Dov Tale

After Representative Jesse Jackson Jr. announced his support of gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo in early May, Cuomo's opponent, State Comptroller H. Carl McCall, called on his good friend, Assemblymember Dov Hikind, to denounce the endorsement. Hikind was perfectly happy to do so: Jackson, after all, had voted against a House resolution calling for total solidarity between the U.S. and Israel, a measure Hikind staunchly supported. He was also glad to help McCall, whom he had endorsed in the 1998 State Comptroller race. Now, Hikind is backing McCall in the upcoming Democratic gubernatorial race--carrying with him the influence of more than 10,000 Orthodox Jewish votes in and around the 48th Assembly District.

Also at McCall's request, Hikind had accompanied the state comptroller to Israel this past March. The trip, which is best known for a photo op of McCall firing a rifle n the West Bank, garnered criticism from not only Cuomo's supporters but also some of McCall's, who questioned the comptroller's decision to visit Israeli settlements. But McCall was merely answering Hikind's demand that he "do something meaningful" in response to the Mideast crisis.

It's not the first time that McCall has done Hikind a favor. After Hikind's July 1998 acquittal of federal corruption charges in connection with the Jewish social service organization Council of Jewish Organizations (COJO) of Borough Park--and a congratulatory phone call from McCall two days later--McCall's office paid Hikind $420,000 to cover his legal expenses. The payment, approved by Carl McCall and former State Attorney General Dennis Vacco, was made in February 1999 under a little-known section of New York's Public Officers Law that provides for the payment of "reasonable legal fees" to state employees accused and then acquitted of crimes related to their job. Over the past five years, not counting Hikind, there have been30 instances in which New York State employees were reimbursed for legal expenses under the Public Officers Law. The total amount of reimbursements made to the 30 state employees as of May 2001 equaled $262,789, just slightly more than half of the sum paid to Hikind by McCall's office.

The only problem is that Hikind should have never received the payment. The Public Officers Law requires that state employees provide "the original or a copy of an accusatory instrument within ten days" of arraignment. Hikind was indicted on August 7, 1997 and did not submit any paperwork until July 21, 1998. He missed the 10-day application period for reimbursement by nearly a year.

Hikind's attorney, wannabe Borough Park City Council member Robert Miller, argued that his client couldn't have filed earlier because the wording of the indictment did not clearly indicate that Hikind was charged with crimes related to his role as a public official. Yet the indictment states, "Hikind...[used] his position with the New York State Assembly to obtain hundreds of thousands of dollars in state funding for the COJO entities." It further alleges that Hikind "devised and participated in a scheme to defraud the people of the State of New York." Paul Chernick, former director of the now defunct COJO of Borough Park, pleaded guilty to misappropriating state funds and attempting to bribe Hikind. Hikind's lawyer argued that he accepted the money without "corrupt intent."

Donald Berens, the deputy Attorney General who oversaw the case, says he cannot recall why Hikind's reimbursement was approved: "I remember the names of Dov Hikind and COJO. I do not remember much beyond that."