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AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas comptroller said Monday that the economic recovery is taking hold, producing higher than expected tax revenues and possibly resulting in a budget surplus in 2013. In a letter to the Legislature, state Comptroller Susan Combs said tax collections were on pace to produce a $1.6 billion budget surplus for the fiscal biennium ending in 2013. That means the state could earn $82.7 billion over the next two years, while the 2012-2013 budget is only $81.1 billion. That represents an 8.2 percent increase in state revenues over the 2010-2011 budget cycle.

Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli's campaign has reaped more than $340,000 from law firms seeking legal work from his agency, The Post has learned. The massive sum from firms that represent -- or are in line to represent -- the Comptroller's Office in lucrative class-action lawsuits accounts for 8 percent of DiNapoli's entire fund-raising haul since 2008. Such firms have collected hundreds of millions in legal fees in recent years, drawing cries of "pay to play" from critics of how DiNapoli and his predecessors have managed the state's $125 billion pension fund. Donations to the state's top fiscal officer have come under...

New York City -- Alan Hevesi walked into a Manhattan courthouse Thursday morning a convicted felon and left and admitted felon, times two. The former New York State Comptroller confessed to accepting nearly a million dollars in benefits and in return, he funneled state pension funds towards the companies behind those gifts. According to Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, the agency leading the pay-to-play investigation--the payoffs included: --$75,000 in travel expenses for the Hevesi family --$380,000 in sham consulting fees for a lobbyist friend --more than $500,000 in campaign contributions as directed by Hevesi. As NYS Comptroller from 2003-2006, Hevesi was...

The key to economic progress is not a revenue equation, but a spending equation, David Walker, former U.S. comptroller general told CNBC on Tuesday. “What threatens our future is not the current deficit; what threatens the future is the glide path of spending and the huge gap of what people have been promised and the revenues that we have to deliver on those promises,” he said. “The so-called off-balance sheet obligations—that’s the ice under the water that could sink the ship of state.”

Eliot Spitzer, who stepped down from the governor's office amid scandal, is now strongly considering a run for state comptroller.... Spitzer has in recent weeks had discussions with some Democratic donors and insiders about the position currently held by Tom DiNapoli.... A Democrat who spoke with Spitzer said, "He's seriously thinking about it." "He wants to run if he can," said another source. "He's still talking about it." Gov. Paterson backed the idea.

John Liu easily won last night's runoff election for city comptroller and Bill de Blasio routed rival Mark Green in the public advocate contest -- victories that handed a major boost to the Working Families Party in its first foray into citywide races. Both races produced clear winners within 30 minutes of the polls closing at 9 p.m. A mere 228,000 ballots were cast, a record low. COMPLETE ELECTION RESULTS:Liu, who will oversee the city's $80 billion pension system, cruised into history as the first Asian-American to win a citywide election, beating Brooklyn Councilman David Yassky, by 56 percent to...

From the New York Slimes (Times) Sept 15, 2009... With 100 percent of the vote counted, unofficial results showed that Mr. Liu had captured 38 percent of the vote, just short of the 40 percent he needed to win outright. Mr. Yassky took 30 percent, and Councilwoman Melinda R. Katz of Queens finished third, with 20 percent. David I. Weprin, a councilman from Queens, was fourth. The results set up a contest between two men who, over the course of the campaign, projected sharply different images to voters. Mr. Liu, a former actuary and an immigrant from Taiwan, struck a...

The New York city comptroller, William C. Thompson Jr., is staking his mayoral campaign on his skills as a financial manager, which he says are exemplified by his supervision of the nation’s largest municipal pension system. But a review of how the $80 billion system has performed since he took office shows it has consistently lagged behind many of its public pension peers even as the city tripled the number of money managers it uses and the fees that it pays those firms. Over the last seven years, four of the five city pension funds performed below the median for...

ALBANY, Feb. 7 — The Democratic-led State Assembly dealt a setback today to Gov. Eliot Spitzer by agreeing to elect Assemblyman Thomas P. DiNapoli as the next state comptroller, reneging on a deal it made with the governor to choose only from candidates deemed qualified by an outside screening panel. The full Legislature voted to make Mr. DiNapoli comptroller this afternoon. The Legislature was in the unusual position of choosing a comptroller for a nearly full four-year term because the popularly elected comptroller, Alan G. Hevesi, resigned in disgrace after he pleaded guilty to a felony late last year. Instead...

There was a big political defeat on Wednesday for Governor Eliot Spitzer. The New York Assembly chose one of their own, Thomas DiNapoli, as the next controller to replace Alan Hevesi. The vote came despite strong opposition from Mr. Spitzer. The vote wrapped up late Wednesday, and it was 151 for DiNapoli and 54 for the other finalist, one of three backed by the governor. The state legislature basically told Spitzer to butt out, and the governor is livid saying today's vote is further evidence of all that's wrong with Albany. For Spitzer, it's been a rollercoaster these last 24...

THE heat on embattled State Comptroller Alan Hevesi is bringing unwanted attention to his relationship with Queens City Councilwoman Melinda Katz, who has long been his political protégé. "It's an open secret in Queens political circles," one lawmaker told Page Six. "She kisses him on the lips in public, and he went to war with the county organization to get her elected." "It's common knowledge," said another politico. "I've seen them making out." One pol said he spotted them canoodling years ago one night at Terrace on the Park, the catering facility near La Guardia Airport. Although Katz is single,...

Pataki appoints special prosecutor Albany — Gov. George Pataki appointed a special prosecutor yesterday to kick off an extraordinary process that could lead to embattled state Comptroller Alan Hevesi being forced from office for using a state worker as his wife's private driver. Pataki asked David Kelley, former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, to help him decide within a week whether to make the unprecedented request of the Republican-controlled state Senate to vote for Hevesi's removal. "It is an extraordinary act for officials to overturn an election of a statewide elected official after a vote by...

Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno on Tuesday called for embattled state Comptroller Alan Hevesi to resign, saying his failure to reimburse the state for the use of a staffer as his wife's driver represents "a serious breach of the public trust." In a scathing report Monday, the state Ethics Commission said Hevesi, a Queens Democrat, broke the law by failing to pay for the driver despite a 2003 advisory opinion from the commission that he should. The commission faulted him for not tracking the employee's time and noted that Hevesi had assigned another state driver for his wife even before...

The state Ethics Commission concluded Monday that state Comptroller Alan Hevesi "knowingly and intentionally" violated the public trust by using public employees to chauffeur his wife. more at url

LAKE GEORGE, N.Y. - Comptroller Alan Hevesi offered his first public apology yesterday for failing to reimburse the state for using one of his employees to chauffeur his wife since 2003. "It was irresponsible of me," Hevesi said at a meeting of the New York State Association of Counties. "For the comptroller of the state of New York, it was really inappropriate." Hevesi, who is seeking a second four-year term as the state's chief financial officer, acknowledged last week he had not reimbursed the state for the cost of having his wife driven around by a state employee since 2003....

(English-language translation) Comptroller Manuel Díaz Saldaña yesterday presented to a legislative committee his principal findings of audits of the Municipality of San Juan when former Governor Sila M. Calderón was mayor, among these “extravagant and unnecessary expenses” towards supporting the Navy’s withdrawal from Vieques and promoting her image. The official published 18 reports between June 1999 and March 2005 on fiscal operations in City Hall and in the Communications Central Office during Calderón’s incumbency as mayor and governor. “The principal findings published in the March 14, 2005 audit report (reveal) extravagant and unnecessary expenses and the use of public funds...

The Comptroller General of the United States warns the nation will go broke within a generation - unless it takes radical steps now to rein in out-of-control federal spending. In an exclusive interview with NewsMax, Comptroller David M. Walker, explained his mission: Save America from the brink of financial disaster. Walker has revealed America's collision course in computer simulations that show balancing the budget in 2040 (under the status quo of spending like there's no tomorrow) could require cutting total federal spending by an incredible 60 percent - or raising federal taxes 200 percent over today's level. Serving a 15-year...

The Nation's Accountant Tells It Like It Is Dave Eberhart, NewsMax.com Thursday, Aug. 3, 2006 WASHINGTON -- NewsMax caught up with U.S. Comptroller General David M. Walker, who, at age 54, is a bona fide baby boomer. The energetic CPA was direct about what most motivates him: "The baby boomers are on the path to be the first generation in the history of this country not to leave the country better positioned for the future. "That is unacceptable to me, and I will continue to fight as long as I can to try to make sure that that doesn't become...

Controller race draws a crowd They’re all competing for the key job described by one as ‘the CFO for the sixth-largest economy in the world’ By Bob Cuddy The four candidates running for state controller. What a controller does (PDF) Ask the average Californian what the state controller does, and you’ll likely hear, "What’s that?" says state Sen. Joe Dunn, who wants the job. But Dunn and his opponents know better. "You’re the CFO for the sixth-largest economy in the world," says John Chiang, also a candidate for state controller on the June 6 ballot. Chiang and Dunn are opposing...

Deadline day filing ends mystery Quote from the announcement: "I am a Republican, but I know we must set partisan politics aside and do what's right for Texas. That is why I am running for governor as a Texas Independent. We can't wait any longer. It's time to shake Austin up."