Politics on the Hudson

It’s not often that Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, who was picked for his job by the state Legislature rather than being elected by voters, can point to an official holding elective office who will be selected by an even smaller constituency.
“There were over 200 votes cast,’’ he joked to reporters today, recalling his own 2007 selection by state lawmakers to replace Alan Hevesi, who had to quit just a month into his second term as comptroller after pleading guilty to criminal charges related to misusing state resources to help care for his wife. “There was a screening panel and everything,’’ he joked.
He got on this riff when asked about whom he thinks Gov. David Paterson will pick to fill Hillary Clinton’s Senate seat, which she’s set to leave later this month when confirmed as secretary of state.
DiNapoli, who didn’t say whom he backs for the post, said he supports a change in state law that would have made him face voters last November to keep his job, which is the state’s top financial official and watchdog as well as the sole trustee of the $120 billion state retirement fund.
But the Legislature wasn’t interested in the change, meaning he’s serving all but about a month of a four-year term he was never elected to and won’t face voters until 2010 – the same time that whomever Paterson picks for the Senate job will also stand for election.