A Conversation with New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli

The Voice Podcast

The Voice Podcast
A Conversation with New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli
Apr 04, 2026 Season 4 Episode 4
United University Professions

UUP President Fred Kowal sits down with New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli for an in-studio interview that covers DiNapoli's longtime role as a trusted friend of UUP and organized labor. 

In 2024, UUP honored Tom with our Friend of SUNY award, which recognizes distinguished service to SUNY and the progressive development of public higher education in our state. 

Kowal and DiNapoli also talk about DiNapoli's political career, his strong support of SUNY and public higher education, his handling of the state's pension plan and his upcoming contested reelection bid in November. 

In Labor Lookback, episode producer Mike Lisi goes back in time to revisit the  1937 Detroit Woolworth's sit-down strike and provides an entertaining history of labor's favorite rodent, Scabby the Rat

Special thanks to The Workers' Mic podcast, which interviewed Scabby's creator, Jim Sweeney, in 2024; and to Albany NY pop band C. Jane Run, which allowed us to use part of their song "Standby." 

In Kowal's Coda, Kowal discusses two books that's he's reading, Ian Toll's "Twilight of the Gods: War in the Western Pacific, 1944-1945" and SUNY College of Environmental Science Professor Robin Wall Kimmerer's "Braiding Sweetgrass." 

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