Bill Mahoney reports at Politico about the single debate between Democrat Tom DiNapoli and Republican Paul Rodriguez for New York’s comptroller election this fall. DiNapoli is a four-term incumbent, and Rodriguez is an investor who received 5.6 percent of the vote as the Conservative Party nominee in last year’s race to be New York City’s comptroller. It was an amiable debate, and several times Rodriguez agreed with DiNapoli. “I have to agree in many ways with Mr. DiNapoli on this,” Rodriguez said about concerns about the state’s approach to gambling. “Al Smith is a very good answer, actually,” he said when the incumbent responded to a question about who the best New York governor has been. The biggest difference noted between the two candidates was on how much of an activist role the comptroller should take with pension fund. “More diverse representation, more women on boards, makes a company better,” DiNapoli said. “The Wall Street mentality of only looking at numbers and being blind to what a company is actually doing is the wrong strategy.” Rodriguez disagreed there, saying that he doesn’t think “that public pension plans should be managed like private activist hedge funds.” The other big difference between the two candidates in this election has been campaign spending. Rodriguez has spent $10.86 so far on his campaign, state records show, while DiNapoli has spent about $2.2 million. Voting begins Oct. 29 and ends Nov. 8. Read the full story at Politico.