Joseph Bruno

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Joseph L. Bruno (born April 8, 1929) is an American businessman and politician. He is the current majority leader of the New York State Senate, elected to the Senate from the 43rd District. He is a member of the Republican Party.

Personal life

Bruno was born in Glens Falls, New York, and graduated from of St. Mary's Academy in that city. He has a B.A. degree in Business Administration from Skidmore College and served in the Korean War as an infantry sergeant. Bruno served as president of the New York State Jaycees and in 1964 was named by them as one of the five "Outstanding Young Men of the State." Bruno and his wife Barbara Frasier have four children: Joseph, Susan, Kenneth and Catherine, and live in Brunswick in Rensselaer County, New York.

Political career

Bruno was first elected to the New York State Senate in 1976 from a district composed of the counties of Rensselaer and Saratoga. He was first elected Temporary President of the New York State Senate in January 1995 and re-elected to that position in 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003 and 2005. In 1966, Bruno was on the campaign staff of Governor Nelson Rockefeller, and from 1969 to 1974 he served as Special Assistant to Speaker of the Assembly Perry B. Duryea. From 1968 to 1969, he was President of the New York State Association of Young Republicans. He also served as Chairman of the Rensselaer County Republican Committee from 1974 to 1977. Bruno, along with Governor George Pataki and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, was instrumental in bringing the return of the death penalty to New York State in 1995. The bill they passed was ruled unconstitutional by the New York State Court of Appeals (analogous to the Supreme Court in other states) when it turned out that the law gave jurors deadlocked between life without parole and execution no choice but to give eligibility for parole after 25 years. When faced between this possibility, the Court of Appeals feared that execution would seem unfairly preferable. In the 10 years since the law was passed, New York's crime rate plummeted without ever seeing an execution, perhaps weakening the public support for the death penalty. Silver let the law die in 2005 without much debate.^[1] According to an editorial in The Buffalo News, Bruno forced a bill through the Senate on June 27, 1995, that would have forced girls under 16 to get consent from both parents for an abortion. It never passed the New York State Assembly.^[2] In 2005, Bruno proposed research into high speed rail development in New York State as part of a plan to boost Upstate New York's economy.^[3] As the Temporary President of the Senate, Bruno is Chairman of the Rules Committee and an ex officio member of all Senate standing committees and statutory commissions. A minor league baseball stadium in Troy, New York, the Joseph L. Bruno Stadium, is named after the Senator. Bruno's clout in Rensselaer County has made him the de-facto boss of the Republican Party in the region. Bruno has dominated politics in the County, as well as the state, experiencing only two major defeats; when Democratic Judge Patrick McGrath won re-election as County Court Judge by 69% in 2003, and when East Greenbush Town Justice Bob Jacon defeated District Attorney Patricia DeAngelis for an additional County Judgeship that was created by the State Senate specifically for DeAngelis in 2005. Otherwise, Republicans dominate Rensselaer County politics, even in the City of Troy, which has a majority of registered Democrats to Republicans. Bruno, in early February 2005, stated that America, instead of battling insurgents, should declare victory and "get the troops out of there."^[1]

2007 legislative session

At the start of the 2007 session, it appeared the highly popular incoming Governor Eliot Spitzer would be able to enact an ambitious reform agenda over the opposition of a weakened Bruno. However, the 2007 state budget was deemed by many as similar to the budgets approved during the Pataki years, which some dubbed a victory for Bruno. In April Bruno also appeared to hold veto power over two other Spitzer initiatives: gay marriage^[2] and campaign finance reform^[3]. He challenged Spitzer to restore the state's death penalty law.^[4] He also has criticised the Governor's plan to issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, claiming it was aimed at stuffing the ballot box with Democratic voters [4]

Police surveillance controversy

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On July 23, 2007, New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo admonished Governor Eliot Spitzer's administration for ordering the State Police to track Bruno's travel records, particularly his use of a state helicopter. ^[5] At the direction of top officials of the Spitzer administration, the New York State Police created documents meant to cause political damage to Bruno.^[6] The governor's staff had stated they were responding to a Freedom of Information request from The Times-Union of Albany in late June.^[5][7] On May 23, Spitzer's Communications Director Darren Dopp wrote Rich Baum, a senior Spitzer adviser, that "records exist going way back"^[8] about Bruno's use of state aircraft, and that "Also, I think there is a new and different way to proceed re media. Will explain tomorrow."^[7] Dopp later wrote another e-mail to Baum after a story ran in the Times-Union about a federal grand jury investigation of Bruno's investments in thoroughbred racing horses, and wrote: "Think travel story would fit nicely in the mix."^[8][7] A 57-page report issued by the Attorney General's office concluded that Spitzer aides attempted to create negative media coverage concerning Senator Bruno's travel before any Freedom of Information Law request was made.^[9] The investigation looked into both Bruno's travel and the senate leader's allegation that Spitzer used State Police to spy on him.^[10] Cuomo concluded that "These e-mails show that persons in the governor's office did not merely produce records under a FOIL request, but were instead engaged in planning and producing media coverage concerning Senator Bruno's travel on state aircraft before any FOIL request was made."^[8][11] It noted that the Times-Union's initial FOIL request didn't even ask for the records involving Bruno that the paper was later given by aides to Spitzer.^[12] The Times-Union's requests sought documents on use of state aircraft by seven officials, including Spitzer, Bruno and Lieutenant Governor David A. Paterson, yet Spitzer’s office released only Bruno’s itinerary.^[13] The Spitzer administration and the State Police provided far more details about Bruno than about other officials to the Times-Union, including records to reply to a request under the state’s Freedom of Information laws, though no such request had even been made.^[14] The report noted that the state acted outside the laws in what it released, such as documents that resembled official state travel records, “which they were not" according to Ellen Nachtigall Biben, a former prosecutor in the Manhattan district attorney’s office, who contributed to the report.^[13] The report stated that the Times-Union request came after the story about Bruno’s travels was published, and was “not consistent” with Spitzer administration claims that all it did was respond to a FOIL request.^[15] No other officials were subject to the same scrutiny as Bruno, and in some cases, the reports created by State Police were pieced together long after the trips, based on the sometimes on the memory of the police escorts involved.^[16] The report cleared Bruno of any legal violations in his use of the state's air fleet.^{[17][18][19][6]} Spitzer also used the state aircraft during the first six months of his term as governor for political purposes, including a stop in Rochester to attend an event for the Monroe County Democratic Committee on a day in which he had a number of stops related to public business.^[16] The report criticized Spitzer's office for using State Police resources to gather information about Bruno's travel and releasing the information to the media.^[18] New York Republican State Committee Chairman Joseph Mondello claimed that "Today’s explosive report by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo validates the frightening charges that Governor Spitzer’s administration abused the New York State Police and New York’s F.O.I.L. laws in an attempt to set up Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno"^[5] and that "This disturbing abuse of power by a Governor is unprecedented."^[5] The tactics involved have raised questions among some pundits about the tactics Spitzer used as Attorney General.^[20] The findings of the report were endorsed by Mr. Spitzer’s own Inspector General, Kristine Hamann.^{[5][18][19][10]} Spitzer responded at a July 23rd press conference that "As governor, I am accountable for what goes on in the executive branch and I accept responsibility for the actions of my office"^[5] and that his administration had "grossly mishandled"^[5] the situation.^[19] The Governor issued an apology to Senator Bruno and stated that "I apologized to Senator Bruno and I did so personally this morning."^[5] He added "In addition, I apologized to the men and women of the State Police, and to acting Superintendent Preston Felton personally for allowing this esteemed institution to be drawn into this matter."^[5] Felton said he didn't realize he was part of a political scheme, and claimed in a written statement that "I have never, in my 26-year career with the state police, knowingly undertaken any such action and never would,"^[10] and that "To the extent that circumstances previously not known to me have now given rise to that appearance, I am particularly saddened."^[10] Spitzer subsequently announced that he would indefinitely suspend his communications director, Darren Dopp, and reassign another top official.^[21] When questioned about his promise to bring a new dawn of ethical responsibility to state politics, Spitzer responded by saying "I will not tolerate this behavior,"^[5], "ethics and accountability must and will remain rigorous in my administration,"^[6] and that "I have always stated that I want ethics and integrity to be the hallmarks of my administration. That is why I requested that the State Inspector General review the allegations with respect to my office, and that is why we have fully cooperated with both inquiries."^[17] As of July 2007, Cuomo's office was considering recommending disciplinary action against the Governor's office.^[22] Republican State Senator Dean Skelos asked, "Did the governor know?" and stated that the report "leaves many questions open in terms of how far up the chain of command were the acts of — at least the acts of Dopp and Howard — known?".^[23] Mr. Skelos added that he believed it would be "totally appropriate" for the Senate Committee on Investigations and Government Operations, which has subpoena power and of which Skelos is a member, to review the matter.^[23] Skelos called the matter "the makings of a real conspiracy here", and was echoed by Assemblyman Keith Wright, a Harlem Democrat who said the findings of the report sound "very Nixonian."^[23] Douglas Muzzio, a Baruch College political scientist, commented that "The Watergate analogy is inescapable."^[24] Skelos notes Cuomo's investigators never questioned Spitzer or a top aide mentioned in the report, Secretary to the Governor Rich Baum, who received e-mails related to the plot.^[25] Cuomo spokesman Jeffrey Lerner said Spitzer's counsel provided the e-mails and that Baum and Dopp refused requests to be interviewed, opting instead to provide sworn written statements.^[26] He added that speaking to Spitzer would be unnecessary because there was little evidence of criminal or improper activity.^[27] Dopp and Baum are considered Mr. Spitzer’s closest advisers, and no action was taken against Mr. Baum.^[28] The Chairman of the State Senate Committee on Investigations stated he would contact Attorney General Cuomo to obtain any documents, e-mail messages, and testimony under oath collected by the Attorney General's investigators.^[29] Numerous prominent New York Democrats distanced themselves from Spitzer, refusing to come to his defense, including five members of New York's Democratic congressional delegation, Senators Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer, the chairman of the Queens Democratic Party, Rep. Joseph Crowley, Rep. Charles Rangel, and mayor candidate Reprenstative Rep. Anthony Weiner.^[30] Senator Bruno temporarily suspended his legal use of state aircraft for political purposes in July 2007.[[5]]

Criticism

Welfare is not the province of one or two race or ethnic groups. More that half of the 602,000 New York households receiving welfare are white, according to the 1990 U.S. Census–and in a polyglot state, the rest include many groups other than blacks and Hispanics.^[6]

According to the Syracuse Post-Standard, "Bruno said he was referring to the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus, which is a major force in the Democratic majority in the Assembly."^[7] The comments caused a public spat with Al Sharpton and the Democratic leaders of the State Assembly. Sharpton told Bruno he should remove himself from that year's budget negotiations. Bruno's defense was that he was referring to political caucuses, not all blacks and Hispanics; he offered a blanket apology for offending some people, but refused to take his words back.^[8] Fiscal conservative pundits originally were very supportive of Bruno's agenda in the State Senate, probably because they regarded him as an improvement over his moderate predecessor as leader, Ralph Marino.[9] In recent years they have expressed concern over his willingness to cooperate with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver on budgets they deem excessive, endorsements he has received from state employee labor unions, including health care union Local 1199, and recruiting former Democrats as Republicans to campaign for swing seats in the Senate, such as districts in Syracuse and the Bronx.[10] [11]. Bruno is notable for having at least one building named for himself in each of the fourteen towns and two cities that comprise Rensselaer County. In addition, the Houston Astros A short-season affiliate "Tri-City ValleyCats" play in Joseph L. Bruno Stadium situated on the Troy-North Greenbush Border. In December 2006 Bruno disclosed the Federal Bureau of Investigation had been looking into business associates who had received state grants^[12]. The FBI investigation appears to have led to Bruno ending one of his long-time consulting jobs in 2007.[[13]] Entering 2007 Bruno's hold on senate control appeared more tenuous than in prior years, as the Republicans lost the senate seat formerly held by Nicholas Spano, failed to regain a Republican leaning seat in Syracuse and with a caucus diminished to 33 members had to defend the open seat of Michael Balboni in Nassau County, which was lost to a Democrat in a February 6, 2007 special election.^[31] Balboni had resigned to take a top post in the incoming Eliot Spitzer administration. The electoral reverses and the ongoing FBI investigation have led some Republicans to suggest Bruno may step down.^[32] There have also been rumors some Republican senators may cross the aisle to throw control of the Senate to the Democrats.^[33]

See also

• List of New York State Senators

References

External links

• Official Web site New York State Senator Joseph L. Bruno
• Legislative Report Card