Alan G. Hevesi

State Assembly

On November 2, 1971, Hevesi was elected to the New York State Assembly, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Emanuel R. Gold, and took his seat during the special session in December 1971. He was elected to a full term in 1972 and reelected nine more times. He remained in the Assembly until 1993, sitting in the 179th, 180th, 181st, 182nd, 183rd, 184th, 185th, 186th, 187th, 188th, 189th and 190th New York State Legislatures. He rose to chair various committees and be considered a potential Assembly Speaker. Simultaneously (from 1967 to 1993), he was an associate professor of political science at Queens College in Flushing, New York.

New York City Comptroller

He first unsuccessfully sought the Democratic Nomination for City Comptroller in 1989; he was defeated by Brooklyn District Attorney and former Congresswoman Elizabeth Holtzman. In 1993, he came back to challenge Holtzman in the primary, following ethics accusations against Holtzman. Holtzman had taken a questionable loan from Fleet Bank, which Hevesi assailed her on during an NY1 debate. Hevesi was also supported by Geraldine Ferraro, a former Congresswoman and Vice Presidential running mate of Walter Mondale. Hevesi defeated Holtzman to secure the Democratic nomination. Hevesi then defeated former Congressman Herman Badillo, the Republican candidate in the general election.

By December 1997, Hevesi as Comptroller of the City of New York enlisted the weight and soundness of his City's finances in the cause of forcing Swiss banks to meet the demands of the World Jewish Congress and other organizations then suing Swiss banks over Nazi-era bank balances the WJC said was owing to the heirs of victims of the Holocaust, joined eventually by both then-Mayor of New York City Rudolph Giuliani and then-Governor of New York State George Pataki. In his book on the subject, Norman Finkelstein dubs him "the godfather of Holocaust restitution sanctions."^[8]

He recruited the financial officers of many other states and municipalities in the US to similarly place the powers and responsibilities entrusted to them by their employers at the service of this cause, at one point calling them to a conference in his own city at which they discussed ways and means of coordinating their individual actions for maximum effect.^[9]

Sanctions took the forms, variously, of withdrawing balances from (the US branches of) Swiss banks, disinvestment in Swiss banks and their various investment vehicles, disinvestment in Swiss companies, and in companies of other nationalities with operations or markets in Switzerland. Hevesi and a number of his accomplices further undertook to deny regulatory permissions to Swiss banks seeking to expand their activities in their jurisdictions.

This effort against Switzerland having seemed successful in securing the $1.25 billion (1999) settlement, Hevesi then brought the power of the ad hoc network he had constructed to bear in subsequent actions against Germany, Austria, and other countries,^[10] where its use was deemed successful in raising the amounts of the settlements.

Hevesi served as New York City Comptroller from 1994 to 2002, when he was term-limited out of the office.

State Comptroller

In 2001, Hevesi sought the Democratic nomination for Mayor of New York, running on the platform of "Most Experienced, Best Qualified". He finished fourth, behind Public Advocate Mark J. Green, Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer, and New York City Council Speaker Peter Vallone. Hevesi was the Liberal Party nominee for Mayor in the general election, but did not campaign in the race; instead, he endorsed Green for mayor in the general election. Following his defeat in the mayor's race, Hevesi started his campaign for state comptroller, which he won, defeating Republican John Faso in 2002.

As State Comptroller, Hevesi served as the state's chief fiscal officer and as head of the state Department of Audit and Control. In New York, the comptroller signs state checks, handles state bookkeeping, conducts audits of state and local finances, and issues economic forecasts. The comptroller also serves as the sole trustee of the state pension system, an important role in the investment community based on the value of New York State's investment portfolio.

In November 2006, Hevesi was reelected as New York State Comptroller. On December 22, 2006, CNN reported that "[N]ew York State Comptroller Alan Hevesi entered into a plea agreement which included his immediate resignation Friday to avoid a felony indictment by a New York State grand jury charging him with defrauding the government by having staffers drive his wife and assist her in with personal matters from 2003–2006. Hevesi pleaded guilty to Superior Court Filing of defrauding the government, a Class E felony, and will pay a $5,000 fine. Hevesi admitted the wrongdoing when allegations surfaced in November, and has repaid the state more than $200,000."

Using state employees to chauffeur wife

On September 21, 2006, Alan Hevesi admitted that he used Nicholas Acquafredda, a state employee and member of Hevesi's security detail, to drive and aid his ailing wife.^[14] Hevesi claimed that in 2003, the State Ethics Commission decided that he should pay back the entire cost of having a state employee chauffeur his wife unless such services were necessary for safety purposes. A spokesperson from the State Ethics Commission denied that such a decision was made.

On September 26, 2006, after his Republican challenger, Christopher Callaghan, asked the Albany County District Attorney's office to investigate the matter, Hevesi said he would reimburse the state more than $82,000 for having a public employee chauffeur his wife. Callaghan first phoned in the complaint to the State Comptroller's own hotline.^[14] Hevesi had admitted the previous week that he had not previously reimbursed the state. Callaghan and the 2006 Republican nominee for Governor, John Faso, also called for Hevesi's resignation. Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who was then running for Governor of New York, withdrew his endorsement of Hevesi. The controversy stimulated interest in the candidacies of Callaghan and minor party candidates Julia Willebrand of the Green Party and John Cain of the Libertarian Party.^[15]

Hevesi claimed that drivers were needed to provide security to his wife, though a bipartisan ethics panel concluded that the State Police found no threat that would justify such an arrangement. The panel also concluded that Hevesi had no intention of repaying the state for the services rendered to his wife until Callaghan publicly filed a complaint.^[16]

On October 12, 2006, Albany County District Attorney David Soares' office acknowledged that it was officially investigating actions by Hevesi regarding the public employee hired to chauffeur his wife.^[17]

On October 23, 2006, the "Ethics Commission concluded that Hevesi had 'knowingly' violated state law."^[18] On November 3, 2006, Hevesi was ordered by the office of state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer to reimburse the state $90,000 — in addition to the $83,000 he has already paid – in compensation for what had been deemed an improper use of a state employee.^[19] Hevesi apologized in a TV ad, stating, "I'm asking you to weigh my mistake against my 35 years of public service, I'm human...I'm a good comptroller who did a dumb thing."^[20]

On December 12, 2006, Hevesi agreed to a deal that called for the $90,000 in escrow money to be turned over to the state and for him to pay an additional $33,605 within 10 days, making his payback total (with $83,000 already paid) $206,000. According to the Attorney General's report, Hevesi had actually hired four (not two) employees as his wife's "security detail", and said employees ran personal errands for the Hevesi family. On December 13, 2006, a poll conducted between December 5–11 by Quinnipiac showed that 45% of people in New York believed that Hevesi should resign, while 43% believed that he had paid his debt to the state.^[21]

On December 14, 2006, the Albany County District Attorney acknowledged that he had a strong enough case to indict Hevesi. In February 2007, after Hevesi had pleaded guilty in December 2006 to a charge of defrauding the government, he was sentenced by Judge Stephen Herrick in Albany County Court to a $5,000 fine and barred permanently from elected office. As part of the plea deal, he was given no jail time and received no probation. Prior to sentencing, Hevesi paid the state more than $200,000 in restitution. He expressed remorse for his actions and told the judge: "I'm culpable, I'm responsible and I apologize."

Payoffs to Raymond Harding for political favors

On October 6, 2009, Raymond Harding, chairman of the Liberal Party of New York, pleaded guilty to charges that he accepted $800,000 from aides to Hevesi when Hevesi was comptroller of the state of New York.^[22]

Felony conviction and sentence

In October 2010, after being accused of "pay to play" practices involving the New York State Pension Fund during his tenure as Comptroller, Hevesi pleaded guilty to a corruption charge; on April 15, 2011, he was sentenced to one to four years in prison.^[23] He began his prison term on April 17, 2011.^[24] Hevesi went before a parole board on November 14, 2012 and was released on parole on December 19, 2012.^[25] He served twenty months of a maximum four-year sentence.^[26]

Books

• Gittell, Marilyn; Hevesi, Alan G (1969). The Politics of Urban Education. Praeger.
• Hevesi, Alan G (1975). Legislative politics in New York State : a comparative analysis. Praeger. ISBN 0-275-05520-5.

Journal articles

• "Homophobia: Analysis of a Permissible Prejudice: A Public Forum of the American Psychoanalytic Association and the American Psychoanalytic Foundation". Journal of Gay & Lesbian Psychotherapy. 4 (1): 5–53. 2001-01-29. doi:10.1300/J236v04n01_02. ISSN 0891-7140. Archived from the original on 2012-12-17.
• Hevesi, Alan G. (September 21, 1995). "The Effectiveness Of The NYC Department Of Juvenile Justice's Aftercare Program". Juvenile Justice Digest. 23 (18): 1. ISSN 0094-2413.

Newspaper articles

• Hevesi, Alan G. (July 8, 1999). "New lead paint law protects landlords, not children". New York Amsterdam News. ISSN 0028-7121.

• Hevesi, Alan G. (July 9, 1998). "A stand must be taken". USA Today. pp. 11A. ISSN 0734-7456.

• Hevesi, Alan G. (April 25, 1987). "When Blacks and Jews Pull Together". The New York Times. p. 1.31. ISSN 0362-4331.