Campaign cash… this is not proper use of campaign cash. This guy has no ethical standards.

Hevesi uses $750,000 in campaign cash to pay for defense lawyers - Newsday.com
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) _ State Comptroller Alan Hevesi has used at least $750,000 from his campaign fund to pay defense lawyers as he faces investigations into his use of a state employee to drive for his ailing wife, state Board of Elections records show.

Hevesi, a Queens Democrat, paid $450,000 to the law firm Strook & Strook & Lavan in late October and early November, according to his latest campaign finance filing. He paid another $300,000 from the campaign to defense lawyer Stephen Kaufman.

He also spent millions on television and radio ads to fend off Republican challenger J. Christopher Callaghan, the filing shows. Hevesi, who had $4.6 million in his campaign account as of Oct. 23, was left with about $119,000 as of Dec. 4.

The payments to the lawyers, first reported by The New York Times and the Daily News of New York, are legal under the state’s campaign finance laws.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver used campaign funds to pay attorneys who represented him during a state lobbying commission investigation of a discounted Las Vegas hotel room provided to Silver by Caesars Entertainment at a time casino issues were being debated in Albany. Caesars Entertainment was fined $25,000. Former state Sen. Guy Velella also used campaign funds to pay lawyers representing him in a bribery case that ended when he pleaded guilty to fourth-degree conspiracy.

“Campaign funds should be used on campaigns,” said Rachel Leon of the New York chapter of Common Cause, a government watchdog group. “Theoretically, candidates are given funds to get elected, not to defend something that happened in their previous term. We need to tighten up these laws because, right now, anything goes.”

Hevesi’s political adviser, Hank Morris, did not immediately return a call for comment.

In October, the state Ethics Commission said Hevesi violated the law when he used a staffer to chauffeur his wife. Hevesi claimed the driver was needed to provide security for his wife, but the bipartisan commission said state police found no threat that justified the arrangement.

The panel said Hevesi apparently had no intention of repaying the state for the three years of service until Callaghan went public with a complaint. Hevesi then paid the state almost $83,000, but the commission said that was likely too little.

Hevesi apologized for what he called the serious error of providing a “belated” reimbursement, but insists he did not break the law.