The Lonely Revolt of John Bonacic
The lone dissenting vote is expected to come from John Bonacic of New Paltz, who told his colleagues the conference needs a new leader.
I chatted with Bonacic a couple of days ago and he said, "I had no endgame. I was not planning a coup. I didn't call a lot of members saying 'join me.'"
The inevitable retribution for his impertinence seems like a high price to pay for a gesture. But he said he had his reasons.
The FBI is looking into $500,000 in member items Bruno steered to a lobbyist he has private business with, Jared Abbruzzese. Bruno also runs a consulting company whose clients and transactions are not well-known.
"I never knew that he had a consulting company," Bonacic told me "This was disturbing to me. It's not right what I saw happening. For me, with my own standards, its time for new leadership, I'm hoping."
He also said, "I didn't go on tour with newspapers and tv and radio. I wrote a confidential member to my colleagues why we need new leadership. I can't do more than that."
When I asked how his letter got publicized, Bonancic said, "My office did not leak it. If other people did, than we have personal agendas going on. But its not my agenda. I came to Albany to serve the people, not a leader."
-- Azi Paybarah
I have new respect for Senator Bonacic. The Legislature would be a better place if more electeds didn't bow down to their leaders. It's too bad that Bonacic will probably be leaving the Senate soon.
If Bonacic leaves, can Susan Zimet win the seat?
Are you kidding me, Bonacic holds all the cards, if Bruno goes down he is an ally for Skelos, if Bruno Stays he threatens to switch from R to D cutting the majority to ONE!
So, the Albany DA can take down NYC based officials like Alan Hevesi, but turns a blind eye to his colleague from a neighboring county.
Shouldn't he be looking into Bruno, too?