7th Annual Women's History Month Luncheon & Business Development Day Breakfast Speaker - Alan G. Hevesi, State Comptroller

Alan G. Hevesi was elected New York State Comptroller in 2002. Under his stewardship as sole trustee, the nation’s second largest pension fund grew from $95 billion to $119.2 billion, a 29 percent gain, for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2004. The fund is currently valued at about $120 billion.

Some of the Comptroller’s responsibilities include managing and protecting the state pension fund, auditing the spending practices of all state agencies and local governments, reviewing the New York State and City budgets, reviewing and approving all state contracts, and administering the State Oil Spill Fund.

Comptroller Hevesi has successfully proposed and passed pension reform that saved local governments $1 billion, while strengthening the pension fund. Additionally, Comptroller Hevesi initiated a campaign to expose problems at state public authorities such as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the Long Island Power Authority and the Canal Corp., and laid the basis for fundamental reform and increased accountability of these organizations. He has also been a leader in fighting fraud and corruption in state government. For the first time within the State Comptroller’s office, he established a Division of Investigations that has uncovered fraud and corruption in school districts, including Roslyn, and municipalities statewide. Comptroller Hevesi has also undertaken efforts to boost the upstate economy by setting aside additional funds for a private equity program aimed at investing in New York businesses and for the first time, including economic development within the Division of Local Governments.

PUBLIC AUTHORITIES

• Introduced, along with Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, and Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, sweeping, comprehensive public authority reform legislation, which if passed, would fundamentally alter the way public authorities operate in New York State to provide unprecedented transparency and accountability to the public.
  
  
• Exposed and corrected the deceptive budget practices of the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
  
  
• Discovered improper polling practices and budget practices at the Long Island Power Authority.
  
  
• Rejected a Canal Corporation contract that would have sold an upstate developer the rights to develop land along the Erie Canal without a full and proper competitive bidding process.
  
  
• Detailed abuse at the New York State Bridge Authority where weak internal financial controls and poor Board oversight allowed its former executive director to charge thousands of dollars in personal travel expenses to the $38.5 million public authority.

FIGHTING WASTE, FRAUD AND CORRUPTION

• Issued an audit that found school district officials in Roslyn, Long Island used $11.2 million of school funds for personal benefit ranging from food purchases to first class trips abroad.
  
  
• Initiated audits of dozens of school districts and worked with school organizations to develop a five-part plan to improve oversight of school districts that includes training district personnel to better audit and monitor their own financial practices.
  
  
• Issued, in his first two years, 291 audits on State and New York City agencies and public authorities, which identified $76 million in actual savings for the State and $122 million in potential savings, and completed 487 audits and reports of local governments, which identified total savings of $45.8 million, with 32 of these audit reports identifying fraud or theft of local government assets.

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

• Formed the National Coalition for Corporate Reform and played a leading role in pushing for reform at a number of troubled corporations, including the Walt Disney Co. and Marsh & McLennan Cos., the New York Stock Exchange and with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
  
  
• Secured more than $6 billion in settlements with numerous defendants in the WorldCom securities litigation. This is the largest settlement ever recorded in a securities class action. He also reached a $460 million proposed settlement in the Raytheon securities class action – the seventh largest securities litigation settlement in history. Hevesi is the lead plaintiff in both cases.
  
  
• Achieved a $960 million settlement with McKesson Corp. in the securities class action, the third largest securities class action settlement in history.

DEBT REFORM

• Issued a comprehensive debt reform control program and proposed constitutional amendment that would bring New York’s runaway debt under control. Some of the program’s provisions include: limiting outstanding state-funded debt to five percent of personal income; creating an independent debt management board, and requiring voter approval for annual issuances exceeding $1 billion.

HELPING THE UPSTATE ECONOMY

• Provided the State Pension Fund with an additional $195 million in venture capital for New York State businesses, bringing the total amount in the program to $298 million, more than the $250 million recommended by the Legislature.
  
  
• Uncovered that nearly half of all businesses in 11 of the State’s Empire Zones continued receiving tax breaks even though they created fewer jobs than promised, and in some cases actually lost jobs.
  
  
• Proposed the creation of a financial control board for Buffalo based on a review of the city’s finances, which exposed serious long-term problems. That board is now monitoring Buffalo.
  
  
• Similar review of Erie County.

Before his election as State Comptroller, Mr. Hevesi served two terms as New York City Comptroller. Under his stewardship, the city’s pension funds grew from $49 billion to nearly $100 billion. Mr. Hevesi more than doubled the number of audits conducted by his Office, identifying hundreds of millions of dollars in savings.

He also spent 22 years in the State Assembly, where he authored 108 laws and established himself as a champion for affordable health care, education reform and the rights of people with disabilities.

Mr. Hevesi holds a PH.D in Public Law & Government from Columbia University. He was a professor of political science at Queens College from 1967-1993, and was later an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and Fordham Law School. Mr. Hevesi is also the author of several articles and books.

Mr. Hevesi lives with his wife Carol in the same neighborhood in Queens where he was born and raised, and where his three children grew up.