Hevesi Admits Corruption, Faces Jail
By Joseph Orovic
Exactly how wrong can a first impression possibly be?
The long rise of a promising political career careened forever into oblivion on Oct. 7, as former State Comptroller and one-time “Golden Boy” Alan Hevesi pleaded guilty to a felony charge of official misconduct.
The plea is another in a long string of Comptroller officials and Hevesi associates copping to corruption charges during a three-years-and-counting investigation by Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo. The AG’s office uncovered the allocation of investment dollars from the state’s Common Retirement Fund in exchange for personal and political favors.
The former Forest Hills Assemblyman, City and State Comptroller could face up to four years in prison at his sentencing scheduled for Dec. 16, a day which could represent the finale of a Shakespearean tragedy of political proportions.
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| Alan Hevesi, as the “golden boy” in 1970s politics (l.) and as he strode out of his polling place on election day 2006, shortly before he was forced to resign over a chauffeur scandal. |
Hevesi admitted to reaping nearly $1 million in benefits after doling out $250 million in state pension fund investment to Markstone Capital Partners, which was managed by Hevesi fundraiser and pal Elliott Broidy.
“In exercising my discretion as Comptroller to approve these deals, I gave preferential treatment to Markstone and Broidy, who was a friend of mine and political fundraiser for my campaign,” Hevesi said in his allocution before the court.
Broidy himself pleaded guilty to a felony charge of rewarding official misconduct in 2009.
The nearly $1 million in benefits Hevesi knowingly received included $75,000 in travel junkets to Israel, Italy and California for himself, his family and other Comptroller officials. The expenses included first-class airfare, luxury hotel suites, a helicopter tour, and security detail.
Broidy hid the expenses through charitable organizations and false invoices to the Comptroller’s office, all under Hevesi’s cognizance.
Another $380,000 of the benefits went towards a friend of Hank Morris, Hevesi’s campaign manager, via a sham consulting agreement. Another $500,000 was allocated towards Hevesi’s re-election campaign – one which ended in victory only to be followed by his resignation after pleading guilty to defrauding the government by using a State-employed driver for personal reasons.
Hevesi also acknowledged Morris’s habit of soliciting campaign contributions in exchange for doing business with the Comptroller’s office.
“Alan Hevesi presided over a culture of corruption and violated his oath as a public servant,” Cuomo said. “He was solely charged with protecting our pension fund, but he exploited it for his personal benefit instead. With his guilty plea, we can now focus on the process of restoring public trust in government.”
The investigation found a number of backroom deals took place in order to set up Hevesi’s son Andrew (D-Forest Hills) with his current Assembly seat. Cuomo has maintained the younger Hevesi had no knowledge of the machinations.
An investment firm owned by another Alan Hevesi son, former State Sen. Dan Hevesi, received $1 million in fees for illegal placements of state common retirement fund dollars.
To date, Cuomo’s investigation has landed seven guilty pleas and recovered $138 million for the state.
Early in his career, Hevesi came loaded with an abundance of potential and a thick resume: the erudite, intelligent, charming, Ph. D-from-Columbia-University toting scion of a rabbinate, who moonlighted as a poli sci professor at Queens College and was known for his lethal jump shot. To some, he was a budding political superstar. He was elected to the Assembly in 1971, and served for 22 years, traversing many committees and climbing the body’s ranks. By some estimates, he was on the cusp of becoming Assembly Speaker before being elected City Comptroller in 1993.
Many of Hevesi’s friends from his early political career, both professional and personal, were contacted by the Queens Tribune, and all declined to comment.
Former Manhattan Councilman and City Parks Commissioner Henry Stern, who operates the good government watchdog group New York Civic, did chime in.
“When he started, he was a golden boy,” Stern said. “Tall, good looking, smart and Jewish, which is a rare combination. Clearly a very intelligent man. He represented a kind of scholar in politics.”
But first appearances can betray better judgment, and the latter portion of his career proves early assessments of Hevesi were bunk.
Following his Assembly stint as a “go along,” according to Stern, ambition got the better part of Hevesi. After lambasting Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, he burned many bridges at the City’s political level.
But Hevesi’s crimes in the State Comptroller’s office were of a different nature. According to Stern, the pay-to-play ethos was alive well before Hevesi took office.
“Who is going to give thousands to a Comptroller if they don’t expect something in return?” Stern asked. “They all did it. [Hevesi] refined it.”
The distance though, between perception and reality, makes this particular story especially dreadful.
Which begs the question: What if Alan Hevesi did not epically betray the public’s trust?
“He’d be regarded as a sage,” Stern said. “It’s not as if they found out that some schmuck stole. This was Comptroller Hevesi. The Golden Boy. That’s why it’s a tragedy.”
Reach Reporter Joseph Orovic at jorovic@queenstribune.com or (718) 357-7400, Ext. 127.