John Burnett: GOP candidate for New York City Comptoller.
FOR NEW YORKER’s CONSIDERATION, BURNETT IS THE REAL ROLE MODEL FOR BLACK AMERICANS:
* His parents grew up in the Jim Crow South James in Durham, NC, and Mary in Savannah, Ga. Their experiences informs Burnetts mantra of No excuses How can I say, This is difficult, when my father had it 10 times as hard?
* His father Starting out as a dishwasher, his dad did his job super fast so he could watch the cook. He learned to cook himself and eventually became the chef for an entire hospital. Even after becoming a Pentacostal pastor, he continued as a chef because he didnt believe in living off his congregation.
* Burnett enrolled in the Borough of Manhattan Community College, Burnett quit because he wasnt learning anything.
* With no degree, he still talked his way into a margin-analyst position at Dean Witter.
* In eight years, he rose to a compliance position which immersed him in SEC, NYSE and state securities regulations. He then moved to Smith-Barney for another eight years, as manager of the Global Markets compliance division.
* Still working full-time, he went back to school at night earning a BS degree in Leadership and Management from NYU, then an MBA from Cornell.
* HIS INVESTMENT PHILOSOPHY FOR NYC FUNDS:
Hed bring a common-sense, no-nonsense approach to city investment: I believe in investing in an ethically and socially responsible manner [within reason] . . . If [say, green energy] is . . . earning at a comparable rate as other investments, sure Ill support it. If its only yielding a small percentage, say 2 percent and I need it to earn eight, my dollars arent going there. That would be a violation of my fiduciary responsibilities in favor of doing something nice and social.