Community remembers former state leader.
Albany Elected leaders across the state recalled former state Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno as a fierce fighter for his district who was dedicated to improving the Capital Region — a force to be reckoned with.
Prominent state leaders and political insiders reacted Wednesday to the news of Bruno’s death the previous night at his home in Brunswick.
Rensselaer County Executive Steve Mclaughlin, a fellow Republican and former state Assemblyman, said Bruno was instrumental in bringing jobs and infrastructure to the county.
“From high-tech developments that created thousands of jobs to improvements at Hudson Valley Community College that gave so many students a better life, Joe Bruno was there with resources, leadership and support,” Mclaughlin said in a statement. “He provided fund
ing for countless community projects that had long been forgotten or ignored. Projects like firehouses, ballfields, parks, schools, community organizations and so many others, Joe Bruno was there and a positive and invaluable force for our area.”
Other elected leaders also recalled his broader dedication
to upstate.
“He will be remembered as one of the Legislature’s true icons and fearless leaders. ... He was as tough, smart and hardworking as they come,” Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay said. “... We have lost a true giant in state government, whose wisdom and tenacity will be greatly missed and unlikely to be seen again.”
State Comptroller Thomas D. Dinapoli, a Democrat who served in the Assembly majority when Bruno ran the Senate, described the lawmaker as an “icon” who served his community for more than three decades.
“A tough negotiator and straight-talker, he was also beloved by so many for his kindness and great sense of humor,” Dinapoli said. “He was dedicated to the Capital Region and always 100 percent behind efforts to position this area for a better future.”
Glenville Republican Sen. Jim Tedisco, who was Bruno’s opposite number in the Assembly GOP minority, said he saw how Bruno was “a tenacious fighter he was for his district, the members of his conference and for our state as a whole.”
“Sen. Bruno was a dynamo ... who delivered time after time for the people he represented because he would never give up and he never surrendered — he was the definition of a happy warrior,” Tedisco said.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and state legislative leaders also offered condolences, noting how Bruno treated his colleagues on both sides of the partisan divide with respect.
“Although we were on different ends of the ideological spectrum, he always treated me like a gentleman and with respect,” Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie said.
Cuomo, whose father Gov. Mario M. Cuomo wasweeks from leaving office when Bruno became Senate leader in November 1994, said he and Bruno may have had different “political approaches and different political philosophies, but he was a honorable, respectful, sincere public servant.”
“We can have different political beliefs, but we can still respect each other at the end of the day,” Cuomo said. “And I wish the nation could do more of that.”