ALBANY, N.Y. — New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli faces challenges from candidates Drew Warshaw and Raj Goyle, who have criticized the management of the New York State Common Retirement Fund. The fund, which DiNapoli oversees as sole trustee, manages nearly $300 billion and recorded a $1.1 billion fee payment in 2024.

Warshaw stated that the total fee bill for the pension fund for a single year was roughly $1 billion. A spokesperson for DiNapoli confirmed that the fund uses outside managers and has paid out approximately $1 billion in fees.

Warshaw commissioned Stanford economist Ryan Cummings to conduct a 19-year backtest of the pension fund. This analysis concluded that the fund underperformed its own benchmarks by 39% and paid $11.3 billion in fees during this period. Warshaw estimated the total cost to New York taxpayers from this underperformance was $59.1 billion.

A spokesperson for DiNapoli described Warshaw's study as a "phony number based on embarrassingly bad math." The comptroller's office stated that the fund's investments returned 8.94% over the past decade. The New York State Department of Financial Services ranked New York's investment expenses 33rd among 74 large public pension funds surveyed.

Goyle stated, "You don't need footnotes and a white paper to document the fact that we should not be giving non-transparent locked-up money to managers who don't perform, period." Both Warshaw and Goyle advocate for moving the fund toward low-cost index investing.

DiNapoli has received approximately $500,000 in contributions from law firms that subsequently secured state contracts from his office. New York law requires the pension to be fully funded every year regardless of investment returns. "The pension fund is fully funded, but it's the law," Warshaw said.