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Governor Pataki's office released a report saying there's enough evidence to recommend the removal of State Comptroller Alan Hevesi. Lawyer David Kelley wrote, "I do not feel that I am now in a position to advise you to proceed with a recommendation to the senate for the comptroller's removal...Considering the record as a whole, I believe there is a preponderance of evidence that the comptroller knowingly and intentionally violated New York's public officers law."
Hevesi's campaign released a statement: "The governor’s special counsel declined to recommend removal. Now, five million voters can choose their next comptroller based on the records, performance and qualifications of the two candidates.” Via the Daily Politics, here's the PDF of the report.
The State Ethics Commission found Hevesi did violate state law by having a state driver chauffeur his wife and found his conduct about the incident questionable. Pataki then appointed an outside lawyer (one with Democratic leanings) to investigate the matter to decide whether he should ask the Legislature to remove Hevesi. However, it seems unlikely that Hevesi would be removed before this coming Tuesday's election, where he's running against Republican Chris Callaghan. Recent polls show that Hevesi leads Callaghan by 4-12 points.
And yesterday, Hevesi paid the state an additional $90,000 to cover the cost of a state driver driving Hevesi's wife Carol over a couple years. The State Ethics Commission suspected the initial $82,688.82 that Hevesi repaid was low, and the Attorney General's office asked Hevesi to cough up the additonal money.
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It's important to note that the report also states that "a decision to seek removal would be premature at this time, "and that "…the statutory provisions that the Comptroller is alleged to have violated are not criminal…"
Did Hevesi do wrong? Yes. Compared with the billions the republicans have stolen from us, the thousands their meaningless war has cost us, the freedoms they've taken from us... I'm voting for Hevesi and every other Democrat on the ballot. Are the Dems perfect? No. Do I wish they acted more like they had guts? Yes. But this year, if they're not republicans, they get my vote.
I'd like to know just the Republicans have stolen from you, Darrin. And spare me the personal attacks I know are coming. I am not a Republican. I have the voter registration to prove it. Whenever I ask people more liberal than myself to explain their positions I don't get anything other than a anti-Bush screed. And personal attacks. It isn't like the New York State comptroller has any influence on foreign policy anyway.
Start with this Iraq war which is costing untold tens of billions of dollars, add in the no-bid contracts given out to Republican-friendly corporations in rebuilding said country (not to mention no-bid domestic contracts e.g. Katrina rebuilding), add the royalties the oil companies are allowed to ignore courtesy of the Republican-led executive and legislative branches which is in the hundreds of millions if not billions, add "tax relief" which, like it or not, puts more of the tax burden on the middle class, add all sorts of legislation passed in favor of corporations at the expense of the tax-payer (e.g. changes in bankruptcy law and laws that will encourage white collar crime while absolving parent companies from litigation), and on and on.
They've stole plenty from me. How about funding for schools that went to funding for the war?
oh, you want proof? it's up your ass, how's that?
stop acting like an asshole.
"details please",
I'll keep it to New York, since that's where I live and New York Republicans are stealing my money.
Joe Bruno is taking $1.2 billion dollars of New Yorkers money to build a pet project for himself in his district.
http://blogs.timesunion.com/business/?cat=41
"The $650 million in cash being offered to AMD is only a piece of the incentive puzzle. The total incentive package, including tax breaks and infrastructure improvements being proposed totals $1.2 billion."
Bruno is using every single lever he can pull with every state agency to ram this through.
If a single reporter started asking questions of the relevant parties about the process, it would collapse and Bruno would be out on his ass.
http://www.dailygazette.net/standard/ShowStoryTemplate.asp?Path=SCH/2006/11/02&ID=Ar01101&Section=Opinion
"EDITORIALS Wrong place for AMD plant
New York state sure drives a hard bargain. An agreement completed last week with AMD requires the company to create 1,200 jobs for the $650 million the state will be giving it to build a computer chip factory in Saratoga County’s Luther Forest. That’s $541,667 (or more than half a million dollars) per job — around $1 million if all the tax breaks and other goodies the state will provide are factored in.
Yes, there will be additional, indirect jobs as a result of AMD’s arrival, but nobody knows how many, or what kind, or where — nor do they seem to care. This is growth, and growth is always good, right?
Well, not if the costs are too high. And we’re not only referring to the huge state subsidies (which, we are told, were necessary to make New York’s offer competitive with those of other states and European countries). The costs also include consuming 200 acres of a forest in a county where open space is already becoming increasingly scarce because of development. Saratoga County and its Northway towns are booming economically and demographically as is, and this project will greatly intensify the development pressures."
This is a bad, bad project for New Yorkers and Bruno it seems is doing everything he can to accelerate approval before people start asking questions.
Pataki, similarly, is ramming through dozens of projects, and from what I understand from people involved in the process, attempting to short cut the approval process, in order to establish himself a legacy.
The convenient distraction is Hevesi's issue.