Bruno Will Step Down in Albany

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The New York Sun

The sudden retirement announcement by the Republican majority leader of the Senate, Joseph Bruno, and the expected transfer of power to a suburban senator, Dean Skelos, leaves the party’s last stronghold in New York government in a state of grave uncertainty.

Mr. Bruno’s decision to walk off the Albany stage by the end of the year after starring for 14 years as one of the Capitol’s “three men in a room” comes at a critical moment for his conference, which has only a two-seat majority and enters a battle for its survival this election season bereft of its most reliable force of stability.

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Fear spread among the 32 Republican senators that Mr. Bruno’s exit would cause other members to follow his path and choose retirement or greener pastures over a doubtful future. As noted by the New York Times, 15 senators will be at least 65 years old by November. Three are older than Mr. Bruno, who is 79.

A few of his colleagues had previously expressed a desire to step down, but Mr. Bruno, who enjoyed an immense loyalty among his colleagues, prevailed upon them to carry on for another two years.

Republicans are counting on a smooth transition. Sources said the party will anoint Mr. Skelos, a 60-year-old who represents Nassau County, as its new leader and the state’s top Republican, shifting the locus of Senate power back to its crucial base on Long Island, which was the home of Mr. Bruno’s predecessor, Ralph Marino.

Mr. Skelos, who has been serving as Mr. Bruno’s no. 2 in command, is a lawyer from Rockville Centre who was first elected to the Senate in 1984. As a legislator, he’s built a reputation as a guarded politician whose quiet ambition has stood in contrast to Mr. Bruno’s combative personality and showman’s wit.

Mr. Bruno’s strategy for keeping his party in power in an increasingly Democratic state rested on a combination of intensive fund-raising, populist messaging, and practical deal-making, epitomized by the Senate’s alliance with organized labor. While some state Republicans viewed Mr. Bruno’s political shift leftward as a necessary survival tactic, he faced criticism from more conservative quarters that he was betraying Republican principles, especially on taxes and spending.

Politically, Mr. Skelos has taken more conservative positions than Mr. Bruno, particularly on the issue of taxes, and has made his mark championing bread-and-butter suburban causes.

“Skelos is a curious blend of populist, conservative, and moderate Rockefeller Republican politics. He may average out a moderate, but it’s an average of extremes,” the executive director of the National Center for Suburban Studies and a former political columnist for Newsday, Lawrence Levy, said. “He’s the consummate suburban politician,”

Mr. Bruno announced that he would not seek re-election in a closed-door meeting with his conference members yesterday afternoon.

“After 32 years in office, I have decided that it is time to move on with my life and to give my constituents an opportunity for new representation and my colleagues in the Senate who have supported me, an opportunity for new leadership,” he said in a statement after the meeting.

“Politics is a tough ball game. Tougher now than it has ever been. But after 32 years of many successes and a few failures. … There have been few more rewarding experiences in my life. But timing in life is everything. While there may never be a good time to make these kinds of life decisions, I have decided that it is time for me to move on with my life,” he said.

While rumors persisted that the majority leader from Rensselaer County would not seek re-election, he had kept his plans a secret, telling only a handful of his closest aides and going through the legal motions of candidacy.

Sources said Mr. Bruno waited until the end of legislative session, which concluded yesterday, before announcing his retirement to avoid a premature lame-duck status.

His timing gives his colleagues about three weeks to decide their own futures. Candidates have until the middle of July — the deadline for submitting their petitions — to drop out of this year’s races without leaving their ballot slots vacant.

Mr. Bruno, a child of the blue-collar town of Glens Falls, a trained boxer, and a veteran of the Korean War who made a living off a phone company that he founded before entering politics, has represented Rensselaer County and most of Saratoga County in the Senate since 1976.

He came to power shortly after Governor Pataki was elected governor in a well-orchestrated coup that was backed by Senator D’Amato. His relationship with Mr. Pataki would sour over the years, as the Senate allied with the Democratic-controlled Assembly.

As leader, Mr. Bruno became known for his brash, colorful comments and stunts that won him attention in the press. Just last week, he jumped behind the wheel of a big rig truck and drove it around the Capitol, honking the horn in support of a rally to suspend the state’s gas tax this summer.

He is the most powerful Republican in the state, but veered from conventional party thinking, forming valuable alliances with the state’s largest health employees union, 1199/SEIU, which helped keep the GOP in power in the Senate despite the state’s growing Democratic electorate.

Mayor Bloomberg’s support also bolstered Mr. Bruno’s hold on the Senate. The billionaire mayor pumped $500,000 into the state Republican Party earlier this spring, a cash infusion that was expected to help the party in its fight to hold onto its slim majority in the Senate.

Mr. Bruno’s leadership was thought to be threatened two years ago when FBI officials announced that they were investigating his outside business interests, including his consulting company.

The majority leader rebounded last year in his clashes with Governor Spitzer, whose effort to oust Republicans from power was met with a furious response from Mr. Bruno, who branded the governor a “spoiled brat” and thwarted his political agenda. He has had a warm relationship with Governor Paterson, who when he was minority leader worked closely with Mr. Bruno.

Mr. Bruno this year suffered the loss of his wife of 57 years, Barbara Bruno, who died in January after a length battle with Alzheimer’s disease. People close to Mr. Bruno said the death of his wife was a factor in his retirement.


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