Pataki Fires Bruno's Brother,
Closes Saratoga Drug Office

By Henry J. Stern
October 28, 2004

While city sleuths were preoccupied with the case of former Senator Guy Velella, his senior colleague and majority leader, Senator Joseph L. Bruno, also came under fire. Last Tuesday, the Post published an exclusive by Fredric U. Dicker, its political editor. He begins:

"State officials have secretly rented a posh office suite for the brother of [Senator Bruno], dramatically cutting the sibling's commute to his high-salaried state job. The unpublicized sweetheart arrangement for Robert Bruno, 65, a $127,500-a-year deputy commissioner in Governor Pataki's Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services, began in March in this swanky and fashionable historic city, located in Sen. Bruno's own senate district....

The office suite, costing taxpayers $54,400 a year, plus at least $9,000 in state-purchased furniture - is located in The Mill on Highrock Avenue, partly owned by J. Thomas Roohan, the Saratoga Springs Republican chairman... Having the suite cuts more than 60 miles and 90 minutes from what had been Robert Bruno's daily commute from his home in a wealthy section of Glens Falls - near Lake George - to OASAS' Albany headquarters over 50 miles south."

Dicker, political editor of the Post, has covered the matter in a series of six articles, all of which you can link to below in order to watch the drama unfold. We do not know whether Governor Pataki or his staff knew in advance of Robert Bruno's appointment, or his unusual worksite, but when the facts were reported in the press, the governor acted promptly. He fired the brother within five days and closed the Saratoga office. The governor's action was appropriate. Oddly, his administration has had numerous allegations of improper influence, while the mayor's administration is widely regarded as unusually clean. But in the Bruno case, the governor did not ask for investigators to tell him if there was anything illegal about the appointment or the rental. He simply pulled the plug.
 
Senator Bruno probably did not violate the law, but the rental transaction smacked of nepotism (the brother), cronyism (the landlord), special privilege, waste of public funds intended to fight drug abuse, and indulgence of an unfortunate relative. On the other hand, Robert is 65 years old — ten years younger than the senator — and is a recovering addict who has long experience working in the field of substance abuse. It did not help that the program is a member item added by Senator Bruno himself. Whether this situation has anything to do with Senator Bruno and his colleagues' action last year  in overriding 119 vetoes by Governor Pataki on budget items — overrides that have not been repeated by the Senate this year, we do not know.
 
The majority leader enjoyed a good reputation, built up over the years, coming into 2004.  He is regarded as firm, but fair. His winning a unanimous Senate vote on overriding the vetoes is an achievement of leadership.  He passed SONDA (Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act) over the resistance of more conservative colleagues. He was a moderate on the budget and the minimum wage. He has more personal charm than his Democratic counterparts.

This year, however, the Senator has had problems.  He was first entangled in raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Velella defense from individual Republicans' campaign funds.. When the Brennan Center report called the New York State Legislature the worst in the country, he responded that the Legislature could not follow the whims of 212 separate members, a situation which reminded him of Third World states. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver responded in a much more mellifluous way, saying that all proposals would be studied.  And in the September primary, his candidate to succeed Velella, Assemblyman Stephen Kaufman, was defeated in both the Republican and Democratic primaries.  He may have done the right thing in enlisting a popular Democrat as his candidate, but losing hurts.  Ask the Yankees.
 
The current contretemps about Bruno frere is unfortunate. Although in politics we have become accustomed to people helping their relatives, from the Kennedys on down, renting a special office in a resort town to cut down on a commute seems to fall below even contemporary standards of public morality. We can understand the moral pressure a brother with problems can exert on his more fortunate sibling, but there should be a way to be helpful that is not such an apparent and egregious abuse of office.
 
The comparison between this case and the Velella situation lies only in the relative celerity with which the governor disposed of the problem, as opposed to the city's apparent tortuous inability to reach any conclusion in a situation where at least the immediate facts are relatively clear and already public. A scandal begins with a single individual, but if the wound is not dealt with quickly and cleanly, the infection, real or apparent, can only spread.  Regardless of what may be happening elsewhere in state government, in this case the governor met the test.

The original Times story, 10/19, by Michael Cooper, can only be read in full on their website, for which there is a charge. You can link to its first fifty words free.

Available stories about Bruno and his brother:

• Post: "The Buddy System," by Fred Dicker, 10/19; "Bruno Backing Bro All the Way - But Gov's Not," by Fred Dicker, 10/20; "Bruno Bro Flap Runs Deeper," by Fred Dicker, 10/21; "Bruno's Bro Quits in Kin-Hiring Shake-up," by Fred Dicker, 10/23; "Bruno Bro's 'Fix' Was In," by Fred Dicker, 10/24

• Times: "Deputy Commissioner Quits Post Amid Questions on Office Lease," by Al Baker, 10/23

• Newsday: "Report: Satellite office set up for leader's brother," by Associated Press, 10/18; "Majority leader defends brother's job performance," by Michael Gormley (AP), 10/19

• Google "Bruno brother" for more