Bruno
reached the height of his power by securing, through a weekend
coup, his position as majority leader in the state Senate
in 1994, which he held for 13 years. Having made his home
in Brunswick, little happened in Rensselaer County that Uncle
Joe wasn’t given credit for, either good or bad. He played
the handy villain for his enemies, and was the guy everyone
else could count on for state handouts.
There
are no real surprises in the remainder of our winners. Three
former governors made the list, including Nelson Rockefeller,
whose shadow is cast by the massive concrete pour that is
the Empire State Plaza over the neighborhoods devastated by
the draconian drug laws that bear his name. Eliot Spitzer,
a onetime shining star in the righteous public-officials firmament,
became a national celebrity as New York’s hard-nosed attorney
general, and a national joke as New York’s biggest hard-luck
hypocrite. Mario Cuomo gained the national spotlight in 1984
with a speech at the Democratic National Convention, and even
people in the Midwest figured that he would run for president
one day.
Albany
County District Attorney David Soares took a risk and beat
his incumbent former boss in 2004. He came into office as
a reformer and his constituents must still believe in him,
because he was reelected this year. Albany Mayor Jerry Jennings,
who might be serving his last term this year, ironically tied
the man who preceded him in the office, Thomas Whalen, a former
Corning associate. Rounding out the top 10 is our very own
Assemblyman and Albany historian, Jack McEneny.
And in
the runners-up, one of the most-notable women in New York’s
political history, Polly Noonan, joins her relative Sen. Kirsten
Gillibrand.
Survey
respondents ranked up to 10 choices, and points were tallied
as follows: 10 for 1st place, 9 for 2nd, and so on.
1. Erastus
Corning 2nd (101)
2. Joe
Bruno (48)
3. Mario
Cuomo (45)
4. Eliot
Spitzer (38)
5. David
Soares (28)
6. Hillary
Clinton (25)
7. Nelson
Rockefeller (22)
8. Tie:
Jerry Jennings (21); Thomas Whalen (21)
10. Jack
McEneny (18)
Honorable
mention: Polly Noonan (15), Jim Coyne (14), Kirsten Gillibrand
(13), Michael McNulty (12)
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