Marchi to end record tenure
Nation's longest serving
elected official won't run again for state Senate
Staten Island Advance - Tuesday, April 11, 2006
 In
a bombshell announcement that marks the end of an era, state Sen.
John Marchi, 84, the father of the secession movement who was
instrumental in saving the city from bankruptcy in the mid-1970s and
shutting the Fresh Kills landfill, told the Advance yesterday that
he will not run for re-election in November.
Thus draws to a close the longest-running career in
elective office in U.S. history.
Speculation about Marchi's political future, a
parlor game of sorts in Island political circles for a decade or
more, had reached a higher pitch when he was hospitalized for a
bleeding esophagus earlier this year. Aides said he had planned to
run for re-election despite that health concern, but the senator
yesterday said it was time to call it a career.
"It seems to me that the responsibility of
representing the people of Staten Island requires a senator who is
in top form physically," Marchi (R-Staten Island) said in a
statement released by his office. "Therefore I have decided to
finish my Senate work and my term on December 31 and preserve my
energy for the years ahead."
Marchi, who said he's "in good shape now" following
his hospital stay, told the Advance that while he has decided to
forgo the constant trips back and forth to Albany, he plans to
remain active with a number of the borough causes and institutions
he has championed and supported in the past, including the College
of Staten Island (CSI).
"It's been over 50 years," he said. "There's an
awful lot of stuff I can do [on Staten Island] with the fraction of
the difficulty in getting around."
ADMITS SADNESS
When asked if he was sad about the decision, Marchi
said, "Yes, I have to be."
"He's had lots of time to reflect on it," said
Marchi aide Jerry McLaughlin. "He can read the calendar."
McLaughlin said Marchi also took the feelings of his
wife, Maria Luisa, into consideration. Mrs. Marchi has shared the
trips to Albany with her husband over the years.
"That tilted it for him," said McLaughlin.
Marchi received a stream of good-luck phone calls
and visits from well-wishers in Albany yesterday as news of his
announcement spread. He said many colleagues, Democrats and
Republicans alike, had spoken to him on the Senate floor, among them
Lt. Gov. Mary Donohue.
"It's been a general outpouring," Marchi said.
"They're expressing regret that they won't be seeing as much of me
anymore. It's very much appreciated."
Accolades also poured in yesterday from other levels
of American government, from Pennsylvania Avenue to City Hall.
"We thank Senator Marchi for his long and dedicated
service and commend him for his steadfast commitment to the people
of New York," said White House spokesman Blair Jones.
"All New Yorkers are grateful for the dedication and
leadership of Senator John Marchi," said Gov. George Pataki.
"Senator Marchi has committed his life to public service, working
tirelessly on behalf of the people of Staten Island and the state
with tremendous integrity, earning the respect and admiration of
many. I am proud to call him friend and wish him and Maria all the
best."
"He's a brilliant lawmaker, a great statesman and a
good friend," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. "We will miss his
advocacy and steady voice in Albany, and wish him well on his
retirement."
RODE IKE'S COATTAILS
Marchi was first elected in the national GOP
landslide that returned President Dwight D. Eisenhower to the White
House in 1956, and the senator's successor will be chosen during
this year's general election on Nov. 7. Several candidates from both
sides of the political aisle are expected to seek the highly coveted
seat.
While he has spoken in the past of wanting to see
top aide Robert Helbock, the Island GOP chairman, succeed him,
Marchi declined yesterday to speculate on whom he might support for
the seat.
"Not today," Marchi said. "There will be a lively,
interesting scene there."
Marchi, one of the most revered figures in Island
history, in or out of politics, told Senate Majority Leader Joseph
Bruno of his decision at the end of last week. Republicans currently
hold a 35-27 majority in the Senate, and Marchi's seat is crucial to
continued GOP control of that house.
"After almost five decades in the Senate, John
Marchi deserves and has earned tremendous respect and gratitude from
all New Yorkers, especially his constituents on his beloved Staten
Island," said Bruno. Island Democrats Elizabeth Connelly and Eric
Vitaliano, both former Assembly members, also paid tribute to Marchi
yesterday.
"We owe a great deal to him, so many of the cultural
institutions and the health services," said Mrs. Connelly. "He was
able to accomplish a great deal for us."
"I can say personally that my 19 years with him were
just absolutely marvelous," said Vitaliano, now a federal judge. "He
was a partner, he was a mentor, he was a good friend. I enjoyed all
of my interaction with him, and when it came to getting things done
for Staten Island, he made it as easy as it could ever be for me."
From secession and the closure of the Fresh Kills
landfill to the South Richmond building plan, the fiscal crisis of
the mid-1970s and the successful development of CSI and the Snug
Harbor Cultural Center, there were few borough issues that Marchi's
hand did not touch over the last 50 years. One of the three new
boats in the Staten Island Ferry fleet was named after Marchi last
year in recognition of his unmatched decades of public service.
'DOESN'T HAVE ENEMIES'
"He's occupied a special place," said former Borough
President Guy V. Molinari, who also has a ferryboat named for him.
"He's not the average politician. John Marchi doesn't have any
enemies in the political world. That's an amazing thing."
As chairman of the important Senate Finance
Committee from 1973 to 1988, Marchi was one of the most powerful
lawmakers in the state Legislature, and he played a leading role in
crafting the financial package that saved the city from bankruptcy
in the mid-1970s.
In 1996, Marchi was part of a group of Island
elected officials that successfully pushed a bill to close the Fresh
Kills landfill.
But Marchi may be best remembered for his efforts to make the Island
its own city, an endeavor that earned him the moniker "the father of
secession."
When the city Board of Estimate was abolished,
Marchi initiated a series of studies to look at the feasibility of
the Island's breaking away from New York City.
The state Senate approved Marchi's secession bill in
1995, and Gov. Mario Cuomo, a Democrat, vowed to sign it, but the
legislation was opposed by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a
Manhattan Democrat, and the bill never came to a vote in that
chamber.
Yesterday, Silver said, "Senator Marchi is clearly a
legend here, as so many pieces of legislation have his name on them.
He's truly a part of the history of New York state, and rightfully
so."
"I wish that God had made a few exceptions to the rule that nothing
in this world is eternal, and that the senator's majestic career
were one of them," Cuomo said yesterday. "I wish he could have gone
on forever, he was terrific."
DEVELOPMENT SCUTTLED
The defeat in the Assembly of the Marchi-backed
South Richmond development plan in the 1970s was another setback for
the senator. The plan called for the building of 12 new communities
for 400,000 residents, and was vociferously opposed by the borough
Conservative Party, among others.
"He demonstrated more political courage than most
lawmakers do," said Michael Azzara, who covered Marchi for years as
political columnist for the Advance. "The South Richmond plan was an
example of that. When he felt strongly about an issue, he took a
position based on his convictions. He was never afraid to step into
a controversy."
Marchi's stature grew to a degree that he was
frequently cross-endorsed by the Democratic Party in his Senate
races, and he won re-election to his seat unopposed in 2004.
But Marchi was unable to use his popularity as a
springboard to higher office, losing City Hall elections as the
Republican Party candidate in 1969 and 1973, and suffering a defeat
in a bid for borough president in 1961.
Borough President James P. Molinaro said yesterday
that Marchi had had a distinguished career that would be hard for
other public officials to top.
"He was not only an asset to Staten Island but to
New York City, as well, especially in our time of bankruptcy," said
Molinaro. "He set a level that's not going to be matched any time
soon."
tag: Advance Albany Bureau reporter Rob Hart
contributed to this report. tag: Tom Wrobleski covers politics for
the Advance. He may be reached at
wrobleski@siadvance.com.
"He's certainly one of the most important people in
the state as far as his support of the college. In all the time I've
been here he's been an invaluable supporter.... He realized from the
very beginning how valuable an education and higher education was
and the role of the College of Staten Island in that as the only
public institution in the borough."
-- Marlene Springer, president of CSI since 1994.
By TOM WROBLESKI
Reprinted here with permission
from the
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