Darker Days Ahead for Disgraced Comptroller (Alan Hevesi D)

NY Post ^ | 10/24/06 | KENNETH LOVETT

[finnman69]

The Ethics Commission's findings of wrong doing by Comptroller Alan Hevesi yesterday are just the start of the embattled Democrat's problems.

The state Legislature now has the report and, along with the governor, will have to determine whether to move forward with proceedings to remove Hevesi from office.

Democrats have already been discussing the possibility of Hevesi stepping down soon after the election, if he wins. It would be up to the Legislature to name a replacement.

Among those being mentioned as possible replacements for Hevesi are William Mulrow, who lost to Hevesi in the Democratic primary four years ago, city Comptroller Bill Thompson, and Assemblyman Richard Brodsky (D-Westchester).

A criminal investigation into his actions is still ongoing by the Albany County District Attorney's Office, and yesterday Attorney General Eliot Spitzer announced his office will also begin a probe.

[finnman69]

Alan Hevesi, NYC Comptroller, may be gone. He could be impeached.

Spitzer also backed this guy.

[finnman69]

I meant NY State Comptroller

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/24/nyregion/24hevesi.html?_r=1&ref=nyregion&oref=slogin

October 24, 2006
Ethics Panel Says N.Y. Comptroller’s Use of Drivers Broke the Law
By MICHAEL COOPER
ALBANY, Oct. 23 — The State Ethics Commission accused Comptroller Alan G. Hevesi on Monday of breaking the law by using state employees to chauffeur his wife, and sharply disputed his contention that his wife needed a driver for security reasons.

The accusation against Mr. Hevesi, the state’s chief fiscal watchdog, marks the first time that the commission has ever charged a statewide official with wrongdoing, officials said. The commission’s referral of the case to the Legislature left lawmakers scrambling to figure out how to discipline the guardian of the state’s finances.

The Legislature has a range of options, from doing nothing to fining Mr. Hevesi to removing him from office, possibly by impeachment, an action that has not been taken in decades. But the law for what comes next is murky, so the official accusation had officials in the Legislature and the governor’s office rummaging through their law books to figure out what to do.

The commission’s 26-page report sent shock waves through state politics and dealt a serious blow to Mr. Hevesi, a Democrat who is running for re-election in two weeks.

Mr. Hevesi had said that he needed a driver for his ailing wife, Carol, for security reasons. But the commission found that the state police had identified no threats against Mrs. Hevesi and deemed her a “low threat risk.” It noted that her state driver had no law enforcement background and was not part of the comptroller’s security team.

[Sun]

"Spitzer also backed this guy."

Yes, he did Spitzer goes after businesses and drives them out of NYS, but said that Hevesi was a good man.

Here's what Spitzer goes after:

I can remember in 2002, when Jerry Cronin ran for governor for the NYS Right-to-Life Party, he said while guesting on a radio show that Spitzer tried to close down a pregnancy crisis center that Cronin ran, claiming that it was misleading women, even though the center's phone number included BABY in the phone number, and other things that showed that the center was to help women choose life. A pro-life attorney helped Jerry Cronin for free, so the center he ran was saved. Jerry Cronin would know more about it that I would.

...........

The abortion empire strikes back
By Michelle Malkin
Friday, January 11, 2002

New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, a loyal water boy for pro-abortion groups, has launched a crackdown on crisis pregnancy centers.

This is a direct assault on the front lines of compassionate conservatism. An estimated 3,000 crisis pregnancy centers offer abortion alternatives nationwide. Most are non-profit and affiliated with Catholic charities. Radical feminists, who push abortion as the only acceptable choice, call these life-affirming pregnancy centers "deceptive." The National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League (NARAL) sells a guide to sabotaging the centers' missionary work.

Spitzer, a Democrat, promised NARAL three years ago that his tax-subsidized "reproductive rights unit," staffed by abortion activists, would carry on the campaign. He delivered.

According to Chris Slattery, the founder of Expectant Mother Care, which provides the most comprehensive crisis pregnancy services in New York City, Spitzer issued subpoenas last Friday to pregnancy resource centers in Staten Island and Manhattan demanding documents related to their services. Spitzer's office refused to provide me with any information on his legal maneuvering, but more subpoenas are expected. Spitzer's move "is a triple attack on the First Amendment -- on our freedom of assembly, religion and speech," Slattery told me.

excerpt: http://www.townhall.com/columnists/MichelleMalkin/2002/01/11/the_abortion_empire_strikes_back

[oceanview]

he will escaped untouched. He paid back the money, there is no political force available in NY to take him down, so he skates.

[1Old Pro]

Hevesi should resign. Let's see if New Yorkers can think for themselves and vote against Hevesi, a CROOK, and elect the republican Callaghan.

[sageb1]

"Let's see if New Yorkers can think for themselves and vote against Hevesi, a CROOK"

This NYer can. So can my husband, who works for the guy.

[1Old Pro]

Good.

[sageb1]

Callaghan has next to no name recognition. The RNC sent him $25K (as a reward for his efforts in exposing Havesi, I suppose), but you are probably, and unfortunately, right.

[sageb1]

Havesi=Hevesi. Sorry about that.

[oceanview]

I didn't even know his name - until this morning.

[rod1]

Note the RAT party wants this sleeze elected and then replace by the rat controlled state legislature. Well of course, that ensure it stays in RATS hands.

Hey--MSM---how about just electing his opponent, the Repub, instead. That take care of the current problem and maybe even future problems.

[printhead]

I'm reading the editorial page of the NYP. I wasn't aware the the comptroller is solely responsible for investing 140 BILLION in NYS employees' pension funds. A powerful position.

[t_skoz]

Elliot Spitzer makes me want to vomit. One of the main reasons I left NY for NH last year.

[CaptainK]

Much like Jersey, New York Democrats love a thief. Expect Hevesi to be reelected.

[EQAndyBuzz]

CNN called Hevesi a Republican this morning.

[jmaroneps37]

Unfortunately next month New York will show that her voters are as brain dead as those in New Jersey. He will be re-elected by about 12 points.

[juliej]

And to think that John Faso almost defeated Hevesi for controller! The newspapers are totally ignoring that fact. With a push from Pataki, Faso would have won and would have been in a better position to run for governor. Callaghan would win if he had some money.

[Fury]

With a push from Pataki, Faso would have won and would have been in a better position to run for governor. Callaghan would win if he had some money.

The Republican party in NYS is an utter joke. Republican candidates win despite the Republican party. Party chair Stephen Minarik has presided over a further decline in the Republican base in NYS - if that is even possible.

[NEW YORKCITYGOPMAN]

Minarik is probably out after the election. On the other hand he is the BEST state chairman the NY GOP has had since Sandy Treadwell (bad joke there.)

Posible replacements? FASO, Ed Cox (Nixon's son-in-law)
Senate Majority Leader, Joe Bruno.

And the NYC situation is even worse. Where I live, the Upper West Side of Manhattan, aka Moscow on the Hudson, my local representiave is Assemblyman Daniel O'Donnell. He is gay, obsessed with having same-sex marriage become law in New York State and the sister of Rosie O'Donnell. The local GOP, probably not wanting to offend the gays, chose NOT to run anyone against him. Bad move! Because of the marriage issue and because Mr. O'Donnell is related to a celebrity (I guess gayness runs in the O'Donnell family) this is a contest that might have attracted more publicity and interest that the usual Manhattan legislative race does.

[NEW YORKCITYGOPMAN]

Minarik is probably out after the election. On the other hand he is the BEST state chairman the NY GOP has had since Sandy Treadwell (bad joke there.)

Posible replacements? These names have been mentioned: John Faso, Edward Cox (Nixon's son-in-law)and Senate Majority Leader, Joe Bruno.

And the NYC GOP situation is even worse. Where I live, the Upper West Side of Manhattan, aka Moscow on the Hudson, my local representiave is Assemblyman Daniel O'Donnell. He is gay, obsessed with having same-sex marriage become law in New York State and the sister of Rosie O'Donnell. The local GOP, probably not wanting to offend the gays, chose NOT to run anyone against him. Bad move! Because of the marriage issue and because Mr. O'Donnell is related to a celebrity (I guess gayness runs in the O'Donnell family) this is a contest that might have attracted more publicity and interest than the usual Manhattan legislative race does. The NYC, all too often, stands for everything, which really means they stand for nothing.