Abe Hirschfeld - a New York real estate executive running for state comptroller on the Independent Party ticket against Democrat incumbent H. Carl McCall - has called for a study to explore merging the $104 billion New York State Common Fund and the $80 billion New York City pension funds.
Mr. Hirschfeld said the New York State Assembly won't give a cost-of-living adjustment to the state system if the city systems don't also receive it, and the city systems can't afford it. No one at Mr. McCall's office was immediately available for comment.