ALBANY – Scandal-mired state Comptroller Alan Hevesi has defiantly told friends he will resign rather than allow the Republican-controlled Senate to remove him, The Post has learned.
But the Democrat is not trying to avoid the embarrassment of impeachment in the wake of the Ethics Commission reporting he illegally used a state worker as a chauffeur and companion for his wife and then lied about it.
Rather, Democratic Party insiders say, Hevesi wants to avoid having Gov. Pataki name his successor – instead letting Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, the Legislature’s most powerful Democrat, make the choice.
State law says if Hevesi is removed by the Senate, the governor picks his successor. But if he resigns before being axed, the choice falls to the Legislature, where Democrats will be in the majority.
Democrat Silver – in a split with Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Eliot Spitzer – has urged Hevesi to try to win next week’s election in order to allow the Democrats the chance to name his successor, party sources said.
A source said Hevesi personally assured Silver he would quit before being removed by the Senate, but Silver told The Post, “We never had a conversation about his resignation, nor has he indicated any interest in resigning.”
Among the Democratic names being mentioned as a possible replacement are City Controller William Thompson, and financial exec William Mulrow.
The plan won’t be necessary if Hevesi, who is also under criminal investigation by the Albany County district attorney, loses to Republican challenger Christopher Callaghan, since only about seven weeks will remain until the office changes hands.
But if Hevesi wins the vote and resigns to avoid removal, a major governmental crisis could develop.
That’s because a re-elected but resigned Hevesi could still try to defy his ouster by the Senate and claim his office on Jan. 1 – setting off a confrontation with Spitzer, who says he’s unfit for office, and a Senate that has the power to remove him.
Spitzer, meanwhile, was described as still steaming over what he believed was Hevesi’s defense of Albany’s corrupt, take-whatever-you-can political culture.