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New York City comptroller candidate and Assembly Member David Weprin wants to get his fellow candidates to pledge they won’t use the office as a steppingstone to run for mayor – the way the position has been used for decades.
But not everyone is happy with Weprin’s ploy, given his track record of running for the next higher office himself.
In the office’s recent history, virtually all New York City comptrollers have tried to use the seat as a springboard to Gracie Mansion. Only former comptroller Abraham Beame was successful in becoming mayor. City Comptroller Scott Stringer is a leading contender in the Democratic mayoral primary. His predecessor, state Sen. John Liu, ran for mayor unsuccessfully in 2013. Liu’s predecessor, former Comptroller Bill Thompson, lost by 4 percentage points to Michael Bloomberg in 2009. Thompson’s predecessor, former Comptroller Alan Hevesi, also unsuccessfully ran for mayor in 2001.