Albany DA Might Hold Solution To Hevesi Saga
BY JOHN TOSCANO

It will be much more difficult for the embattled veteran Forest Hills pol to remain in his post if a sitting grand jury in Albany brings an indictment against him and the district attorney in the state capital files criminal charges against him.

New York State Comptroller Alan Hevesi, who made himself the people's choice by winning re-election last week, has been able to avoid being dumped from his job by the Alphonse/Gaston act being played out by Albany's top leaders.

But it will be much more difficult for the embattled veteran Forest Hills pol to remain in his post if a sitting grand jury in Albany brings an indictment against him and the district attorney in the state capital files criminal charges against him.

The possibility that this latest scenario could finally prove Hevesi's undoing for using a state worker to chauffeur his ailing wife around for the past three years is beginning to take hold among his friends and foes alike.

Reports from unnamed sources have said in recent days that above all, Hevesi does not want to face the disgrace of a possible criminal conviction and jail term to wipe out an otherwise illustrious 35-year political career.

For that reason, the reports say that Hevesi would resign from office if he can work out a deal to keep Albany DA David Soares from indicting him. Albany sources say Soares may be amenable to such an arrangement.

If such a deal comes about, the top leaders in Albany on both sides of the aisle would welcome it as a solution to a perplexing problem that started out with Hevesi's election opponent, Christopher Callaghan, revealing the chauffeur scam and the state Ethics Commission determining that Hevesi had violated state law.

Hevesi insisted during the election that the voters would issue their judgment on Election Day, and they did-emphatically- giving Hevesi a two-to-one victory and a second term in office.

However, Governor George Pataki has said he's still considering asking the state senate to vote to remove Hevesi. Incoming Governor Eliot Spitzer won't comment on any action Pataki might take, but he did say Hevesi is unfit to hold public office and he will recommend his removal if he's sworn into a new term in January.

Winning re-election despite an onslaught of negative publicity that preceded him to the polls last week gave New York state Hevesi the opportunity to lay claim to that office "every day of my next four years".

Addressing a crowd of family, friends and loyal followers at an East Side Manhattan hotel, the 66-year-old embattled pol declared:"Tonight the people have said they want me to continue serving as their comptroller for the next four years. I intend to serve and work hard for the people of New York."

At about the same time in a hotel on the West Side, Governor-elect Eliot Spitzer was making a similar victory speech.

The grim reality of it was that one of the offshoots of Spitzer's victory was that next January 1, he's likely to inherit, along with all the other trappings of the highest office in New York state, the power to dispose of Hevesi's ethics lapse. In short, there's a good chance that Hevesi's future will be in the new governor's hands.

This appeared to be how it will unfold at the start of the New Year. Incumbent Governor George Pataki has thus far taken no decisive action regarding the Hevesi problem, and none appears to be on his agenda.

When the outgoing and incoming governors met briefly last week following Spitzer's resounding election victory, the subject of Hevesi was brought up by newsmen. Pataki said, in effect that he was still reviewing the matter.

A report from former federal prosecutor David N. Kelly agreed with the state Ethics Commission ruling that Hevesi had broken the law by having a state worker chauffeur his wife, Carol, over a three-year period. However, Kelly did not recommend that the governor refer the matter to the state senate for further action.

As for Spitzer, when the same questions were put to him, he said he wouldn't comment at this point because Pataki is still the governor. After he's sworn in on January 1, he will answer all of these questions regarding the Hevesi matter because at that time it will be his responsibility, he said.

Spitzer, responding to another question, said Hevesi's margin of victory over Christopher Callaghan (56 percent to 39 percent, with other candidates garnering 5 percent among them, had not changed his thinking on the Hevesi matter, which before the election caused Spitzer to withdraw his endorsement of the embattled comptroller.

It seems to us that Spitzer could have answered the reporters' query by saying simply "no comment" or "I don't feel it's proper for me to get involved in it" or something like that. His answer made it appear that he's looking forward to addressing the issue, but also somehow makes it seem not to bode well for Hevesi.

Come January 1, when Spitzer has been sworn in as governor, part of the background will be statements he made during the recent campaign about his plans to reform Albany and the reputation he gained for going after law breakers as state attorney general, which propelled him into office.

It doesn't seem it would be in keeping with his image as a tough lawman and a reformer to let Hevesi off the hook. But it should be noted that these images were formed in the past and following through on them might cause a sharp, distasteful clash with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Democrats in general, who can be expected to support Hevesi's efforts to remain in office.

Spitzer could get off on the wrong foot, so to speak, by initiating an ugly brawl with his own political party and with an official, Silver, who can be a tough guy to win over, even without the Hevesi headache. It wouldn't be an auspicious start for the new governor.

Silver had a close and very favorable relationship with Hevesi when Hevesi was the Assembly Majority Leader under Silver for several years. As could be expected, Silver characterized what has gone on with the Hevesi issue to this point as a political charade.

While Hevesi's election victory can be taken as a mandate from the voters to continue in office since they were, in a sense, passing judgement on the Forest Hills pol's alleged actions, and since it can be assumed that most Democrats would not be in favor of Hevesi losing his job and virtually ending his career, Spitzer might feel obliged to ease up on him.

However, another factor will weigh heavily on this matter: the possible indictment of Hevesi by the Albany County district attorney on the same facts that figured in the Ethics Commission's determination. This gets mentioned in every story about Hevesi, and whichever way it comes out, either an indictment or no charges, will have a great deal of importance as to how the case against Hevesi will finally be determined.

An indictment would almost surely force Spitzer to take action against Hevesi, despite all the political perils involved.

No action by the DA would make Spitzer's dropping the case much easier, as it would add to the support and good will Hevesi earned with his popular election victory.