Bess Myerson Quits N.Y. Job; Misconduct Reported

Bess Myerson, the embattled former Miss America, resigned as the city’s cultural affairs commissioner after a special investigator reported serious misconduct, the mayor said today.

Mayor Edward I. Koch said the misconduct occurred when Myerson, 62, gave a $21,000-a-year job to the daughter of a judge who handled the 1983 divorce of Myerson’s companion, Carl Capasso, 41.

The mayor, a close friend of Myerson, said the report also found improprieties in Myerson’s use of city employees for personal purposes and in her failure to report gifts received from Capasso, a contractor who did millions of dollars’ worth of business with the city.

Myerson, 62, took a leave of absence from her $83,000-a-year job on Jan. 12 after it was revealed that she had invoked her Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination in a grand jury investigation of Capasso.

Koch assigned retired U.S. District Court Judge Harold R. Tyler to look into why she declined to talk to the grand jury.

Tyler also investigated whether Myerson influenced the awarding of a contract to Capasso and whether she improperly gave a job to the daughter of Judge Hortense Gabel.

Alimony Pay Cut

A month after Myerson gave Sukhreet Gabel a job, the judge cut Capasso’s alimony and child support from $1,850 a week to $680 a week.

Myerson, who made numerous appearances with Koch prior to his election as mayor in 1977, has denied any wrongdoing.

Tyler found no strong evidence that she influenced the awarding of contracts to Capasso, Koch said in a statement.

The mayor, who has known Myerson for 20 years, said Tyler’s findings were “distressing to say the least.” He said Myerson resigned Wednesday night and it was “personally painful” for him to accept it.

Koch had said he would do “whatever Judge Tyler recommends that I do and I am not going to substitute my judgment for his judgment.”

Myerson won the Miss America title in 1945 and later appeared on “I’ve Got a Secret” from 1958 to 1967. She has been romantically linked with Capasso for several years and his wife has said that Myerson is responsible for the breakup of the marriage.

Capasso pleaded guilty to tax-evasion charges two months ago. He has been sentenced to four years in federal prison and fined $500,000.