Foresight: Replacing Hevesi
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

Alan Hevesi’s celebration of his re-election as state comptroller may be short-lived given his legal troubles. Thus, it’s not premature to consider who might replace Mr. Hevesi as state comptroller.
The state comptroller’s three primary functions are: to be sole trustee of a $140 billion pension fund, to be an outside arbiter of whether budget agreements reached by the governor and state legislature are actually in balance, and to be an auditor of state and local government programs, including public authorities.
Here, in alphabetical order, are some names for consideration by Governor-elect Spitzer and Sheldon Silver, the speaker of the Assembly, the two individuals with the most influence over the Legislature’s selection of a replacement.
Mark Bitz: If Messrs. Spitzer and Silver are looking for a candidate with true outsider credentials, they need look no further than Syracuse-area businessman Mark Bitz. President of Plainview Farms, he founded an advocacy organization, FreeNYS, as a vehicle to push his agenda for making state government more accountable. Mr. Bitz is an articulate advocate for limits on spending and borrowing, nonpartisan redistricting, and Medicaid reform. Given his past criticism of legislative leaders, Mr. Bitz would be a contrarian choice.
Richard Brodsky: One of the brightest and most aggressive individuals in the Legislature, Mr. Brodsky has served as chairman of the Assembly’s government oversight committee and now chairs the committee overseeing the state’s public authorities. Mr. Brodsky, who at times can be prickly, nonetheless has a deserved reputation for being wickedly smart, tenacious, and media savvy. Mr. Brodsky is a Harvard Law grad and possesses extensive government oversight credentials, but has no major investment experience.
John Dunne: Mr. Dunne would be the “elder statesman” choice. A former deputy majority leader of the state Senate, Mr. Dunne served as assistant U.S. attorney general for civil rights under the first President Bush. A confidante of David Soares, a Democrat and Albany district attorney, Mr. Dunne has a record of bipartisanship and an unblemished record of integrity. Early in his career, Mr. Dunne stood up to corrupt party bosses on Long Island, an emblematic act of political courage. Given his age, Mr. Dunne would likely finish out Mr. Hevesi’s term and not run for re-election, giving both parties the ability to put up their best candidates four years from now. Mr. Dunne gained extensive management experience overseeing the large Office of Civil Rights, and has an extensive knowledge of state government.
Joel Greenblatt: Dubbed by New York magazine as “one of Wall Street’s most successful stock-pickers,” Mr. Greenblatt, a founder of Gotham Capital, also authored the well-regarded investment books “You Can Be A Stock Market Genius” and “The Little Book That Beats the Market.” Mr. Greenblatt also has poured a substantial amount of his own money into successfully turning around a poorly performing public school in Queens and cofounding a public charter school in Harlem. The Wharton-educated Greenblatt, with a flair for investing and a focus on results, would be an interesting choice.
Paul Tudor Jones II: The chairman, chief executive officer, and founder of Tudor Investment Corporation is one of the top hedge fund managers in the world. A moneyman with a social conscience, Mr. Jones also founded the Robin Hood Foundation, an anti-poverty philanthropic foundation based in New York City. At Robin Hood, Mr. Jones displayed a dazzling ability to recruit others to help him, including Bear Stearns’s Alan Schwartz, GE’s Jeffrey Immelt, Lehman Brothers’s Richard Fuld Jr., and even Tom Brokaw and Gwyneth Paltrow.
Robert Rubin: The treasury secretary under President Clinton is viewed internationally as one of the finest financial intellects. One suspects that serving as state comptroller would be a step down for him, but if Jon Corzine, his former colleague at Goldman Sachs, is willing to serve as governor of New Jersey, then what’s wrong with being state comptroller of New York? Mr. Rubin would do a fabulous job, and he then would be well positioned to be appointed senator by Mr. Spitzer if Hillary Clinton runs and wins the presidency.
Merryl Tisch: A member of the New York State Board of Regents, Ms. Tisch has extensive knowledge of elementary, secondary, and higher education, which along with health care, constitutes the largest part of the state’s budget. Ms. Tisch also is a board member of the watchdog Citizens Budget Commission. With one of the fattest Rolodexes in Manhattan, Ms. Tisch easily could attract the best and brightest on Wall Street to help manage the state’s pension fund. Although close to both Messrs. Spitzer and Silver, Ms. Tisch is an independent thinker and certainly could not be bought by any special interests.
These individuals each bring different strengths and weaknesses, and I frankly don’t know whether any of the above would serve, if asked. But, in the Empire State, there is no shortage of talented individuals from whom to choose. Given Mr. Hevesi’s obvious legal troubles, it is only prudent now to begin the process of thinking through who his replacement might be.
Mr. Carroll is president of the Foundation for Education Reform and Accountability and former president of CHANGE-NY, a statewide watchdog organization.