NYC NOW - Midday News: President Trump's Order Targets Bail Reform Funding, Fans Face High Prices at US Open, and DiNapoli Faces Primary Challenge for Comptroller

Episode Date: August 27, 2025

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that could withhold federal resources from states with cashless bail policies, potentially affecting billions in funding for New York. Meanwhile, fans at the US Open in Flushing are paying steep prices for tickets and concessions, with some ground passes reselling for more than $300. Plus, State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli is seeking a fifth term and faces a Democratic primary challenge from Drew Warshaw, who says the office should do more to address affordability. WNYC’s Jimmy Vielkind joins us to explain.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Wednesday, August 27th. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill. The LRiform has been a lightning rod in New York since state lawmakers proposed the policy more than five years ago. Now, at its center of a new executive order from President Trump that could threaten billions of dollars in federal funding. The order says federal resources should not support places. that have cashless bail policies for crimes that threaten public safety in order, like violent offenses, looting and vandalism.

New York still allows bail for violent crimes. Constitutional law expert Alex Reinhardt says it's unclear whether the executive order is even legal. Of course, it could be fiscally extremely damaging to the state and the city. Reinhard says if the Trump administration does target New York, expects a legal battle. Tenants fans are flooding, flushing queens for the U.S. Open, but it's not cheap. A U.S. Open hat, $48, a lobster roll, $39 to $50, and then there are tickets with face values of $169 each for ground passes at this week's opening rounds. Hit the second market, the second-hand market, and you could be paying $300 or more. Some fans say it's getting harder to stomach

the cost, but others like Lauren Renner, says, it's still worth it. This is for the nicest sporting events I think I've ever been to in New York. I mean, I think we knew going into it that we were going to pay $25 for a drink and like accepted that before we got here. The open runs through September 7. 73 with sunshine now. Sunshine is 77 for a high today, partly sunny and 79 tomorrow. And then Friday chances of showers and storms and 77.

tuned for more after the break. On WNYC, I'm David First. The state controller is kind of like the state's accountant. But before your eyes glaze over and you tune out, what if I told you that the controller of New York oversees a quarter of a trillion dollars? And how that money is used really affects your life. Well, there's a Democratic primary that is just getting underway for the office, incumbent Tom DiNapoli is running for a fifth term in the job that he's held since 2007. But first time candidate Drew Warshaw says the office can do more to help with the affordability crisis. Here to help explain the stakes is WNYC's Jimmy Veilkind, who spoke to both candidates. Welcome.

Hi, David. And Jimmy, first of all, this is not a primary that is happening right now. When is this taking place? This will be in June of 2026, so several months from now. Okay, but I'm putting business. circles on the calendar as we speak. Can you spell it out for us? What does the state controller do and what has Tom Dinappily done? Well, the job really has two major parts. You know, first, the controller controls an army of auditors and they have the ability to look

at state spending, to look at how state government agencies are functioning, whether they're processing claims for public assistance. They've looked at the MTA and how the trains are running on time. They've looked at debt levels. So it's a pretty big scope. And then the second part is perhaps a little bit, it sounds boring, but it's really significant. It's to oversee the state's pension fund. So that's a massive pool of money. Right now, it's more than $280 billion with a B dollars. And so, you know, each year employees of the governments, both state and local governments put money into that fund, the governments that employ them, so eventually the taxpayers, they put money into all to fund pension benefits that will one day come to these employees. And so the idea here is that

you've got money coming in and money going out and you want to earn investment income on that money because the more you earn in your investments, the less people have to pay in and the happier everybody is. So the fund is invested in all sorts of stuff. It's invested in stocks. It's invested in bonds. It's even invested in some real estate. So that is basically the biggest part of the comptroller's job. Now, Danapoli was an assemblyman from Long Island for more than 20 years when he got the job in 2007. His predecessor resigned in scandal after he was caught taking bribes to steer the investments that the fund made. So Danapoli's basic claim is that he's been a steady hand. And what about Drew Warshaw? Who is he, and what does he want to do? So Warshaw started his career

as one of those behind-the-scenes people in government. He worked for Governor Elliott Spitzer. He also had a position at the Port Authority where he worked on the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site. And more recently, he's run companies that developed solar power and affordable housing. So he says that he feels he can do a better job managing that pension fund than Danpoli. And he says that one of the things that Danapolis has done wrong is put too much of the pension funds into private equity investments, which come with pretty hefty investment fees. Disclosure documents show that it's basically more than a billion dollars a year. Fees that go to private equity funds, hedge funds, and the like that he has increased during his time in office, and just earn a regular

rate of return that the market is going to give. So that's Warshaw's basic plan. Just let the fund track the stock market. Don't try to beat it. You know, skip the fees and you'll end up doing better in the long run. Skip the fees. Well, lots of financial planners say that's a good personal investing strategy, but what does DiNapolis say? He says that it's really not the best way to manage such a large pool of money like the New York Common Retirement Fund, which also has to make money forever. You know, there will always be public employees, there will always be pensions to pay out. It's not like an individual who knows I'm going to try and retire at 65, 70, or you know, for millennials like me, maybe like 80 or 90.

So we'll see exactly about how that goes. And Danoply has defended these private equity investments by saying that they help out at times when the stock market takes a dive. Take a listen. If you want to ride the roller coaster of the public markets, what you're going to do is have a whipsaw and your contribution rates for the government employers. So again, Danapoli is making the argument that he's the steady hand. And with something like public pension funds, you know, boring and sober, is good.

Our politics today includes fights over social issues, raising and lowering taxes, policing policies, the continuing value of democracy as a thing. Do you think voters are going to get excited about pension investing? Well, you know, that's a really good question, David. And I think it's a problem for Warshaw. You know, politicians don't get their jobs by going before some board and talking about, here are my ideas. here are my qualifications, and then these smart people pick the best people. They have to win elections. And I'm sorry to say this, but sometimes people win not because they're the smartest or have the best ideas, but because they're popular or famous or rich. So it's also really hard to unseat

an incumbent politician in New York. DeNapoli has been in office for almost 20 years. He's known in political circles as someone who's just a really nice guy. He's pleasant. He always shows up. and he's pretty close to major unions that are a big help in campaigns, particularly Democratic primary campaigns. So that's a pretty big advantage. Warshah, on the other hand, he's got energy. He's raised a million dollars for his campaign in just a few months, which is noteworthy, and he's arguing that his run fits into this larger narrative among Democrats looking for new faces, a new generation, and a new style of leadership. WNYC's Jimmy Veilkind talking about the primary for New York State Comptroller that is happening in June of next year.

Jimmy, thanks for joining us. Always a pleasure, David. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WMYC. Check us out for updates every weekday, three times a date, for the latest news headlines and occasional deep times. And subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. We'll be back this evening.