Hevesi Resigns

That didn't last very long. For someone who said that they would fight to stay in office, Alan Hevesi took the deal with the Albany County DA and resigned after pleading guilty to a single count of defrauding the government and resigned from office.

Mr. Hevesi, the state’s top fiscal watchdog, told the court in a hoarse voice that one of the state workers he had assigned as a driver for his wife, Carol, had done much more than provide security for her. Prosecutors filed court papers revealing that the worker had also watered her plants, driven her to Bloomingdale’s and dropped off her dry cleaning.

“I apologize to the court, but until this issue became a public matter, I did not plan to reimburse the state for his time,” Mr. Hevesi told the court under oath, in a reversal of the statements he made this fall during his successful re-election campaign.

In a deal with the Albany County district attorney’s office, Mr. Hevesi pleaded guilty to a single felony, agreed to pay a $5,000 fine on top of the more than $206,000 he has already reimbursed the state, and agreed to resign for the rest of his current term and for the term that begins Jan. 1. The agreement will spare him prison time.

His resignation, which took effect immediately, left the comptroller’s office being run by Thomas Sanzillo, the first deputy comptroller. The State Legislature, which will choose Mr. Hevesi’s successor, is unlikely to do so until mid- to late-January at the earliest, officials said. That could lead to a constitutional showdown about the post.

Gov. George E. Pataki said Friday that he was concerned about the long lag time before the Legislature selects Mr. Hevesi’s successor, given that the state comptroller is the sole trustee of the state’s $145.7 billion pension fund and its investments. An aide to the governor said that Mr. Pataki was exploring whether he can appoint an interim comptroller — something Assembly Democrats say he cannot do.

“I’m concerned about, in the interim, what might happen here,” Mr. Pataki said at a news conference in the Capitol. “It’s a more than $100 billion fund that is in trust for the people of this state, particularly the retired employees of this state, and the stock market and the world economy can be very volatile. And I am concerned that if there is another 10-week or longer process, as to how that office will function.”

But Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who has the most influence in picking a new comptroller, said that he was “comfortable” with Mr. Sanzillo serving in the interim, and questioned the governor’s legal authority to fill the post. A spokesman for the State Senate said the Senate was looking into the issue.

Hevesi not only resigned from his current position as Comptroller, but for the position to which he was reelected and which term begins January 1, 2007.

That sets up a showcase showdown between Gov. Pataki (R) and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D) who will fight to determine who gets the say on who replaces Hevesi. Joe Bruno (R) is essentially on the sidelines in this fight as he's under a cloud of investigations himself.