New York State of Politics listens to Paul Rodriguez the Republican and Conservative Party candidate for New York state comptroller. He wants to unseat Tom DiNapoli, a Democrat from Long Island, who has held the position for 14 years. That might be tough, asNew York's Common Retirement Fund’s investment return for the past fiscal year was 9.51 percent. Rodriguez attacked DiNapoli for sometimes taking political issues into account when making investment decisions. “Frankly, I believe that it’s irresponsible and unethical for any public official to use the value of the pension fund, and the power that comes with that pension fund to push whatever personal, political agenda they have,” Rodriguez said. “Primarily, the reason for that is that politics and public opinion changes with time.” For instance, Rodriguez would have kept New York's investment with the Russian regime headed by the brutal dictator Vladimir Putin. “What [Putin] did was simply prohibit [foreign] investors from selling their shares on the Russian market,” he said. “As a result of that, we now have about half a billion dollars at the state level and probably another $300 million at the city level, that virtually has no value on our books because we can’t sell it..... [The job] shouldn’t be about virtue signal political leanings. It should be about doing what’s best in terms of prudence and in terms of ethics." Rodriguez worked on Wall Street and has been a financial advisor to affluent individuals and business owners, and is now, “a nonprofit development professional at a major New York City religious institution," according to Ballotpedia. Voting in the general election this year takes place Oct. 29 through Nov. 8. Read more about this story at New York State of Politics.