor's office and mayoral agencies as often as his predecessor, Alan Hevesi, did under Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. City Limits concluded that "the jury is still out on what impact Thompson's audits have had on city services —- and whether his record as an auditor will matter in the comptroller's current run for mayor."

2009 Mayoral Campaign

Bill Thompson

Thompson is opposed by Tony Avella, a New York City Councilman from Queens, for the Democratic nomination to run in November 2009 against incumbent mayor Michael Bloomberg. The primary will be held in September 2009. However, Thompson leads Avella by over 30 points in the polls and is considered the presumptive Democratic nominee by major local news media including the New York Times and cable news channel NY1. On July 9, 2009, Thompson was endorsed by the Working Families Party as its 2009 nominee for New York City Mayor.

Thompson's campaign has been criticized as too low-key. The New York Times once dubbed him "the stealth candidate" and described his campaign as "under-the-radar", and the Gotham Gazette reported criticism that Thompson had "failed in the first months of his campaign to increase his visibility." However, in recent weeks the mayoral race has been heating up.

On July 21, 2009, the Comptroller's office released a report suggesting that the Bloomberg administration had falsely inflated graduation rates in city schools. Thompson's report did not demonstrate any conclusive evidence of manipulation, "saying only that a lack of oversight, coupled with intense pressure to push up the graduation rate, created the potential for abuse." Thompson also criticized Bloomberg's managerial style as creating incentives for school's to graduate unqualified students. The New York City Department of Education released a 38-page rebuttal to Thompson's allegations. In addition on July 21, 2009, Thompson said on NY1 that School's Chancellor Joel Klein should be fired, refering to his Department of Education as "The Enron of American education. Showing the gains and hiding the losses."

On July 28, 2009, Quinnipiac University released a poll showing that Thompson has cut Bloomberg's lead from June in half, now only trailing Bloomberg by 10 percentage points: 47% Bloomberg, 37% Thompson. The poll also found that Thompson made significant gains among black voters: Thompson now leads Bloomberg 56% to 30% (up 25 points from June); Democrats: Thompson now leads Bloomberg 45% to 42% (up 12 points from June); and Independents: Bloomberg leads Thompson 49% to 27% (70% to 14% in June).

Endorsements

Thompson's mayoral candidacy has been endorsed by Sen. Chuck Schumer, Rev. Al Sharpton, Fernando Ferrer, Congressman Anthony Weiner, Congressman Charlie Rangel, Ruben Diaz Jr., former mayor David Dinkins, and several others.

On August 13, 2009, Thompson was endorsed by DC 37, the city's largest union giving Thompson "crucial labor support," as the New York Times put it. The union, representing 120,000 workers, had endorsed Bloomberg in 2005, but apparently came to another conclusion this election cycle. Other unions, which have endorsed Thompson include Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU, UFCW), Allied International Union, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1056, Local 891, International Union of Operating Engineers, Civil Service Employees Association Local 1000, Communications Workers of America (CWA) District 1, International Association of Machinists District 15, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 808, Local 94 of the International Union of Operating Engineers, The Associated Musicians of Greater New York, Local 802 AFM, and Transport Workers Union (TWU) Local 100.

See also

• New York City Comptroller
• New York City mayoral election, 2009

External links

• Official New York City Comptroller Website
• Official Bill Thompson Campaign Website