Driving Miss Lazy! Head of state Consumer Protection board investigated for using staff as chauffeur

ALBANY - The head of the state Consumer Protection Board is under investigation for using her staff as personal chauffeurs, the Daily News has learned.

The Public Integrity Commission is investigating Mindy Bockstein, who left her $101,600-a-year job as chairwoman of the board yesterday, sources said.

Sources said the investigation has been active "for more than a couple of weeks."

Bockstein could not be reached for comment.

Former workers said Bockstein does not have a driver's license and routinely ordered staffers to drive her around in their personal cars for non-state business.

"She went all Novello," said an ex-staffer, referring to former state Health Commissioner Antonia Novello, who pleaded guilty in 2009 to a felony for using her staffers as chauffeurs and personal servants.

The probe also harkens back to disgraced former Controller Alan Hevesi, who resigned his office in late 2006 just before pleading guilty to a felony for using state workers to drive his sick wife around.

Former staffers recalled Bockstein once ordering a secretary to drive her from Albany to the city at 5 a.m.

Bockstein was appointed in 2007 to the job by hooker-happy ex-Gov. Eliot Spitzer. She was Spitzer's director of policy research in the attorney general's office.

Like almost all agency heads under the previous administration, Bockstein recently submitted an undated letter of resignation to Cuomo.

She was told this week she would not be retained. Her last day was yesterday, and her name was quickly yanked off the agency's website.

A source said her dismissal was not related to the investigation, but rather a desire by the new governor to change state leadership.

Cuomo wants to merge the Consumer Protection Board with the insurance and banking departments.

Cuomo spokesman Josh Vlasto had no comment on the matter.

Public Integrity Commission spokesman Walter Ayres said he was barred by law from commenting.

If ethics investigators discover any wrongdoing by Bockstein, she could be hit with a fine and the case could be referred to a district attorney for criminal action.