Is What Hevesi Did So Bad – Or So Different? And What's The Alternative?
October 31st, 2006
Newsday criticizes New York State Comptroller Alan Hevesi today for running negative commercials about his opponent. The editorial reflects the general tone editorialists and bloggers have been taking about Hevesi’s use of a state employee to drive around his ailing wife.
But, as the case continues, voters realize they are likely to face a choice between him and his opponent on Election Day (unless criminal proceedings intervene), and it is provoking some differing points of view, that seem to fall into two basic categories:
1.What he did doesn’t seem so bad, or at least not so different from other officials.
2.The alternative might be a nightmare.
Among the dozens of comments on the comments page of a blog post at The Daily Politics is this anonymous one: “This blog and most of the media pathetically try to suck all of the blood out of Alan Hevesi and will then have themselves to blame when Comptroller Callghan incompetently mismanages pension funds, screws up state audits, and lets his GOP henchmen block the new Governor’s agenda whenever possible… So give it a rest; let the election run its course. Hevesi should still win, resign and get replaced by a competent person.”
(Among the many responses: “Hevesi is the personification of everything that’s wrong with Albany… Callaghan couldn’t be any worse. Think of it as a “creative destruction”; at least one guy won’t owe anyone a damn thing-not 1199, not the teachers, not the unions, not the lobbyists. Because for all the “Day One” bravado, you know it’s still going to be business as usual for the rest of Albany. Somebody should be an outsider….”)
Last Friday, New York Times columnist Clyde Haberman (available only to subscribers) offered a compelling tidbit from the past, repeating the recollection of someone who saw the wife of long-time New York State Comptroller Arthur Levitt get picked up every day from her office at P.S. 268 by a chauffeur driving “a big black car….Back then,” Haberman observed, “that sort of practice raised few, if any, eyebrows.”
Today he follows up with another column detailing more recent questionable practices by other state officials, many of whom are having (or could have) a hand in addressing Comptroller Alan Hevesi’s ethical lapses. Among them:
Governor George Pataki – “His wife, Libby, wrote a children’s book, then leaned on Republican groups to buy it in bulk. An assistant, whose salary was paid by the state’s Republican Party, ran personal errands for her. Unlike Mr. Hevesi’s situation, no taxpayer funds were involved. But it was not exactly how Republican donors thought their money would be used.
State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno — “Mr. Bruno’s son Kenneth was for a time a lobbyist. Just whom did the younger Bruno lobby last year with — mirabile dictu — conspicuous success? Why, aides to his father.”
And the new attorney general — “It could be Jeanine F. Pirro, she who signed false tax returns that sent her husband to jail, or Andrew M. Cuomo, he who was paid handsomely by a businessman once investigated by Mr. Cuomo when he was the federal housing secretary. Neither Ms. Pirro nor Mr. Cuomo has been charged with wrongdoing. Then again, neither has received a medal for high-mindedness.
By Jonathan Mandell on October 31, 2006, 12:22 pmIn category: Albany, Electoral Politics, Finance, Voting
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October 31st, 2006 at 4:32 pm
I used to work for Alan Hevesi (I was a NYC Deputy Comtptoller), but I retired over two years ago and no longer live in the USA. I say this in order to show that I had nothing to gain from an email I recently sent to a senior member of his staff, that I’d like to share with you:
Dear ____:
Just a brief note to tell you that even in Paris, I’ve heard the news about Alan’s latest problems, and though it was a silly thing for him to do, I also know that none of us (even I!!) in public service have been infallible, and at one time or another we all have done something that was, in hindsight, reflective of poor judgement. The only difference is that some of us got caught, and others didn’t. Thus, we all live in glass houses, and none of us should be quick to judge, except to weigh a single mistake against the full record of all the other benefits the public derived from our services. In Alan’s case, there’s no contest. That’s how I see him, and that’s why my heart is with him in this time of doubt and uncertainty about the future. If I were still in the States, I’d be stopping whatever I was doing to work full-time to help Alan right now. As it is, all I can do is ask you to tell him that my heart is with him, and that I wish him the best. Of all the elected officials I’ve served with in my career, he is without doubt the most deserving of unequivocal loyalty and friendship.
November 1st, 2006 at 7:06 pm
I’ve been a lifelong Democrat. I cast my first vote for Cuomo in 94 and subsequently voted for Clinton, Gore, Kerry, etc and I just had a few questions based on this post:
1) Is it okay as long as everyone else does it?
2)Should we disregard the law because other politicans have done the same thing but simply haven’t been caught?
3) Should we ignore Hevesi’s ethical and potentially criminal actions because he has a proud record of public service?
4) Do our laws count for anything or may we simply ignore them when we see fit?
5) Are we so cynical that we would actually vote to return Hevesi to the Comptroller’s office on the assumption that he will be removed/resign from office in January, which will make it okay?
6) I consider myself to be very cynical, but don’t we deserve better than this?
November 1st, 2006 at 8:59 pm
This wasn’t just an oversight or a misjudgement. Rather, as it was the second time Hevesi has been caught in exactly the same overreaching act, it was an act of hubris, a lack of integrity. Stealing is stealing. I feel terribly that Mrs. Hevesi is so ill, badly for her family, including Mr. Hevesi. But if his wife needed a driver, he could have provided it himself and not taken from public funds. I’m flabbergasted that the earlier writer can overlook this as “in hindsight,” “something reflective of poor judgement.” Especially when he had been caught at it in New York City.
November 1st, 2006 at 11:33 pm
Alan Hevesi’s mismanagement of the $142.6 billion pension fund is the real reason he should be denied reelection next Tuesday. According to the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, Page 123, issued by the New York State Comptroller’s Office, state and local governments contributed $263.8 million for the year ending March 31, 2002 in order to pay retiree benefits. Hevesi assumed office in 2003. Due to obviously questionable investment of pension fund assets by Hevesi, as their share of paying retirees, the State and local governments were forced to contribute an astonishing and devastating tenfold increase amounting to $2.8 billion for the year ending March 31, 2006!
Retiree benefits for state and local governments State and local governments currently amount to $6.1 billion. In order to earn the $6.1 billion, all Hevesi had to do was invest the $142.6 billion at in securities averaging a 4.2% cash flow return. The state and local governments could then supplement this by contributing a modest $100 million matched by a similar sum from their employees to taking advantage of what John Maynard Keynes called “the beauty of compound interest” and build a sufficient reserves for future emergencies.
It is patronizing for New York City Democrats promoiting on all city slate to demean the qualifications of upstater Christopher Callaghan. A reasonable argument can be made that he is one of the best qualified candidates on the basis of education and experience to run for New York State Comptroller since World War II. Callaghan majored in accounting in college in contrast to Hevesi, who obtained his degree in political science.. Following graduation, Callaghan was employed in accounting and budget analysis. He eventually became Treasurer of Saratoga County. Hevesi, on the other hand, was an assemblyman and professor of political science.
November 2nd, 2006 at 10:15 am
The former NYC Deputy Comptroller talks about “glass houses” is he kidding??!! Hevesi’s comptrollership has been about breaking glass houses. Chauffergate is not Enron — but it is all about its political equivalent. Look — if some other officeholder committed Chauffergate, apologized, and paid back the taxpayers — you could think, “hey, no harm, no foul.” But that is not the case here. Alan Hevesi has based his Comptrollership on going after local government officials misuse of government property for personal use — e.g., the assistant principal of Podunk Middle School uses a district cell phone to call his girl friend. That’s frankly what Hevesi’s audits and screaming headlines have gone after (and not so much the structural financial practices of school districts, disappointingly). So now, if Hevesi comes into my town’s school district and chastises an administrator for such a thing, it should be OK if the administrator merely apologizes and pays back the taxpayer. Because that’s what Hevesi is doing — he has lost his moral authority to hold the job of Comptroller. However, conveniently, there’s an election next week. Democratic conventional wisdom seems to be saying, “wink, wink…vote for Hevesi — and after the election — he’ll step down or be removed — and then Shelly Silver can name his replacement. Wrong. If Hevesi wins — he stays…because he can rightly argue that the public re-elected him with full knowledge of his transgressions. This election is all about accountability; and I’m a Democrat who will absolutely vote for Callaghan. Callaghan may not be the ideal politician or the ideal candidate for comptroller — but he’s no dope — he will retain and hire the right staff for this job –and he’s not beholden to the Republican party apparatus (up until a week ago they didn’t even know him) –and he’s far more worthy of the job than Hevesi. Plus, Hevesi’s TV ads are despicable. New York voters need to take a stand here (it’s really the only race on Tuesday where you actually CAN do that).
November 7th, 2006 at 12:38 pm
He is a crook! Let’s treat him as any other criminal and prosecute him. The fact that he “re payed” AFTER he got cought does not erase the crime! Think about it, if the bank robber returns the money, is there no crime?
November 8th, 2006 at 9:13 am
Looks like the N.Y. Voters have spoke their piece . Its O.K. to rip off the state even if you do get caught. Its O.K. to mismanage the State Pension fund. Hevesi’s win just goes to show you that the vast majority of voters are ignorant and should not have the right to vote! Is this a Democracy for the “Hooked on Phonics?”