By Tom Deignan

UP until this week the race for New York State comptroller – not exactly the sexiest office to begin with – had been plodding along.

Alan Hevesi, the Democratic incumbent, is no stranger to Irish circles.

He is a seasoned New York politician. Though not Irish himself, he has always understood that Irish Catholics are a key voting bloc up and down New York state.

So, for example, he has always been out front claiming that New York should not invest its retirement fund money in Northern Ireland, unless officials there took drastic moves to lessen discrimination against Catholics.

Essentially, that’s what a comptroller is, sort of an accountant for the state.

Last year, Hevesi announced that as result of the Irish peace process, the gulf between Catholic and Protestant employment statistics in the North had dropped to the point that New York could begin steering some of its $140 billion retirement fund to businesses in the North.

It was the kind of principled, pragmatic move that makes Hevesi such a successful, if not exactly bold, politician.

So, one might have thought the same thing when Hevesi recently announced a program to target government waste. What could be wrong with that, right?

Hevesi is running for reelection, and though most people think he is going to win easily, why not attract some attention as a protector of the public’s tax money?

Hevesi set up a hotline which anybody could call. They were to report examples of what they believed to be government waste.

Well, one caller went ahead and said that he knew of a high government official who was using a public driver as a chauffeur for his wife.

A letter outlining the same charge went to an upstate district attorney’s office.

That caller was Hevesi’s Irish American Republican opponent, Chris Callaghan, who many political observers say has finally scored a direct hit in what was up until this week a one-sided campaign.

On Monday, Hevesi agreed to pay back over $80,000 in funds that were used to drive his wife around. It was believed that this would end any speculation about a criminal investigation.

For those who know Callaghan, this stunt was in keeping with a man who never fails to remind voters of his Irish background and sharp wit.

Over the summer, when Hevesi caused a minor stir by suggesting as a joke that Senator Charles Schumer might want to “put a bullet” into President Bush, here’s what Callaghan had to say, “Alan Hevesi and I are both disabusing the public of the view that this is a dull position, I with my Irish wit, and he with his remarks about Chuck Schumer and a gun.”

Callaghan reportedly has hung a map of Ireland on the wall of his inner office located in upstate Ballston Spa, and is well known for his St. Patrick's Day decorations, which are hanging very early in March.

He has said that his ancestors came to the U.S. around the time of the U.S. Civil War.

On a broader level, a candidate like Callaghan –- who, admittedly, doe not have a great shot of winning -– is further evidence of the heavily Irish tilt of the state Republican Party under George Pataki.

If the stereotypical Irish politician is a big city Democrat, than the stereotypical New York State Irish politician these days is a suburban or small town Republican from upstate New York.

Advisors and lawmakers such as John Sweeney, John Cahill and Jim Walsh come to mind.

So, who exactly is Chris Callaghan?

A graduate of SUNY-Albany, he has worked in finance, and upstate Republican circles, since the early 1970s.

Married with three grown children, 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.

He was appointed by Governor Pataki in 1997 to be Saratoga’s county treasurer, a position he was elected to three more times.

Now, he is looking to make the big leap to statewide politics, a leap which, despite some gaffes by Hevesi, remains a tough obstacle.

If nothing else, this duo has proven that even a race run by accountants can have its colorful moments.

Unfortunately for Callaghan, Hevesi already has some experience beating Irish candidates. In his last race for comptroller, he toppled Billy Mulrow in a Democratic primary. Mulrow, a labor activist who made lots of money on Wall Street, had a humble beginning, raised by Irish immigrant parents in the Bronx.

(Contact at tomdeignan@earthlink.net)