Alan Hevesi died

 

 AMNY

Queens political fixture Alan Hevesi, who served two decades in the Assembly and as city and state comptroller before resigning over a corruption scandal, died Thursday in his Nassau County home at age 83.

“Alan passed away peacefully surrounded by his children and loved ones after a prolonged illness,” Hevesi’s family said in a statement. “We will miss him and his laughter more than words can express.”

Current state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, Hevesi’s successor, praised him in a Thursday social media post. 

“Former State Comptroller Alan Hevesi was a long-serving public servant and educator,” DiNapoli wrote. “He cared deeply about Queens, fiercely debated issues he cared about and fought hard for school fiscal accountability.”

Before going into politics, Hevesi was a college basketball star, according to the New York Times, and earned a doctoral degree in public law and government from Columbia University.

Hevesi was first elected to the Assembly in 1971 and represented the Forest Hills section of Queens in Albany’s lower chamber for 22 years.

He then ran for city comptroller in 1993, unseating former city Comptroller Elizabeth Holtzman in the Democratic primary and overcoming Republican and Liberal line candidate Herman Badillo in the general election. 

As the Big Apple’s numbers guru, Hevesi successfully blocked former Republican Mayor Rudy Giuliani from selling off the city’s municipal water system to the semi-independent New York City Water Board for $2.3 billion.

Facing term limits, Hevesi ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2001.

The next year, Hevesi ran for state comptroller and won. In that position, he launched the office’s first investigations unit.

But Hevesi did not finish his first term as the state’s chief money man. He resigned in 2006 after he was found guilty by a state ethics panel of unlawfully directing a government employee to drive his disabled and chronically sick mother around in a state vehicle.

After leaving office, Hevesi pleaded guilty in 2010 to charges that he engaged in a pay-to-play scheme while in office and was sentenced to one-to-four years in prison. He was released on parole after 20 months behind bars.

Brooklyn City Council Member Justin Brannan wrote on social media that Hevesi was a “friend and early mentor” to him.

“Always the smartest guy in the room but still a tough kid from Forest Hills who never forgot where he came from,” Brannan wrote. “As comptroller, he used the power of the purse for good before that was a thing. He was a friend and early mentor of mine. Rest in peace, Alan.”

 

Hevesi bill seen as a slap at Cuomo

From the Daily News:

In what some see as a direct shot at the governor, a bill moving through the state Legislature would give state Controller Thomas DiNapoli the power to more aggressively go after fraud, waste and abuse in state agencies.

The bill requiring agencies and public authorities to provide the controller's office a treasure trove of electronic data that can be quickly analyzed is sponsored by Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi (D-Queens).

Hevesi’s father, Alan, is a former state controller who went to prison as a result of a massive pension fund pay-to-play investigation headed by Cuomo, who at the time was state attorney general.

Andrew Hevesi denied his bill, which passed the Assembly unanimously last week, is an attempt at some form of payback.

3,000 more homeless people since October

From the Huffington Post:

The number of New Yorkers struggling with homelessness has reached unprecedented levels under a leader that vowed to take on the growing crisis.

In Mayor Bill de Blasio's first year in office, the number of people living in homeless shelters rose to 58,913 -- an all-time high -- WNYC reported. Although de Blasio inherited a dire situation (homelessness jumped 71 percent on Mayor Michael Bloomberg's watch, according to the Coalition for the Homeless), about 3,000 more people are living without stable shelter now than in October, despite new programs designed to fight homelessness that went into effect this past fall.

The current mayor's administration says that although they cannot specify exactly when the city can expect homelessness to begin declining, the initiatives -- namely, programs targeting disproportionately affected groups -- should improve conditions down the road.

As long as NYC has a huge welcome mat on its doorstep for anyone from anywhere to come and squat in housing we pay for and collect our generous benefits, the problem is only going to get worse. Check this out:

A fiery debate erupted between one resident and Hevesi while discussing the proposed Glendale homeless shelter. The resident, who wished to remain anonymous, accused Hevesi and other elected officials of helping to create the crisis.

“You’re the cause of the problem,” the man argued. “This whole homeless thing is the fault of the judges, politicians and lawyers.”

Hevesi responded with shock and dismay to these accusations: “In the past year, has there been anyone who stood up more against this shelter than I have? Any elected official or anyone in this room? The very idea that when we are in a crisis, not only as a city but as a community, that your response is to point fingers is outrageous. The only way to get through this is to problem solve together."

Sounds like Mr. Anonymous touched a nerve. Perhaps because of this?

Alan Hevesi turns to public speaking

From Capital New York:

Alan Hevesi, who served as the comptroller of New York City and New York State before pleading guilty to state corruption charges, will speak next Monday in Queens about the corrosive influence of money in politics.

A notice for the event was posted online by the Central Queens Y, home of the Hevesi Library, which he helped co-found. Hevesi is also a former member of the New York State Assembly and taught public policy at Queens College for years.

The title of Hevesi's speech is “Big Money, Congressional Combat, and the 2014 Elections.”

Hevesi was considered a rising star in Democratic circles before he resigned.

In 2006, after winning re-election as state comptroller, Hevesi resigned from office and pleaded guilty to a felony for assigning a state worker to chauffeur his ailing wife, without reimbursing the state for the service. In 2010, Hevesi pleaded guilty to what the Times called “a sprawling corruption scheme” involving the state’s pension fund. Hevesi admitted he accepted about $1 million in exchange for steering $250 million to associates.

The event will take place at 67-09 108th Street, in Forest Hills, which Hevesi represented for many years, at 1:30 p.m. on October 27, with a suggestion donation of $5 for members, and $8 for non-members.

Old time tweeder tête-à-tête

From the Politicker:

A small group of Queens officials quietly schmoozed with disgraced ex-Comptroller Alan Hevesi last night, reuniting with him for a “welcome home” dinner after he was jailed for his role in a massive pay-to-play scandal.

Mr. Hevesi, a power broker who was close to the Queens County Democratic organization before he admitted to receiving $1 million in kickbacks while investing the state’s pension fund, dined with State Senator Toby Stavisky, Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz and former Queens Borough President Claire Shulman at a local diner in Rego Park.

Mr. Hevesi, reportedly nicknamed “Hevey D” by rapper Ja Rule in prison, served 20 months and was released on parole at the end of last year. “This was their welcome home dinner for him,” explained a well-placed source. “Just the four of them.”

When he entered Shalimar Diner, Mr. Hevesi, also a former assemblyman and city comptroller, was immediately recognized by a hostess, who led him to the rear of the dining area. There, the four pols nibbled on salmon, bread and soup, catching up and laughing loudly until lowering their voices in the middle of the meal–perhaps noticing a reporter sitting nearby.

While Mr. Hevesi has departed from the political scene, his legacy lingers in the borough. His son, Andrew, is an assemblyman representing his dad’s old district and a former protégé named Melinda Katz is likely to become the next borough president.

Reflecting on Ms. Katz’s victory in last month’s Democratic primary, Mr. Hevesi told Politicker, “It’s good stuff.”

Lots more where they came from

From the NY Post:

Shady politicians and their backroom deals cost taxpayers at least $49,710,630.64 — enough cash to build two schools, bankroll the New York Islanders or pay for 100 new fire trucks — according to a Post analysis of documents relating to 15 city and state officials who’ve been jailed, indicted, censured or lost re-election bids under a cloud of suspicion since 2006.

The rogues gallery is led by former state Comptroller Alan Hevesi, who cost the state $36 million in pension-fund management fees after taking nearly $1 million in illegal gifts; ex-state Sen. Pedro Espada, who funneled $7 million to himself and family members through a Medicare-funded nonprofit; and Assemblyman Vito Lopez, who cost taxpayers $103,000 in secret settlements after staffers accused him of sexual harassment.

The nearly $50 million tally doesn’t include bribes accepted or money embezzled from private entities, such as the $440,000 that state Sen. John Sampson allegedly raided from foreclosure escrow accounts he was appointed to oversee. It also doesn’t count taxpayer money that was promised but never doled out, such as the $80,000 in discretionary funds City Councilman Dan Halloran allegedly said he’d allocate to a dummy company in exchange for a bribe.

Hank Morris on his way out of prison

From the NY Post:

Hank Morris -- a top political adviser to disgraced ex-state Comptroller Alan Hevesi imprisoned in a pay-to-play pension fund scam – was granted parole in his fourth bid for freedom, state officials said today.

Morris had served 26 months behind bars after pleading guilty to securities fraud, admitting he used his connections to Hevesi to get millions of dollars for himself form firms seeking state pension fund business.

The state Parole Board approved Morris’ release in a decision on Monday after a state judge ordered a new hearing after claiming the board had unfairly held up the convict’s release by “inexplicably” failing to consider evidence in Morris’ favor.

Morris, 59, could be released June 3 or sooner.

The perks of public office

From the Daily News:

The explosion of Capitol corruption scandals in recent years has turned a bunch of campaign accounts into legal defense funds.

Twenty elected officials since 2004 spent a combined $6.78 million on legal fees related to criminal and ethical investigations against them, a Daily News/New York Public Interest Research Group analysis shows.

The list has included some of the most powerful elected officials in Albany, including former Gov. David Paterson, convicted former Controller Alan Hevesi, former Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and pervy Assemblyman Vito Lopez.

In the past two years alone, state lawmakers spent nearly $2 million in campaign funds on legal fees, led by the $1.5 million paid by former state Sen. Carl Kruger. He’s serving seven years in federal prison after pleading guilty in 2011 to bribery and other corruption charges.

The state Board of Elections in a 1989 formal opinion ruled the use of campaign cash for lawyer bills is legal if the investigations are related to someone’s office or campaign.

Some lawmakers and government reformers say that needs to change.

It pays to have relatives in Congress

From Forest Hills Patch:

Former Assemblyman Jimmy Meng, father of U.S. Rep. Grace Meng, was sentenced to one month in prison this week in a bribery scandal that broke during his daughter's run for Congress, according to NY1.

Meng will also have to pay restitution of $30,000, and will be subject to four months of house arrest.

The sentence was lighter than many other Queens legislators have been forced to serve, including former Forest Hills Assemblyman Alan Hevesi. Hevesi served 19 months for a scam involving the state's pension funds.

One getting out, another going in

From NY1:

Former State Comptroller Alan Hevesi will be released from prison Wednesday.
A state parole board panel approved Hevesi's release last month.

He's been behind bars since April of last year after a guilty plea on felony corruption charges in a pay-to-play pension scandal.

The Queens Democrat was originally sentenced to one to four years.

He will be on parole through April 2015.

From NY1:

Former Queens lawmaker Hiram Monserrate was sentenced to two years in prison Tuesday.

He must also pay $79,000 in restitution after he pleaded guilty in May to felony conspiracy and mail fraud.

Prosecutors say he diverted $100,000 in City Council grant funds to pay for an unsuccessful state Senate campaign.

"From a very early age I learned when you commit sins you must atone for the sins," Monserrate said. "I took responsibility and this is part of the atonement."

The judge who issued the sentencing compared Monserrate to former president Richard Nixon and said people who use other people's money for their own purposes belong in the lowest level of hell.

The former state Senator is scheduled to report to prison on March 11.

Hank Morris calls for reform

From the Daily News:

Hank Morris, disgraced ex-Controller Alan Hevesi’s longtime political consultant, was sent away for masking his role as ringleader in a state pension fund pay-to-play scandal. But he also was charged with arranging campaign donations for Hevesi from firms in exchange for fund business.

As he argued unsuccessfully for his freedom at a recent hearing before the state parole board, Morris said political campaigns should be publicly financed.

“I believe that if you’re doing business with the state government or any government, you shouldn’t be allowed to make political contributions regarding that government,” he said, according to a transcript.

Morris insisted that while some firms he did business with donated to Hevesi, it was not done with promises of access to the pension fund. And he said the same still a the situation was no different than what still goes on.

“The highest officials in the state right now have millions of dollars sitting in their campaign accounts from government, state contractors, city contractors, etc.,” he said. “Would it be better to have a different system? Absolutely.”

Hevesi to be sprung from prison soon

From the Daily News:

Disgraced former state Controller Alan Hevesi will be out of prison for the holidays, the Daily News has learned.

A state Parole Board panel approved Hevesi’s second attempt at parole after a Wednesday hearing, a source familiar with the situation said.

Now known as inmate 11-R-1334, the 72-year-old Hevesi will be back home by Dec. 19.

The former pol was denied his first shot at parole last December by a 2-to-1 vote of a Parole Board panel. In keeping him locked up, the majority cited his “shallow” attempt at accepting blame.

Andrew Hevesi said his father this time accepted full responsibility during the hearing.

Hevesi said his father also took responsibility “for several life-long patterns that have hurt his family and friends that are unrelated to what happened in the controller’s office."

His crony, Hank Morris, was denied parole.

Hank Morris denied parole

From the Daily News:

The mastermind behind the state's biggest ever pay-to-play pension fund scandal was denied parole.

Hank Morris, the scandal ringleader and former political svengali for disgraced ex-Controller Alan Hevesi, will remain behind bars for at least another year.

Morris is serving up to four years in prison after pleading guilty to a single felony for securities fraud in a kickback scheme that netted him $19 million.

A three-person state parole panel after, interviewing Morris Wednesday, found his release from prison “is not consistent with the public safety and welfare of the community.”

The panel indicated that if Morris hits the streets, “there is a reasonable probability” he would again violate the law.

Morris apparently was well aware that his former friend Hevesi, who is serving up to four years for his role in the scandal at a different prison, was previously denied parole for not showing enough remorse.

According to a hearing transcript, Morris repeatedly said he was not trying to minimize what he had done as he tried to explain his actions.

That led one frustrated parole board member to snap: “you’ve made it clear. You’ve made it clear. You don’t have to keep saying that.”

Junior Hevesi on the warpath?

From the Daily News:

The assemblyman son of jailed former state Controller Alan Hevesi may be gearing up for a nasty personal war against the man who put his father behind bars — Gov. Cuomo.

Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi (D-Queens) was quietly put in charge earlier this year of a committee that has subpoena power to investigate Cuomo and the executive branch agencies.

Sources close to the younger Hevesi said he’s livid over the treatment his father received at the hands of then-Attorney General Cuomo during a massive pay-to-play pension fund scandal probe. They said he’s considering delving aggressively into the agencies that Cuomo controls.

“The real dysfunction in state government is not the Legislature, it’s the executive branch and their agencies,” one Hevesi source said without providing any specific evidence.

Andrew Hevesi wouldn’t comment.

Alan staying in the pokey

From the Daily News:

Disgraced former state Controller Alan Hevesi was denied his first attempt at parole Thursday and will spend at least another year behind bars, the Daily News has learned.

The once powerful Queens Democrat is serving a one-to-four year sentence at medium-security Mid-Hudson Correctional Facility in Oneida County for his role in a massive pay-to-play pension fund scandal during his tenure as state controller.

A three-member parole panel voted 2 to 1 to keep him locked up, citing his “shallow” attempt at accepting blame.

Julia has the last laugh

From the Daily News:

Julia Harrison is having the last laugh.

These days Harrison, 91, smiles as her enemies twist slowly in the wind as she gazes from her fourth-floor co-op on Union St. in Flushing.

“Every dog has his day,” Harrison says. “In 2000, John Liu, the arrogant little pup, walked into my living room here and announced that my political career was over. I showed him the door.”

Today Liu is in the middle of a federal campaign finance investigation, dashing his mayoral dreams and threatening his political future. Meanwhile Harrison was recently reelected as Democratic female district leader from AD 22 Part B.

“I don’t mean to gloat,” Harrison says, “but I won’t say I’m not enjoying it.”

“The holier-than-thou assemblyman who led the march on City Hall demanding my resignation was Assemblyman Brian McLaughlin,” she says. “Today he’s doing 10 years in a federal pen for corruption, including stealing $90,000 from a Little League. The other self-righteous hypocrite who tried to end my career is Alan Hevesi, who got caught stealing public money. He’s also doing time.”

Hevesi a pa-role model

From the Daily News:

Disgraced ex-Controller Alan Hevesi is still cleaning up — by collecting a $168,000 per year pension and sweeping floors for $1 a day behind bars.

Hevesi is seven months into a one-to-four year stint at medium-security Mid-Hudson Correctional Facility in Oneida County for his role in a massive pay-to-play pension fund scandal during his tenure as state controller.

The 71-year-old wakes each day at 6:30 a.m. in his 8-by-9-foot off-white cell that is furnished with a bed, sink, toilet, locker and metal writing table.

After shoveling in morning chow that this week will consist of oatmeal and cereal, toast, milk, coffee and juice, he begins his five-days-a-week, $1-per-day job manning a mop in the protective custody unit he shares with 21 other inmates. He toils at the task for six hours each day.

The prison janitor also has a spotless disciplinary record and has been a model inmate, officials say, and has earned recreation periods before lights out at 11 p.m. — 2 a.m. on weekends.

Hevesi is due for his first parole hearing next month. If it’s granted, the earliest he will be released is April 14. The Queens native could have been sprung as early as February, but he has not undertaken the merit-time programs needed to shave the two months off his time, Foglia said.

Hevesi's honest graft provokes reform

From the Times Ledger:

Long before disgraced former state Comptroller Alan Hevesi was charged in October for his role in a pay-to-play scandal involving the state pension fund under his watch, a little-known treasurer of Saratoga County, J. Christopher Callaghan, knew something was up — and it was in plain sight.

Callaghan, who ran on the Republican line against Hevesi in 2006, said a New York Sun editorial from May of that year pointed out how Hevesi had large contributions donated to him through the wife of Elliott Broidy, the head of the California-based Markstone Capital Partners, and Hevesi invested $250 million of the state’s pension funds into the hedge fund.

The Sun editorial credited the Los Angeles Times with first running a story about Hevesi’s connection to Broidy.

In a phone interview Monday, more than a week after Hevesi was sentenced to one to four years in prison on corruption charges, Callaghan said he pounced on the revelation but nobody noticed.

“To me, that’s one of the great ironies here,” Callaghan said. “This particular incident ... was in print as early as early 2006. It just didn’t seem to be of interest. We released press releases. It’s not like we had any secret information. Everything we knew about Markstone had been published in the newspaper.”

From the NY Post:

This doesn't seem fair: Not only do state taxpayers have to pay disgraced ex- Comptroller Alan Hevesi's room and board for the next 1-to-4 years -- they've still got to pay his pension, too.

That is, even as the twice-convicted felon pockets pennies a day for stamping license plates upstate, he'll still be drawing a whopping $105,000-a-year payout.

Which is why it's such good news that Gov. Cuomo unveiled a bill Tuesday to end the practice.

"It is long past time that we learned the lessons of the Hevesi case and made permanent changes to our system that will stop [such] corruption," Cuomo said.

Nearly a dozen convicted former lawmakers are in the same circumstance, netting big checks while behind bars.

And even if alleged criminals like state Sen. Carl Kruger and former Sen. Pedro Espada are convicted by juries of their peers, those same peers will still have to pay taxes to support their retirement.

Their pensions are protected by the state Constitution -- so only newly elected officials will be subject to the law Cuomo proposes.

What better reason, then, to pass it quickly?

1-4 years for Hevesi

From the Daily News:

Disgraced former Controller Alan Hevesi will spend up to four years in prison for his role in a massive state pension fund pay-to-play scandal.

Despite his lawyer’s plea for leniency, Hevesi received a 1 to 4 years prison sentence this morning from Manhattan state Supreme Court Judge Michael Obus.

His three children, including Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi (D-Queens) and former state Sen. Dan Hevesi, were in court watching as their father was led away in handcuffs.

"I will never forgive myself,” Hevesi told the judge. “I will live with this shame for the rest of my life."

"I have publicly disgraced myself and caused my family and friends to suffer."

He also apologized to the people of New York.

"I am truly sorry for my illegal conduct,” Hevesi said. “I violated their trust and I take full responsibility for my indiscretion."

The 71-year-old Democrat is believed to be the first statewide elected official to be sentenced to prison for corruption stemming from his job.

Hevesi to judge: "Please don't send my dad to prison."

From the Daily News:

In a letter to [Judge] Stone, Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi passionately argues that his father's wrongdoing should not overshadow a lifetime in public service.

"In short, your honor, Alan Hevesi has earned the right to spend the rest of his life surrounded by those who appreciate and love him for who he is, a great and flawed man," Andrew Hevesi wrote. "Please send him home to our family."

The younger Hevesi wrote of modeling his life after his father, a former assemblyman and city and state controller. He portrayed his father as a fighter for his family, people in need, equality - and "what is right."

He even appeared to blame his father's plight on the scam's ringleader - the ex-controller's longtime political guru Hank Morris - by noting his dad is loyal, "sometimes to a fault."

"Despite his failures and mistakes, I will not now or ever stop believing in him," Hevesi wrote. "Not just because I love him as the man who, with my mom, raised, protected and loved me, but because these transgressions will never define my father."

Also from the Daily News:

Disgraced ex-controller Alan Hevesi was in a hospital for an emergency procedure today -- on what was supposed to be his sentencing day.

Our Jose Martinez reports:

Facing up to four years in prison on a felony corruption charge for his role in a massive state pension fund pay-to-play scandal, Hevesi had to undergo an emergency endoscopy, defense lawyer Bradley Simon said.

Simon declined to get into the specifics of Hevesi's condition, saying it was a medical issue that popped up "over the weekend." (Ken Lovett says he understands the problem to be internal bleeding. - CK)

In other corruption news, Pedro Espada now faces more charges.