Mayor Bloomberg defended State Comptroller Alan Hevesi yesterday, calling him an “honest” man, despite Hevesi’s confession that he used a public employee to chauffeur his wife around for the past 3 ½ years.
“I’ve known Alan Hevesi for a long time and I’ve always thought he was an honest, very hardworking elected official and I was just disappointed to read in the paper about this indiscretion, however you want to phrase it,” Bloomberg said during a press conference near the City Hall subway station yesterday.
Republican Bloomberg wouldn’t say whether he thought Hevesi, a Democrat, should be punished.
Hevesi, who is up for re-election next month, has repaid the state more than $82,000 for the chauffeur’s services, but he’s now under investigation for possible illegal conduct by the Albany County District Attorney’s Office and the state Ethics Commission.