Hevesi to Avoid Indictment

New York State Comptroller Alan Hevesi will avoid being indicted by the Albany County District Attorney by agreeing to a deal to step down as comptroller.

State Comptroller Alan Hevesi will agree this week to resign to avoid an indictment stemming from an ethics scandal in which he used public employees to chauffeur his wife, according to sources familiar with his decision.

Hevesi, one of the state's highest-ranking elected officials, will step down from the $151,500-a-year post he has held since January 2003, by Friday morning at the latest, as part of a plea deal with Albany County District Attorney David Soares.

The comptroller, a 66-year-old Queens Democrat, will also plead guilty to a criminal charge. It will not be higher than a Class E felony or require him to spend time in jail, according to the sources.

Hevesi spokesman David Neustadt declined to comment, as did Soares spokeswoman Rachel McEneny. Soares released a statement Tuesday that confirmed he was negotiating with Hevesi's attorneys on a deal.

Hevesi's resignation will bring an end to a scandal that has simmered for more than three months and continued even after he reimbursed the state $206,294 and was re-elected with 57 percent of the vote in November.

Thus ends chauffeurgate and eliminates one major headache for incoming governor Eliot Spitzer, who made cleaning up corruption a part of his platform, but would have meant dealing with a mess left by a fellow democrat in Hevesi.

Who will replace Hevesi? Well, that will go to the Legislature (and not the voters who should have tossed Hevesi out for violating state law in the November statewide elections). The Assembly is dominated by the Democrats, while the Senate is headed up by Republican Joe Bruno, who is under federal criminal investigation for shady dealings himself. In other words, it looks like the Democrats in the Legislature will be determining who replaces Hevesi.