Great Neck Plaza resident Thomas DiNapoli took the oath of office on Sunday to mark the beginning of his third term as New York state comptroller.
During an inauguration ceremony at the John Cranford Adams Playhouse at Hofstra University, at the Mineola native’s alma mater, DiNapoli was administered the oath by state Supreme Court justice Sharon Gianelli before an audience of family and about a hundred local elected officials.
“Thank you for joining me on this journey to meet the challenges of our time, to bend history together, to write the history of our generation and to ensure that New York’s best days are yet to come,” said DiNapoli, 60, a Democrat.
In his remarks, DiNapoli championed his office’s crackdown on government corruption as well as its restoration of the state pension fund, now valued at more than $178 billion.
“My work continues to partner with law enforcement and prosecutors across our state to keep a bull’s eye on corrupt officials,” he said. “My message is simple – if you steal from taxpayers, you will pay.”
DiNapoli was re-elected to a third term in November, receiving 57.09 percent of the vote over Republican Robert Antonacci.
The comptroller first entered politics in 1972, winning a trustee position on the Mineola board of education at 18 years old.
He later spent 20 years in the state Assembly from 1987-07, representing the 16th district before taking office as comptroller.
“It’s a great day for Tom,” said Sen. Charles Schumer, a Democrat, who was one of several guest speakers during the inauguration. “He worked hard at whatever he did, but he had public service in his bones from the very beginning.”
Hofstra’s setting for Sunday’s inauguration served as a homecoming of sorts for DiNapoli, who graduated magna cum laude from the university in 1976 with a bachelor’s degree in history. He was later presented with an honorary doctorate from the school in 2008.
DiNapoli received his master’s degree in human resources in 1988 from The New School’s Graduate School of Management and Urban Professions.
In his welcoming remarks, Hofstra president Stuart Rabinowitz thanked the comptroller for supporting the school over the years by working as an adjunct professor and regularly inviting undergraduate students to his Albany office.
“To say that we are proud to welcome Tom back is a bit of a misstatement because to us, he never left,” he said.
DiNapoli, who is unmarried and does not have children, was joined onstage by his nieces, nephew and father, who is now in his 90s.
His brother, James DiNapoli, led the assembly in the Pledge of Allegiance and Rev. Msgr. Brendan Riordan of Saint Aloysius Roman Catholic Church of Great Neck, provided the invocation.
The ceremony concluded with a benediction from Rev. Calvin O. Butts, III of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York City and president of SUNY College at Old Westbury.
