Here's a real Hevesi scandal. On October 20, 2006, Diane and Arthur N. Abbey donated $50,000 to Alan Hevesi's campaign. Arthur Abbey (chairman of the board of trustees for New York Law) suddenly decides at the last minute to give $50,000 to a crook?

"I made a mistake," Alan Hevesi tells us of "Driving Mrs. Hevesi." Yes, the NYS Comptroller stealing $83,000 (the figure is certainly more) is not good. But Alan Hevesi is a career Albany politician. This is like Al Capone getting nabbed for tax evasion. There is much more to Alan Hevesi's political career than "one mistake."

Ben Smith has reported that Hevesi is now running attack ads against Chris Callaghan. He would do himself and his party well by going away quietly. Hevesi has no shame.

The New York Sun's December 7, 2004 editorial, "The Gift That Keeps on Giving," said this:

"Now, the litigious Mr. Hevesi is at it again. Last week, he sued Merck & Co. and eight current and former Merck employees on behalf of the New York state common retirement fund. And sure enough, one of the two law firms that Mr. Hevesi has hired is a major campaign contributor. Individuals associated with the law firm Abbey Gardy LLP sank a total of at least $115,500 into Mr. Hevesi's campaign in 2002. Now Abbey Gardy stands to win a gargantuan legal fee if its litigation against Merck is successful."

The New York Sun's April 12, 2005 editorial, "Hevesi By the Letter," said this:

"Actually, the New York State comptroller's office didn't recently select 'a firm' to represent it against Merck, it selected two firms. One of them was Abbey Gardy LLP. Individuals associated with that firm sank a total of at least $115,500 into Mr. Hevesi's campaign in 2002. When The New York Sun called Arthur Abbey, a partner at Abbey Gardy who wrote a $44,000 check to Mr. Hevesi's campaign in March of 2002, and asked how his firm was chosen to represent Mr. Hevesi in the Merck case, Mr. Abbey told us, 'I can't tell you ... It's like how you come to get a gift. It was his decision.'"

On a personal note, I knew a clerk at Parking Violations (a big, heavy-set guy who always wore a NY Giants shirt) who supported Alan Hevesi. After Hevesi became NYC Comptroller, Hevesi gave this clerk a much better job somewhere and he quit Parking Violations. About a year later, I saw this person on the subway and said "hi." He didn't acknowledge me! And I said look, we've known each other for years, I know you don't work with me anymore, but you're the guy who used to work with me all the time, right? "I once worked at Parking Violations," he said in monotone, and he left the train. It was creepy!

I also remember that the Village Voice's Wayne Barrett nailed Hevesi on a Queens bus scandal in the early 1990s. That story's not online, so people don't know about that.

Hevesi made "one mistake" because "he loves his wife"? Oh, please!!

LINKS:

http://www.elections.state.ny.us/reports/

http://www.nysun.com/article/5883

http://www.nysun.com/article/12070