Fined again, Hevesi says he is sorry

After several tumultuous months that included negative front-page stories in area newspapers, winning reelection as State Comptroller, pleading guilty to a Class E felony and resigning from office, the saga involving Queens native Alan Hevesi ended on Friday, February 9, when a state judge ordered him to pay an additional $5,000 fine for using a state employee to chauffeur his wife.
The additional $5,000 fine came on top of more than $200,000 that Hevesi had already repaid the state, and the plea deal Hevesi struck in December of 2006 which helped him avoid jail time.
“I’m culpable; I’m responsible; and I apologize,” Hevesi said in the Albany courtroom on February 9.
He told reporters after his court hearing that he was not sure what was in store for his future.
Before serving as State Comptroller, Hevesi worked as the Comptroller for New York City from 1994-2002 and was a Queens Assemblymember from 1968-1993.
Meanwhile, the state legislature selected Nassau County Assemblymember Thomas DiNapoli to succeed Hevesi as Comptroller, a move that surprised Governor Eliot Spitzer.
Spitzer advocated for the new comptroller to be a person outside the legislature, and in the days following DiNapoli’s selection criticized the legislature for picking one of its own.
“When all was said and done, the question legislators asked was not who was best qualified among the 19 million New Yorkers for this job, but rather, who among us will receive as a virtual gift this job that we control,” Spitzer said, according to published reports.
“Nothing could be more fundamentally wrong, especially when dealing with the question of who will make, as sole trustee, the investment decisions relating to the $145 billion pension fund of the State of New York, the retirement money of millions of New Yorkers.”