Flanagan Replaces Skelos
There is a new leader of the Republican majority conference in the state Senate, and for the first time both houses of the legislature changed leaders mid-session. Both former leaders, Senator Dean Skelos (R – Rockville Centre, Nassau County) and Assemblyman Sheldon Silver (D – Lower East Side, Manhattan) are now rank-and-file lawmakers.
The new leader for the Senate Republicans is John Flanagan of East Northport, Suffolk County. The 54 year old spent 16 years in the Assembly, where he’d succeeded his father upon his death, before moving on to the Senate in 2003.
Flanagan’s father died of an unexpected heart attack, dramatically changing the course of the younger Flanagan’s life at age 25.
“I do have days, not every day, where I think gosh I should be talking to my father about this,” Flanagan recently told Statewide News Service.
Flanagan said there was a special moment after he won his election to the Assembly when found some words of wisdom his father penned. “After my father passed away I found something in his desk that has always stuck with me. He was obviously writing a note to someone and he said: never offer an amendment you do not believe to be germane, never let the speaker editorialize his comments from the rostrum, and never read from a prepared text.”
Flanagan, it turns out, always wanted to be a leader. In 2002 he vied to be the leader of the Republican conference in the State Assembly but lost that battle to Charles Nesbitt by one vote (27 to 26). This time, 13 years later, Flanagan rallied the troops among his Senate colleagues and won the battle over John DeFrancisco (R – Syracuse) 18 to 15.
There are 10 synagogues in Flanagan’s district, four of which are Orthodox. The district includes the communities of Stony Brook, Kings Park, East Northport, Smithtown, Setauket, Commack, Hauppauge, Farmingville, Selden, Coram and Port Jefferson.
Senator Simcha Felder (D – Boro Park, Brooklyn) played a pivotal role in electing Flanagan as Senate majority leader, providing the decisive vote in the Republican conference, although Felder did not necessarily believe there was a need for change.
“I think things were going very well under Senator Skelos, so I don’t think Senator Flanagan’s ascension to the leadership was a referendum on Senator Skelos,” Felder told The Jewish Press after the vote.
Skelos, 67, turned himself in to federal authorities after being charged with extortion, fraud, and bribe solicitation along with his son, Adam. Skelos represents a large Jewish district in Nassau County covering Oceanside, the Five Towns (Woodmere, Inwood, Cedarhurst, Lawrence, and Hewlett), Long Beach, Atlantic Beach, Island Park, Baldwin, Valley Stream, Malverne, Lynbrook, and his home base of Rockville Center.
Flanagan and Felder have developed a fondness for each other in a brief period of time.
“We worked together on issues such as helping parents with children who need special education, making sure every child gets the education they deserve,” Felder said. “We’ve worked together on transportation, making sure that every child gets home safe without having to be subject to union demands. We’re still working together on the education investment tax credit.”
With Flanagan becoming majority leader, he gives up his post as Education Committee chairman. Felder said he would not want to be the chairman of the Senate Education Committee. “Only if I was a masochist would I become chairman,” he said.
New Health Commissioner Confirmed
In an effort to show it’s business as usual in the state Senate, Dr. Howard Alan Zucker was confirmed as the new state health commissioner on May 5, the day after Skelos was arrested.