As Election Day approaches, we write to express our extreme disapproval, as New York–based members of the Communications Workers of America, of CWA District 1’s endorsement of Tom DiNapoli for state comptroller.
The state comptroller influences how billions of state dollars are spent and where public sector workers’ pensions are invested. Tom DiNapoli’s decisions as comptroller have made New Yorkers complicit in Israel’s genocide in Palestine.
In the six months following October 7, 2023—during which Israel killed more than 30,000 Palestinians—DiNapoli purchased $100 million in new Israel bonds. He visited Israel in February 2024, raising concerns from the state ethics watchdog as the trip was sponsored by a nonprofit with ties to Israel Bonds. DiNapoli also marched in the Israel Day parade on May 31 of this year, joining the openly genocidal Bezalel Smotrich and other far-right Israeli politicians in a celebration of the belligerent apartheid state that has been taking thousands of lives with impunity throughout the Middle East.
CWA endorsed DiNapoli despite growing popular demands for the state to divest from Israel and overwhelming public opinion more broadly against Israel’s actions in Gaza. The state of New York’s retirement fund currently has more than $360 million invested in Israeli securities. In addition to being straightforwardly immoral, Israel bonds are also financially risky.
As workers, we reject the notion that our retirement savings should rely on the continued violence and destruction of working people with dreams, passions, and loved ones on the other side of the world.
DiNapoli has been New York’s comptroller for nearly two decades. CWA should not endorse him or any other candidate out of loyalty or the promise of insider access.
Instead, our union should apply real pressure on candidates to gain more wins for workers, and should determine political endorsements through transparent, democratic deliberation with rank-and-file members.