NYC COMPTROLLER | Chief Economists

Frank Braconi (L) and John Tepper Marlin, Chief Economists to Five NYC
Comptrollers, 1992-2017. Note piñata at upper left.  It did not survive
unscathed. Photo by Alice Tepper Marlin.

In 1989, New York City elected David Dinkins Mayor and Liz Holtzman Comptroller. 

It also approved a thoroughly revised New York City Charter, eliminating the historic Board of Estimate.

The NYC Comptroller lost some powers but gained a new responsibility – it must report on the NYC economy every December and must submit to the NYC Council annually its independent tax-revenue estimate based on the Comptroller's economic outlook.

To carry out this and other tasks, the Comptroller created the position of Chief Economist. It has been filled by five economists, all male. Over the 28 years of the title, three economists have held the job for four years. One has just started working in the title under Comptroller Stringer, one is Commissioner of Finance for Mayor de Blasio and the third became economic adviser to former Governor Pataki.

The other two Chief Economists met recently. I was one, the second Chief Economist, having served for 13 years, under Comptrollers Holtzman, Alan Hevesi and Bill Thompson. Frank Braconi was the other, my successor, who served for ten years as Chief Economist, under Comptrollers Thompson, John Liu and Scott Stringer. You might say it was an informal meeting of FOCEA, the Former Office of the (New York City) Comptroller Employees Association.

We met up yesterday evening at a post-election celebration hosted by a Suffolk County gadfly group (Resist & Replace) and the local Democratic party. We are united in getting behind a Democratic candidate in 2018 to defeat Lee Zeldin, a Tea Party incumbent Congressman from New York's District 1.

An early order of business at the event was to tackle the Trump piñata, which may be seen to the upper left in the photo.

Between us, my years and Frank Braconi's at the Comptroller's Office add up to a quarter century and take us through two attacks on the World Trade Center and four Mayors – Dinkins, Giuliani, Bloomberg and de Blasio.

106th Mayor	David Dinkins (b. 1927) Comptroller Holtzman	January 1990 to December 1993	4 years	DEM
107th	Rudy Giuliani (b. 1944) Comptroller Hevesi	January 1994 to December 2001	8 years	GOP
108th	Michael Bloomberg (b. 1942) Comptrollers Thompson, Liu	January 2002 to  December 2013	12 years	GOP
				NO PARTY
109th	Bill de Blasio (b. 1961) Comptroller Stringer	January 2014 to  Incumbent	4 years & Counting	DEM

Postscript, January 28, 2018: Meanwhile, Eric Wollman visited Vero Beach, Florida, and we had our third annual Florida meeting of FOCEA.