Early on, he nibbled around the edges of that pledge — persuading the Legislature to create a state comptroller to monitor government spending and to ban state legislators from simultaneously holding another elected office.
He settled a bitter rivalry with the Democrat John Sharp (Mr. Perry won a snarling lieutenant governor's race against his former classmate in 1998) and asked Mr. Sharp, a onetime state comptroller, to work out a 2006 tax bill for him.
It could be awkward, even politically damaging, for a mayor or comptroller to hire someone who earns $1 million or more a year, especially if the investment manager chosen has a few bad years.
But legal experts say there is no easy equivalent to the Martin Act waiting for an aggressive city comptroller to revive.
But on Wednesday he decided to go far beyond the mayoral rivals in criticizing Alan G. Hevesi, saying that Mr. Hevesi ought to be formally investigated to determine if he used his post as comptroller to help a campaign contributor arrange a meeting with a private business in 1997.
"This is going to be a transition from one comptroller to another comptroller".
Mr. Perry turned to John Sharp, a Democrat and former comptroller, to lead the commission.
But Mr. Bloomberg, in a lawsuit filed on Thursday in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, said the courts had long held that registration of contracts was "not a vehicle for the comptroller to usurp the mayor's authority to enter into contracts".
In a letter sent late Monday, the mayor invoked a City Charter provision requiring the comptroller to register the contract within 10 days.
