NEW YORK, Nov. 6 -- In an unsavory anti-incumbent season fraught with vitriolic campaigns, H. Carl McCall '58 is fighting to hold onto his state comptroller job.
Comptroller McCall, who is narrowly ahead of Republican challenger Herbert London in polls before New Yorkers head to vote on Tuesday, would be the first African American elected to a state-wide position if he wins.
Last year, the state legislature appointed McCall to fill the remaining two years of Republican Edward Regan's term, who retired from the post.
This year's campaign has concentrated on anything but the issues that face the state, which is slowly emerging from tough economic times. Both candidates have ignored issues regarding the economic roles they would play managing the state's $56 billion pension fund or overseeing the state bond issues. Instead, London and McCall have focused on personal attacks, portraying the other as extremist or racist.
In recent weeks, McCall has sought to counter allegation that his decision last year to fire analysts who criticized ally David Dinkins, who was then mayor of New York City, was motivated by political reasons.
McCall -- a former state senator, ambassador to the United Nations, Citibank vice president and president of the New York City Board of Education -- is also fighting London's allegations that he was too close to Democratic Governor Mario Cuomo.
Generally comptrollers walk the find line between being politicians and being the fiscal watchdogs for the people. Last summer, McCall told The Dartmouth that politics must be put on the back burner. "The most important thing in this job is to be fair and to protect the people," he said.
London, who ran for governor in 1990 as the Conservative Party candidate, was passed over by fellow Republican George Pataki for the GOP nomination for governor this year.
