Joseph Bruno

Joseph Louis Bruno (born April 8, 1929) is an American businessman, and Republican politician. He was the Temporary President of the New York State Senate and its majority leader. He also served as acting Lieutenant Governor of New York.

On June 23, 2008, Bruno announced that he would not seek reelection to the State Senate in 2008. On June 24, 2008, Bruno stepped down from the positions of Senate Majority Leader and "temporary president of the senate", but remained a State Senator. On July 18, 2008, Bruno resigned from the New York State Senate. He represented the 43rd New York State Senate District.

On January 23, 2009, Bruno was indicted on eight counts of corruption, including mail and wire fraud.

On December 7, 2009, Bruno was convicted of two counts of mail and wire fraud. He was acquitted of five felonies, and the jury hung on the last count. His convictions were subsequently overturned on appeal, but prosecutors retried him. The start of the retrial was postponed and delayed. In May 2013, Bruno's lawyers argued to an appeals court that Bruno should not be retried. On August 6, 2013, a three judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that Bruno's retrial was not barred by the Double Jeopardy Clause and affirmed the District Court's denial of Bruno's motion to dismiss the Government's indictment. Bruno was acquitted of both charges on May 16, 2014.

Personal life
Bruno was born in Glens Falls, New York, and graduated from St. Mary's Academy. 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 are parents of four children: Joseph, Susan, Kenneth and Catherine. Senator Bruno lives in Brunswick in Rensselaer County, New York.

There is at least one building named for Bruno in each of the fourteen towns and two cities that comprise Rensselaer County, New York. In addition, the Tri-City ValleyCats—a short-season minor-league affiliate of the Houston Astros—play in Joseph L. Bruno Stadium situated on the Troy-North Greenbush border.

Political career
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 was a member of the New York State Senate from 1977 to 2008, sitting in the 182nd, 183rd, 184th, 185th, 186th, 187th, 188th, 189th, 190th, 191st, 192nd, 193rd, 194th, 195th, 196th and 197th New York State Legislatures. He was elected Temporary President of the New York State Senate on November 25, 1994, ousting the incumbent Ralph J. Marino.

Bruno, along with Governor George Pataki and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, was instrumental in returning the death penalty to New York State in 1995. The New York Court of Appeals (the highest state court in New York) later found the law to be unconstitutional because it gave jurors deadlocked between life without parole and execution no choice but to give eligibility for parole after 25 years; the Court of Appeals feared that jurors faced with this choice would unfairly lean toward a death sentence. In the 10 years after the law was passed, New York's crime rate plummeted without ever seeing an execution, perhaps weakening public support for the death penalty. Silver let the law die in 2005 without much debate.

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. The bill never passed the New York State Assembly.

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.

As the Temporary President of the Senate, Bruno was 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 dominated politics in Rensselaer 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 percent 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.

In February 2005, Bruno stated that America, instead of battling insurgents in Iraq, should declare victory and "get the troops out of there."

2007-2008 legislative session
At the start of the 2007-2008 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.

Entering 2007, Bruno's hold on Senate control appeared more tenuous than in prior years, as the Republicans lost the 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; the latter seat was lost to Democrat Craig Johnson, Nassau County Legislator in a February 6, 2007 special election. The electoral reverses and the ongoing FBI investigation led some Republicans to suggest Bruno might step down as Majority Leader. There were also rumors some Republican senators might cross the aisle to throw control of the Senate to the Democrats.

In April 2007, Bruno also appeared to hold veto power over two other Spitzer initiatives: gay marriage and campaign finance reform. Bruno challenged Spitzer to restore the state's death penalty law. Bruno also criticized the Governor's plan to issue driver licenses to illegal immigrants, claiming it was aimed at stuffing the ballot box with Democratic voters.

Bruno's position became more tenuous in February 2008 after the special election loss of the heavily Republican 48th District in Watertown, which had formerly been held by Sen. James W. Wright. This loss diminished the Republican Senate majority to a single seat, and press speculation centered on whether the remaining GOP senate caucus would cause Bruno to step down.

Police surveillance controversy
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. At the direction of top officials of the Spitzer administration, the New York State Police created documents meant to cause political damage to Bruno. The governor's staff had stated they were responding to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA or FOIL) request from The Times-Union of Albany in late June. On May 23, Spitzer's Communications Director Darren Dopp wrote Rich Baum, a senior Spitzer adviser, that "records exist going way back" 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." 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."

A 57-page report issued by the Attorney General's office concluded that Spitzer aides attempted to create negative media coverage concerning Bruno's travel before any FOIA request was made. The investigation looked into both Bruno's travel and the senate leader's allegation that Spitzer used State Police to spy on him. 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." 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. The Times-Union's requests sought documents on use of state aircraft by seven officials, including Spitzer, Bruno and Lieutenant Governor David Paterson, yet Spitzer's office released only Bruno's itinerary. 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. 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. 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 FOIA request. 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, sometimes based on the memory of the police escorts involved.

The report cleared Bruno of any legal violations in his use of the state's air fleet. 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. 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.

Spitzer responded at a July 23 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" and that his administration had "grossly mishandled" the situation. Spitzer issued an apology to Bruno and stated that "I apologized to Senator Bruno and I did so personally this morning."

However, Spitzer's apology did not end the dispute. Four probes by the state Attorney General's office, the State Senate Investigations Committee, the Albany County District Attorney's office, and the New York Commission on Public Integrity (the state ethics board), are ongoing.

On March 29, 2008, The Buffalo News reported "former Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer lied to prosecutors" about his role in Troopergate, but "the Albany County district attorney said he will not pursue any criminal charges against the already disgraced ex-governor."

Acting Lieutenant Governor
On March 17, 2008, Governor Eliot Spitzer resigned and Lieutenant Governor David Paterson succeeded to the governor's office. Joseph Bruno - as Temporary President of the state Senate - became Acting Lieutenant Governor, and was next-in-line to become Acting Governor of New York in case of a vacancy.

Retirement
On June 23, 2008, Bruno confirmed that he would not seek re-election in the fall of 2008. On June 24, 2008, Bruno stepped down as "temporary president of the senate" and as Senate Majority Leader. On July 18, 2008, Bruno resigned his New York State Senate seat. On November 4, 2008, he was replaced by his "hand-picked" successor, Roy McDonald, in the general election.

Reversal on Same-Sex Marriage
Almost one year after his stepping down from being Senate Majority Leader, Bruno announced that he supported same-sex marriage - a position that in the past he had never taken publicly. After years of working with the relatively socially liberal Governor George Pataki whom conservative Republicans criticized for his continued support of abortion rights and his heavy lobbying in favor of SONDA, a gay rights bill that languished in the state Senate for many years as a result of Bruno's opposition, Bruno and his caucus were put on the spot for their support of a socially conservative agenda. LGBT people and groups pushed very hard for the gay rights bill and in late 2002, Bruno finally gave in; the bill passed the Senate and was signed into law by Governor Pataki. In 2009, Bruno was tapped by Governor David Paterson to speak out for same-sex marriage in Albany. Bruno also admitted in 2009 that he personally favored same-sex marriage but never brought it the floor of the State Senate because the majority of his conference was against it, stating "This is America, and we have inalienable rights... Life is short, and we should all be afforded the same opportunities and rights to enjoy it."

Criticism
During the budget process in 1995, Bruno, who was new to the Majority Leader role at the time, made a comment about Blacks and Hispanics who "got their hands out" pressuring the legislature to avoid cuts to social services. 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." 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.

Fiscal conservative pundits originally were very supportive of Bruno's agenda in the State Senate. In later years, they expressed concern over Bruno's willingness to cooperate with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver on budgets deemed to be excessive, over endorsements Bruno received from state employee labor unions, including health care union Local 1199, and over Bruno's recruitment of former Democrats to run as Republicans for swing Senate districts in Syracuse and the Bronx.

In December 2006, Bruno disclosed that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had been looking into business associates of Bruno's who had received state grants. The FBI investigation appeared to lead Bruno to end one of his long-time consulting jobs in 2007.

2009 Indictment
On January 23, 2009, Bruno was indicted on eight counts of corruption, including mail and wire fraud. The indictment accused Bruno of defrauding New Yorkers from 1993 to 2006. During that period of time, Bruno allegedly used his powerful position to help entities with business before the state that in return paid him $3.2 million in private consulting fees.

Conviction
In 2009, he was convicted of using his office to help a businessman who paid him as a consultant and in a horse venture, violations of the federal "honest services" law. On May 6, 2010, he was sentenced to two years in jail on the two federal fraud counts.

Appeal
In November, 2011 Bruno's convictions were overturned on appeal. Prosecutors indicated at the time that they plan to retry Bruno. In May, 2012 a federal judge set February 4, 2013 as Bruno's retrial date. On February 4, 2013, a judge delayed the start of the retrial.

In May, 2013 Bruno's lawyers urged an appeals court to halt the planned retrial, claiming it would violate Bruno's right against double jeopardy. In August, 2013 Bruno lost his appeal to a three judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals. The court ruled that a new trial would not violate Bruno's double jeopardy rights, and stated that the new trial can continue as planned.

In September, 2013 Bruno had successful surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from his kidney.

Retrial and acquittal
In December, 2013 Bruno's retrial was set to start in May, 2014. On May 16 the case ended when Bruno was acquitted on both charges.

Post-acquittal activities
In October 2015 Bruno announced that he was contributing $1.4 million in unspent campaign funds to the New York State Senate Republican Campaign Committee, and donating $100,000 to a scholarship fund. At the same time, he announced that he was closing his legal defense fund and donating the $70,000 balance to several nonprofit organizations.

Bruno's autobiography, Keep Swinging: A Memoir of Politics and Justice, will be published by Post Hill Press in November 2016.