Carl McCall
Encyclopedia
Herman Carl McCall is a former Comptroller of New York State and was the Democratic candidate for state governor
Governor of New York
The Governor of the State of New York is the chief executive of the State of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military and naval forces. The officeholder is afforded the courtesy title of His/Her...

 in 2002. He is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ
United Church of Christ
The United Church of Christ is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination primarily in the Reformed tradition but also historically influenced by Lutheranism. The Evangelical and Reformed Church and the Congregational Christian Churches united in 1957 to form the UCC...

, and currently serves on the Board of Directors for numerous corporations. He received a B.A. degree from Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...

 in 1958. He was also educated at the University of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...

, received a Master's of Divinity Degree from Andover Newton Theological School
Andover Newton Theological School
Andover Newton Theological School is a graduate school and seminary located in Newton, Massachusetts. It is America's oldest graduate seminary and the nation's first graduate institution of any kind...

, and is the recipient of nine honorary degrees. He was the first African-American to be elected Comptroller of New York State.

Early career

McCall was born in the Roxbury section of Boston the oldest of six children. His father Herman McCall moved to Boston from Georgia, and left the family when Carl McCall was eleven. McCall attended church with Edward Brooke
Edward Brooke
Edward William Brooke, III is an American politician and was elected to the United States Senate as a Republican from Massachusetts in 1966, defeating his Democratic opponent, Endicott Peabody, 60.7%–38.7%...

. He attended Dartmouth on private and ROTC scholarship, and graduated in 1958 with a bachelor's degree in government. During the 1960s, McCall worked as a high school teacher and a bank manager. He taught for six months at Jamaica Plains High School, and then joined the Army. He opened a church in the Dorchester neighborhood. By the late 1960s McCall moved to New York City to work for church outreach. He was appointed by New York Mayor John Lindsay
John Lindsay
John Vliet Lindsay was an American politician, lawyer and broadcaster who was a U.S. Congressman, Mayor of New York City, candidate for U.S...

 to head the Commission Against Poverty.

During the 1970s, McCall, backed by Harlem political power, Percy Sutton
Percy Sutton
Percy Ellis Sutton was a prominent black American political and business leader. A civil-rights activist and lawyer, he was also a Freedom Rider and the legal representative for Malcolm X...

, was elected to three terms as a State Senator representing Harlem and other parts of Manhattan. He left the Senate to accept an appointment from President Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...

 as a member of the U.S. delegation to the United Nations with the rank of Ambassador.

In 1982 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination for Lieutenant Governor of New York
Lieutenant Governor of New York
The Lieutenant Governor of New York is a constitutional office in the executive branch of the government of New York State. It is the second highest ranking official in state government. The lieutenant governor is elected on a ticket with the governor for a four year term...

 to run on a ticket with Mario Cuomo
Mario Cuomo
Mario Matthew Cuomo served as the 52nd Governor of New York from 1983 to 1994, and is the father of Andrew Cuomo, the current governor of New York.-Early life:...

. Governor Cuomo appointed McCall to serve as the state's Commissioner of Human Rights (1983–84).

While serving in the private sector as a vice president for governmental relations with Citicorp (1985–93), McCall accepted an appointment to the New York City Board of Education, where he served as President of the Board from 1991 to 1993.

State Comptroller

In 1993, McCall was elected by the New York State Legislature to fill the unexpired term of Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

 Edward Regan as state comptroller
New York State Comptroller
The New York State Comptroller is a state cabinet officer of the U.S. state of New York. The duties of the comptroller include auditing government operations and operating the state's retirement system.-History:...

. As comptroller, McCall was responsible for serving as the state's chief fiscal officer, conducting audits of state and local entities, serving as the state's bookkeeper, investing the state's funds, overseeing the state's debt issuances, and serving as the sole trustee of the state pension fund.

He was elected state comptroller in 1994, defeating conservative Herbert London
Herbert London
-Early life:He was born in Brooklyn, New York circa 1939 and attended Columbia University, graduating in 1960. Standing 6'5", he was drafted by the Syracuse Nationals of the National Basketball League, but did not play for them because of injuries. He was a social studies secondary school teacher...

, and in 1998, defeating Republican Bruce Blakeman. In 1998 he announced that he would not seek election to the U.S. Senate in 2000, paving the way for the successful candidacy of Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton is the 67th United States Secretary of State, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She was a United States Senator for New York from 2001 to 2009. As the wife of the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton, she was the First Lady of the...

.

Campaign for Governor

In 2002 McCall officially announced his campaign against Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

 incumbent George Pataki
George Pataki
George Elmer Pataki is an American politician who was the 53rd Governor of New York. A member of the Republican Party, Pataki served three consecutive four-year terms from January 1, 1995 until December 31, 2006.- Early life :...

. After his primary opponent, former US housing secretary Andrew Cuomo
Andrew Cuomo
Andrew Mark Cuomo is the 56th and current Governor of New York, having assumed office on January 1, 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the 64th New York State Attorney General, and was the 11th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development...

, withdrew from the race, McCall entered the general election as the uncontested Democratic candidate, but lost to Pataki.

McCall was the favorite of the Democratic establishment, but he faced a tough challenge from Cuomo which almost split the party. Cuomo proved to be a better fundraiser, and McCall's own campaign war chest was heavily depleted in the primary battle. Although McCall himself did not make any negative attacks, his close supporter, US Congressman Charles B. Rangel
Charles B. Rangel
Charles Bernard "Charlie" Rangel is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1971. A member of the Democratic Party, he is the third-longest currently serving member of the House of Representatives. As its most senior member, he is also the Dean of New York's congressional delegation...

, stated that the McCall camp would not necessarily endorse Cuomo in the general election should the latter win. This backfired as some Italian-Americans interpreted that as racism, and many of Cuomo's supporters refused to unite behind McCall after McCall won the nomination.

Money would prove to be a handicap in the general election, as DNC
Democratic National Committee
The Democratic National Committee is the principal organization governing the United States Democratic Party on a day to day basis. While it is responsible for overseeing the process of writing a platform every four years, the DNC's central focus is on campaign and political activity in support...

 Chairman Terry McAuliffe
Terry McAuliffe
Terence Richard "Terry" McAuliffe is a longtime leader and political advisor for the United States Democratic Party. He served as chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2001 to 2005. He served as Co-Chairman of President William Jefferson Clinton's 1996 re-election campaign and also...

 stated that he would not channel large sums of money to McCall's campaign unless the gap could be closed with Pataki, which McCall never managed to do. In an unusual show of support, conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh
Rush Limbaugh
Rush Hudson Limbaugh III is an American radio talk show host, conservative political commentator, and an opinion leader in American conservatism. He hosts The Rush Limbaugh Show which is aired throughout the U.S. on Premiere Radio Networks and is the highest-rated talk-radio program in the United...

 urged his listeners to donate to McCall's campaign. Limbaugh said the refusal to give the McCall campaign money was a show of racism on the part of the DNC.

Letterhead controversy

In October 2002, McCall released 61 letters he had written on state letterhead to heads of companies in which the state pension fund owned large blocks of stock, asking them to review enclosed resumes of his relatives and other job-seekers.

Some of the letters referred to the size of the state's ownership interest in the corporation targeted, which critics claimed amounted to a veiled threat to punish companies that didn't hire his relatives. A Quinnipiac poll released October 16 showed that two-thirds of likely voters were aware of the letters and of those more than a fifth were less likely to vote for McCall as a result.

McCall defended the letters. Although he did issue a statement regretting the "appearance" and "impression" of the letters he wrote on government stationery, he maintained that he "never sought to leverage my public position nor mix my government role with my personal and professional relationship" in the letters. McCall's daughter, Marci, was hired by Verizon, which received such a letter, but was subsequently fired for using her company credit card to pay for substantial personal expenditures. Charges of larceny against her were dropped after some reimbursement to Verizon, and she was then hired as a marketer by McCall's running mate, Dennis Mehiel.

Results

McCall was defeated in the election for governor by the Republican incumbent, George Pataki
George Pataki
George Elmer Pataki is an American politician who was the 53rd Governor of New York. A member of the Republican Party, Pataki served three consecutive four-year terms from January 1, 1995 until December 31, 2006.- Early life :...

. McCall received 33% of the vote, a low percentage for a Democratic nominee for statewide office in a state where the Democratic Party is by far the dominant party based on voter registrations. Some observers feel that this seemingly poor showing was in part due to the revelation of the above-referenced letters; others insinuated that McCall's showing was related to racism, especially in upstate New York. However, others point out that Pataki was able to make crucial inroads into traditional areas of Democratic support, such as unions and even African-American congregations. The three-way vote-split efforts of Tom Golisano
Tom Golisano
Blase Thomas Golisano is an American businessman and philanthropist. He is the founder of Paychex, the second-largest payroll processor in the United States and former co-owner of the Buffalo Sabres hockey team and of the Buffalo Bandits lacrosse team...

, who primarily ran against Pataki on his own third-party line
Independence Party of New York
The Independence Party is an affiliate in the U.S. state of New York of the Independence Party of America. The party was founded in 1991 by Dr. Gordon Black, Tom Golisano, and Laureen Oliver from Rochester, New York, and acquired ballot status in 1994...

, also diverted much of the anti-Pataki vote away from McCall.

Other political commentators attribute McCall's defeat to the growing popularity of the Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

 after the terrorist attacks
September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...

 of September 11, 2001, along with Governor Pataki's successful administration of the state.

Present

McCall was a recent member of the Board of the New York Stock Exchange
New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located at 11 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, USA. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies at 13.39 trillion as of Dec 2010...

 (1999–2003), as well as the Apollo Theater Foundation, Inc. Currently, he is a member of the Fiscal Control Board for Buffalo, New York
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...

 as well as the SUNY Board of Trustees. He also serves on the Boards of Directors for TYCO International, New Plan Realty, TAG Entertainment Corporation, Ariel Mutual Fund, and as Chair of the New York State Public Higher Education Conference Board. He spoke at his alma mater Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...

's annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day celebration in 2006 about modern civil rights and the legacy of Dr. King. He operates his own financial services fund called Convent Capital, LLC.

McCall is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha
Alpha Phi Alpha
Alpha Phi Alpha is the first Inter-Collegiate Black Greek Letter fraternity. It was founded on December 4, 1906 at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Its founders are known as the "Seven Jewels". Alpha Phi Alpha developed a model that was used by the many Black Greek Letter Organizations ...

 fraternity.

In January 2007, McCall was appointed to a panel, along with former New York State Comptroller Ned Regan and former New York City Comptroller Harrison Jay Goldin
Harrison J. Goldin
Harrison Jay Goldin is a lawyer and former New York politician. He served as New York City Comptroller from 1974 to 1989. He was a member of the New York State Senate from 1966 to 1973 and ran in the 1989 Democratic Primary election for Mayor of New York...

, to interview and recommend up to five candidates to the State Legislature to replace Alan Hevesi
Alan Hevesi
Alan G. Hevesi is a Democratic politician whoserved as a New York State Assemblyman from 1971 to 1993, as Comptroller of the City of New York from 1994 to 2001, and as State Comptroller for the State of New York from 2003 to 2006...

, who resigned as State Comptroller due to scandal.

In May 2009, Convent Capital, the financial services firm run by McCall, was subpoenaed, along with other unregistered placement agents, by state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office as part of an inquiry into possible corruption involved in deals brokered between investment firms and the state pension fund.

Personal

McCall is the son of Herbert McCall and Caroleasa Ray, both deceased. His father was a railroad porter who abandoned the family of six children; the family was supported thereafter primarily by welfare and by relatives, due to his mother's infirmity. McCall graduated from Roxbury Memorial High School in Boston before going on to Dartmouth College. In 1983 McCall married second-wife, Dr. Joyce F. Brown, former psychology professor, NYC deputy mayor in the Dinkins Administration, and current president of SUNY's Fashion Institute of Technology
Fashion Institute of Technology
The Fashion Institute of Technology, generally known as FIT, is a State University of New York college of art, business, design, and technology connected to the fashion industry, with an urban campus located on West 27th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues in the Chelsea neighborhood of...

 in New York City. They have no children. His first marriage to Cecilia McCall, mother of his daughter Marcella, ended in divorce.

Awards

McCall is the recipient of nine honorary degrees. In 2003, he was awarded the Nelson Rockefeller
Nelson Rockefeller
Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller was the 41st Vice President of the United States , serving under President Gerald Ford, and the 49th Governor of New York , as well as serving the Roosevelt, Truman and Eisenhower administrations in a variety of positions...

 Distinguished Public Service Award from the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy at the University of Albany.

Electoral history

1998 Race for state Comptroller
    • Carl McCall (D), 64.75%
    • Bruce Blakeman (R), 32.19%
    • Douglas Harknett (RTL), 1.59%
    • Dean Venezia (Marijuana Reform), 0.89%
    • Howie Hawkins
      Howie Hawkins
      Howie Hawkins is an American politician and activist with the Green Party of the United States and Socialist Party USA. He co-founded the anti-nuclear Clamshell Alliance in 1976 and the Green Party in the United States in 1984. He was New York's Green Party candidate for the U.S. Senate in the...

       (Green), 0.34%
    • Robert Goodman (LBT), 0.23%
  • 2002 Race for Governor
    • George Pataki
      George Pataki
      George Elmer Pataki is an American politician who was the 53rd Governor of New York. A member of the Republican Party, Pataki served three consecutive four-year terms from January 1, 1995 until December 31, 2006.- Early life :...

       (R) (inc.), 49%
    • Carl McCall (D), 34%
    • Tom Golisano
      Tom Golisano
      Blase Thomas Golisano is an American businessman and philanthropist. He is the founder of Paychex, the second-largest payroll processor in the United States and former co-owner of the Buffalo Sabres hockey team and of the Buffalo Bandits lacrosse team...

       (I), 14%

1994 NYS Democratic ticket

  • Governor: Mario Cuomo
    Mario Cuomo
    Mario Matthew Cuomo served as the 52nd Governor of New York from 1983 to 1994, and is the father of Andrew Cuomo, the current governor of New York.-Early life:...

  • Lieutenant Governor: Stan Lundine
    Stan Lundine
    Stanley Nelson Lundine is a politician from Jamestown, New York who served as Mayor of Jamestown, a United States Representative, and lieutenant governor of New York. A Democrat, he was inaugurated Mayor in 1970 and served to 1976 when he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives after the...

  • Comptroller: Carl McCall
  • Attorney General: Karen Burstein
    Karen Burstein
    Karen Burstein is a politician and former judge from New York. She was the unsuccessful Democratic nominee for New York State Attorney General in 1994.-Biography:...

  • U.S. Senate: Daniel Patrick Moynihan
    Daniel Patrick Moynihan
    Daniel Patrick "Pat" Moynihan was an American politician and sociologist. A member of the Democratic Party, he was first elected to the United States Senate for New York in 1976, and was re-elected three times . He declined to run for re-election in 2000...


1998 NYS Democratic ticket

  • Governor: Peter Vallone
  • Lieutenant Governor: Sandra Frankel
    Sandra Frankel
    Sandra L. Frankel is the Supervisor of the Town of Brighton, Monroe County, New York. A former school board member, Frankel is a longtime town supervisor....

  • Comptroller: Carl McCall
  • Attorney General: Eliot Spitzer
    Eliot Spitzer
    Eliot Laurence Spitzer is an American lawyer, former Democratic Party politician, and political commentator. He was the co-host of In the Arena, a talk-show and punditry forum broadcast on CNN until CNN cancelled his show in July of 2011...

  • U.S. Senate: Charles Schumer
    Charles Schumer
    Charles Ellis "Chuck" Schumer is the senior United States Senator from New York and a member of the Democratic Party. First elected in 1998, he defeated three-term Republican incumbent Al D'Amato by a margin of 55%–44%. He was easily re-elected in 2004 by a margin of 71%–24% and in 2010 by a...


2002 NYS Democratic ticket

  • Governor: Carl McCall
  • Lieutenant Governor: Dennis Mehiel
  • Comptroller: Alan Hevesi
    Alan Hevesi
    Alan G. Hevesi is a Democratic politician whoserved as a New York State Assemblyman from 1971 to 1993, as Comptroller of the City of New York from 1994 to 2001, and as State Comptroller for the State of New York from 2003 to 2006...

  • Attorney General: Eliot Spitzer
    Eliot Spitzer
    Eliot Laurence Spitzer is an American lawyer, former Democratic Party politician, and political commentator. He was the co-host of In the Arena, a talk-show and punditry forum broadcast on CNN until CNN cancelled his show in July of 2011...


External links

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