HEVESI STAYS IN DRIVER’S SEAT AFTER HUGE VICTORY
State Comptroller Alan Hevesi prevailed last night in his scandalplagued bid to win re-election in the face of mounting ethics probes.
Hevesi led Republican challenger Christopher Callaghan in early returns, 60 percent to 35 percent with 4,477 of 16,278 precincts counted (32 percent).
The race for one of New York’s least known offices turned out to be the Empire state’s most compelling contest after Hevesi fessed up to using taxpayer money to fund his wife’s chauffeur.
Callaghan found something positive in his defeat.
“For the first five months of this campaign . . . people of this state were saying ‘Chris who?’ ” said John Callaghan, the candidate’s son and campaign spokesman.
“The last three weeks, Democrats of this state have been saying ‘Alan who?’ running away from the guy.” Even though Hevesi won, “Chauffeurgate” is far from finished.
Former U.S. Attorney David Kelley, appointed by Gov. Pataki to review the case, has said there’s damning evidence against Hevesi – but stopped short of making a personal recommendation to remove him from office.
The ball’s now in Pataki’s court, and the lame-duck GOP governor has so far dodged questions whether he’ll call for the state Senate to take action.
Hevesi has apologized for spending at least $83,000 of public money and even took out TV ads, telling voters he’s sorry and asking for their electoral forgiveness. Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, now the governor-elect, last week ordered Hevesi to pay back an additional $90,000.
Chauffeurgate prompted Spitzer to pull his endorsement of Hevesi, a Queens Democrat.
So while Democratic titans partied hard with Spitzer last night inside a festive ballroom of the Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers in Midtown, Hevesi was relegated to the not-so Jolly Hotel Madison Towers in Murray Hill.
Hevesi supporters slowly filled the hotel’s Leonardo room – a bare-bones, sparsely decorated meeting space with just a podium and one TV turned to cable news.
Hevesi’s low-key party last night would have seemed impossible over the summer – until Callaghan himself blew the whistle on his opponent.
After receiving a tip about the taxpayer-funded chauffeur, Callaghan phoned the state comptroller’s fraud hot line, setting the scandal into motion.
Despite Hevesi’s apology and $83,000 repayment, the state ethics commission still came down hard on him – ruling that he knowingly violated state law and had no intention of coughing up any cash until he was caught.
Hevesi has claimed his ailing wife Carol lives in constant pain and needs a driver because of threats made against him.
The ethics commission, however, has undercut Hevesi’s excuse and said harassers represent only a “low threat risk” to Carol Hevesi.
The embarrassing revelations didn’t wipe out Hevesi’s considerable support in his Democratdominated New York City base.
Jeff Labb, a 38-year-old photographer from Brooklyn, voted for Hevesi and said the incumbent’s indiscretions were overblown.
“I don’t like Callaghan and I don’t think the scandal is as big as everyone makes it out to be,” Labb said outside his polling station.
George De Stefano, a 52-year-old writer from Queens, lashed out at Hevesi – but still couldn’t bring himself to vote GOP.
“It gave me pause and I think it’s clearly an abuse of power,” De Stefano said after visiting his local ballot box. “But I just never vote for conservative Bush Republicans.”
Heidi Singer contributed to this report
How you voted – N.Y. STATE COMPTROLLER
Hevesi 60%
Callaghan 35%
32 percent of precincts counted
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