MCCALL HOT FOR SUNY POST

CARL McCall evidently is itching to find a new job. The former state comptroller and ill-fated Democratic gubernatorial candidate has been telling folks he’s Gov. Spitzer‘s choice to head the State University of New York, either as the new chancellor or as chairman of the Board of Trustees, several insiders said. But a source close to the Spitzer administration told Post State Editor Fredric U. Dicker that the appointment to the prestigious, $340,000-a-year chancellor’s post, or the unpaid board chairmanship, isn’t going to happen. “Let’s just say it’s a little above his level of qualification,” said the source. Spitzer’s choice of McCall to succeed outgoing SUNY Chancellor John Ryan would likely raise eyebrows on Wall Street and in corporate legal circles because many believe Spitzer, as state attorney general, let the high-profile Democrat off the hook for his role in approving a controversial, $187.5 million payment to former New York Stock Exchange chief Dick Grasso. McCall, who headed the exchange’s compensation committee, said he had difficulty remembering the full details of that payment, which triggered Spitzer to begin a still-being-litigated recovery action.