Spin Cycle

Alan Hevesi, who is actually now campaigning because that other guy is surging in the polls, has been trying to deflect attention from his mounting scandal by claiming that Republican J. Christopher Callaghan, the former Saratoga County Treasurer, is not qualified to be the state’s top fiscal watchdog.

Here’s Callaghan’s bio for your review. According to the web site, he “served as Budget Officer for the Town of Waterford from 1980 to 1986, and as a management analyst in the Saratoga County Administrator's Office from 1983 to 1997. In 1997, Governor George E. Pataki appointed Callaghan to be Saratoga County Treasurer.” He is also president of the New York State Association of County Treasurers and Finance Officers, and a member of the National Association of County Treasurers and Finance Officers.

Pataki defended Callaghan’s credentials during a press event in Albany today.

“He has a very good financial background certainly more than Comptroller Hevesi did when he first got elected New York City comptroller.”

Pataki appears to be accurate on this point. Before he became city comptroller Hevesi served as a state assemblyman from 1971 to 1993. Sure, he helped craft and voted on state budgets, but his resume didn’t feature any work in the trenches as a financial officer. Hevesi has a doctorate in public law and government from Columbia.

Errol A. Cockfield Jr.