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Cuomo’s local endorsements
Posted on October 31, 2011 at 12:21 pm by Jimmy Vielkind, Capitol bureau     

After announcing his support for Dan McCoy’s unopposed bid to become Albany County executive, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has backed three other local Democratic office-seekers.

First, he endorsed Gary Gordon for Rensselaer County sheriff. Then Sunday, he offered backing to two Democrats seeking the mayor’s office: Lou Rosamilia in Troy and Gary McCarthy in Schenectady.

Let’s start with Rosamilia:

“Lou Rosamilia has the right combination of experience and commitment to lead Troy forward,” Cuomo said. “These are challenging economic times for state and local governments, and his hands-on leadership skills and knowledge of finance equip him to provide sound financial leadership for Troy.”

“I am confident that Lou Rosamilia will bring people together to move Troy forward to a new era of prosperity and success. As a career educator, Lou Rosamilia has nurtured and guided students and, as mayor, he will guide Troy’s future,” Governor Cuomo added.

And McCarthy, who began serving as acting mayor when Cuomo tapped Brian Stratton to lead the Canal Corporation:

“Gary McCarthy has demonstrated, by virtue of his hard work and commitment to common sense, his ability to lead Schenectady during these difficult times. In his time as acting mayor, Gary has repeatedly proven his competence and willingness to make the tough calls,” Governor Cuomo said.

Quoted from Madam X

Cuomo is paying Gary back for keeping his mouth shut when Cuomo's crony, BS, was caught ripping off the pension fund. Cuomo claimed to be against
that as a campaign issue, remember?

Quoted from Madam X

Cuomo is paying Gary back for keeping his mouth shut when Cuomo's crony, BS, was caught ripping off the pension fund. Cuomo claimed to be against that as a campaign issue, remember?

Quoted Text

Hevesi Pleads Guilty in Pension Case

By DANNY HAKIM and WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM

Published: October 7, 2010



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Former State Comptroller Alan G. Hevesi, once considered a leading voice on corporate governance and ethics, stood before a judge on Thursday and calmly explained how he took part in a sprawling corruption scheme involving New York State’s $125 billion pension fund while serving as its sole trustee.




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Daniel Barry for The New York Times

In State Supreme Court on Thursday, Alan G. Hevesi, former state comptroller, admitted accepting inducements to approve a $250 million investment.


Related in Opinion

Editorial: New York’s Pension Scandal


Related

Hevesi Successor Cleared in Inquiry (October 8, 2010)



Looking the part of the button-down financial watchdog in a black suit, a white shirt, striped tie and round wire-rimmed glasses, Mr. Hevesi, 70, said in State Supreme Court in Manhattan that he had approved a $250 million pension investment in exchange for nearly $1 million in benefits from a California businessman, Elliott Broidy.

They included hotel and travel accommodations for himself and his family during trips to Israel and Italy, $380,000 in sham consulting fees paid to a friendly lobbyist and more than $500,000 in campaign contributions.

“I deeply regret my conduct and I sincerely and deeply apologize to the people of the state of New York, to the court, to my family,” Mr. Hevesi, a Democrat, told those in the courtroom, after pleading guilty to a single felony count.

He appeared with his three adult children, two of whom had become entangled in the investigation, which was led by the office of Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo.

Still, it was unclear whether Mr. Hevesi will face any jail time; the count, an “E” felony, does not require it. The judge, Lewis Bart Stone, set sentencing for Dec. 16.

In some ways, the day was also a fitting coda to four extraordinary years of corruption spanning a single statewide election cycle.

In December 2006, just after his re-election, Mr. Hevesi pleaded guilty to a felony and resigned after admitting he had used state workers to chauffeur his ailing wife.

His guilty plea, shocking as it was at the time because of Mr. Hevesi’s previously robust reputation as a state assemblyman, city comptroller and state comptroller, was only the first domino to fall in a remarkable tumult of scandal: the resignation of Gov. Eliot Spitzer; the federal prosecution of Joseph L. Bruno, the former Senate majority leader; and many investigations encircling the current Senate majority leader, Pedro Espada Jr., and the current governor, David A. Paterson, among other officials.

Also on Thursday, Mr. Hevesi admitted for the first time that he had known that his longtime political consultant, Hank Morris, set himself up as a middleman between investment firms and the pension fund, an arrangement that state officials have alleged netted Mr. Morris millions of dollars and allowed him to grant a variety of favors to Mr. Hevesi’s allies.

Mr. Morris, who is accused of profiting far more handsomely than Mr. Hevesi did, has maintained that he did nothing wrong.

The admission was a turnabout for Mr. Hevesi, who has long said he had no knowledge of the activities that prosecutors attribute to Mr. Morris.

Two investigators brought the former comptroller into the Manhattan courthouse at 8:15 a.m. on Thursday with his hands cuffed in front of him beneath a draped trench coat. Once he reached the lobby, the handcuffs were removed and Mr. Hevesi was taken to the fifth floor for the first of two arraignments, which took place in Criminal Court. He seemed upbeat during a brief delay, joking with his children, who sat behind him on benches in the small courtroom.

He was silent as the judge read the charge. Then, in a second courtroom, he entered his plea before Justice Stone, reading in calm tones a lengthy description of his crime: how he steered $250 million in pension funds to Markstone Capital Partners, Mr. Broidy’s investment firm, from January 2003 to September 2005.

In exchange, court documents said, Mr. Broidy conferred roughly $75,000 worth of travel benefits on Mr. Hevesi and donated or raised more than $500,000 for his campaign. Mr. Broidy also paid $380,000 to an unnamed lobbyist.

According to people with knowledge of the case, that lobbyist is Frank Sanzillo, brother of Thomas Sanzillo, a former aide to Mr. Hevesi who served as interim state comptroller after his resignation. The people who identified Frank Sanzillo as the lobbyist spoke on the condition of anonymity, saying they did not want to get ahead of the attorney general’s investigation.

Mr. Sanzillo did not immediately return a call requesting comment.

Mr. Hevesi is cooperating in the investigation, Mr. Cuomo’s office said, though it is not clear if he would be willing to testify against Mr. Morris, once his close friend and confidant.

He pleaded guilty to a felony count of receiving reward for official misconduct in the second degree, but Justice Stone said that because the acts related to the pension fund corruption predated the actions related to his prior conviction, his latest guilty plea would be considered a first offense.

Mr. Hevesi could get up to four years in prison, but none is required.

The plea was a priority for the office of Mr. Cuomo, the Democratic nominee for governor, who in his campaign has highlighted his record of fighting corruption.

“Alan Hevesi presided over a culture of corruption and violated his oath as a public servant,” Mr. Cuomo said in a statement on Thursday.

“He was solely charged with protecting our pension fund, but he exploited it for his personal benefit instead. With his guilty plea, we can now focus on the process of restoring public trust in government.”

The pension investigation is one of the longest-running in Albany and has encapsulated the capital’s pay-to-play culture.

The investigation by Mr. Cuomo’s office, and a parallel inquiry by the Securities and Exchange Commission, led to a nationwide re-evaluation of public pension practices and the role of placement agents, the middlemen who brokered business for the investment firms from the comptroller’s office.

Last year, the current state comptroller, Thomas P. DiNapoli, barred placement agents and other paid intermediaries from doing business with the state fund. The city comptroller has also banned placement agents from the New York City pension funds.

A number of other Hevesi lieutenants have been implicated in the investigation, which began in 2007 amid accusations that Mr. Hevesi’s former chief of staff, Jack Chartier, had obtained, among other things, a loan from Mr. Broidy for a friend, the actress Peggy Lipton, best known for her role on the television show “Mod Squad.”

Mr. Chartier has been cooperating with investigators, people with knowledge of the case have said.

In March, David J. Loglisci, the former chief investment officer in the comptroller’s office, pleaded guilty to securities fraud, saying he had helped steer pension money to Mr. Hevesi’s political contributors and to companies that paid Mr. Morris kickbacks.

The case has also entangled prominent New York figures and institutions. Last year, the Carlyle Group, the private equity firm that once employed the first President George Bush, paid $20 million to settle charges related to the investigation.

Although Mr. Hevesi pleaded guilty to participating in broad pension fund corruption, he can take comfort in at least one regard: Under current state law, he keeps his own pension, which pays him roughly $105,000 a year.

Mr. DiNapoli, the comptroller, said Thursday that the law allowing felons to retain their pensions needed to be changed.

“No one who violates the public trust so egregiously should be allowed to receive a taxpayer-funded pension,” he said.





C. J. Hughes contributed reporting.