Comptroller Race May Be a Toss-Up

Have you seen Alan Hevesi's new ad where he's sitting against a somber blackground, apologizing for the "stupid mistake" he made to have a state driver chauffeur his wife? He humbly asks for voters to consider his 35 years of experience and says he'll fight for New Yorkers. And yet it's hard to listen to it and not be disappointed and upset, knowing that comptrollers are supposed to monitor this kind of behavior in the first place.

Some may argue that Hevesi's record is what should be considered - not a questionable $170,000 (yes, he apparently owes $90K more) decision. It's the record vs. role debate - sure, politicians do bad things all the time, but should they get away with it, especially someone whose job is to be a fiscal watchdog?

Siena College's poll finds Hevesi and challenger Chris Callaghan in a statistical dead heat while a Newsday/NY1 poll says Hevesi leads by 10 points. In hopes of riding this scandal to the fullest, the NY State Repubilcan party has distributed a DVD cover called "Weekend at Alan's" - those hilarious Republicans!

And this is not the first time Hevesi has called himself stupid. Remember when he said Senator Schumer wanted to put a bullet in between President Bush's eyes?

You can read the State Ethics Commission's report on Hevesi.