Confusion over Hevesi Succession

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - As lawmakers continued to interview candidates for the job of state comptroller Wednesday, it remained unclear how the Legislature will actually vote to fill the position.

A panel of three former comptrollers will pick as many as five of the candidates to recommend to the Legislature, which in joint session is dominated by Democrats and led by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.

Silver spokesman Charles Carrier said he did not know if lawmakers will be given the option to vote for any of the recommended candidates or if the field will be narrowed further. He also couldn't say whether it will take a majority to win if there are multiple candidates, or if a runoff would be needed if no one receives more than 50 percent of the vote.

Not even Gov. Eliot Spitzer was sure what would happen next.

"I don't know how mechanically they will proceed," he told The Associated Press.

Nineteen candidates - a mix of investors, politicians, government fiscal officers and business executives - are hoping to succeed Alan Hevesi as the state's top financial officer. Hevesi, a Queens Democrat who was re-elected in November, resigned a month later after pleading guilty to a felony for using staffers as chauffeurs and errand-runners for his wife.

A panel of more than 40 legislators and the former comptrollers was holding two days of job interviews to find the right person for the $151,500-a-year job. The panel heard from 10 candidates Tuesday and scheduled another eight interviews for Wednesday. Interviews were concluded by 6:15 p.m.

Silver has said he would prefer one of his Assembly members get the nod, while Spitzer has said he would like someone with significant financial experience outside of government.

Among those who attracted considerable attention from the questioners on Wednesday was Assemblyman Thomas DiNapoli, a Nassau County Democrat.

He even earned praise from Republican Sens. Kenneth LaValle and Dean Skelos for his record in the Assembly. LaValle and Skelos, like DiNapoli, are from Long Island.

"You are the real deal," LaValle said.

"In the spirit of nonpartisanship, I will not hold it against you that you are apparently the Republican Party's candidate," said state Sen. Liz Krueger, a Manhattan Democrat.

DiNapoli's testimony ran for almost two hours, much longer than many of the candidates.

On Tuesday, Wall Street Financier Bill Mulrow, a Democratic candidate for the office in 2002, testified for about 90 minutes.

Others, including assemblymen Richard Brodsky of Westchester, Alexander "Pete" Grannis of Manhattan and Joseph Morelle of Rochester all testified for longer than an hour.

The comptroller audits government operations and manages the state's $150 billion pension fund. The office's 2,400 employees carry out a variety of duties, including financial audits of state agencies and public benefit corporations, managing the state's assets, issuing general obligation debt bonds to pay for projects and reviewing state contracts, payrolls and payments before they are issued.

Lawmakers had scheduled seven candidates to be interviewed on Wednesday, but added two more: James Cheney, the mayor of the village of Phelps in Ontario County; and Robert Hoffman, an accountant in the Oyster Bay comptroller's office.

Cheney withdrew his candidacy on Wednesday and was not questioned.

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On the Net:

Office of the New York State Comptroller: http://www.osc.state.ny.us/