By Steve Mosco
Former state Comptroller Alan Hevesi will be home for the holidays.
After being denied his first shot at parole last year, the Forest Hills resident was granted early release Thursday by the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.
Hevesi, 72, has been in prison since April 2011, when he was sentenced to one year to four years for taking $1 million in campaign contributions and travel expenses in exchange for pension business while state comptroller.
Former state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who is now the governor, filed the charges against Hevesi. He was accused of taking trips to Israel and Italy funded by Elliot Broidy, of Markstone Capital Partners, a firm that specialized in Israeli investments, in exchange for Hevesi’s investing state pension funds with Markstone.
Among the conditions of Hevesi’s parole, according to the Department of Corrections, he will be subject to a curfew, he cannot travel out of the state without permission and he cannot associate with other figure in the pension corruption scandal.
He was held at the Mid-State Correctional Facility, a medium-security prison in Marcy, N.Y. Hevesi also represented Forest Hills and parts of western Queen in the state Assembly and served as the city comptroller. He made an unsuccessful bid for the Democratic slot in the mayoral race of 2001.
Hevesi’s son, state Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi (D-Forest Hills), released a statement saying that his father has recognized his wrongdoings.
“My father has publicly acknowledged that he willfully allowed himself to become unbelievably arrogant, entitled and personally corrupt,” he said. “He let corruption flourish around him by intentionally denying what was happening in his office. In addition to the betrayal of the public trust, my father has also taken responsibility for several lifelong patterns that have hurt his family and friends that are unrelated to what happened in the comptroller’s office.”
The assemblyman also said that his father’s willingness to take responsibility for the improper actions has brought the family closer together.
“I have witnessed my father confront his personal failings and overcome his own denial and defense mechanisms in an attempt to regain the fierce integrity that has always defined him,” he said. “I can say without hesitation that I have never loved him more, been more proud of him or been more resolute in aspiring to be a man like him than I am now.
“My dad has owned and taken responsibility for his actions, he has been extensively punished for them, and now he and my entire family are closing the book on this part of our lives.”
Reach reporter Steve Mosco by e-mail at smosco@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4546
