Regular Session - January 12, 1998
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9 ALBANY, NEW YORK
10 January 12, 1998
11 3:04 p.m.
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14 REGULAR SESSION
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18 LT. GOVERNOR BETSY McCAUGHEY ROSS, President
19 STEVEN M. BOGGESS, Secretary
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1 P R O C E E D I N G S
2 THE PRESIDENT: The Senate will
3 come to order. Would you please rise and join
4 with me in the Pledge of Allegiance.
5 (The assemblage repeated the
6 Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. )
7 May we bow our heads in a
8 moment of silence, please.
9 (A moment of silence was
10 observed. )
11 The reading of the Journal,
12 please.
13 THE SECRETARY: In Senate,
14 Friday, January 9th. The Senate met pursuant
15 to adjournment, Senator Farley in the Chair
16 upon designation of the Temporary President.
17 The Journal of Thursday, January 8th, was read
18 and approved. On motion, Senate adjourned.
19 THE PRESIDENT: Without
20 objection, the Journal stands approved as
21 read.
22 Presentation of petitions.
23 Messages from the Assembly.
24 Messages from the Governor.
25 Reports of standing
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1 committees.
2 Secretary will read.
3 THE SECRETARY: Senator Libous,
4 from the Committee on Mental Health and
5 Developmental Disabilities, reports the
6 following bills:
7 1122, by Senator Libous, an act
8 to amend the Mental Hygiene Law;
9 3831, by Senator Libous, an act
10 to amend the Mental Hygiene Law;
11 3886, by Senator Libous, an act
12 to amend the Mental Hygiene Law;
13 3887, by Senator Libous, an act
14 to amend the Mental Hygiene Law, and
15 5053, by Senator Libous, an act
16 to repeal paragraph 3.
17 Senator Leibell, from the
18 Committee on Housing, Construction and
19 Community Development reports:
20 2228, by Senator Leibell, an
21 act to amend the Public Housing Law;
22 2349-A, by Senator Nozzolio, an
23 act to amend the Real Property Law;
24 3626, by Senator Leibell, an
25 act to amend the Executive Law.
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1 Senator Volker, from the
2 Committee on Codes reports:
3 Senate Print 72, by Senator
4 Levy, an act to amend the Penal Law;
5 386, by Senator Volker, an act
6 to amend the Civil Rights Law;
7 397, by Senator Volker, an act
8 to amend the Penal Law;
9 889, by Senator Volker, an act
10 to amend the Criminal Procedure Law;.
11 1143, by Senator Saland, an act
12 to amend the Penal Law;
13 1593, by Senator Johnson, an
14 act to amend the Penal Law;
15 1717, by Senator Volker, an act
16 to amend the Penal Law;
17 3407, by Senator Volker, an act
18 to amend the Criminal Procedure Law;
19 3814, by Senator Wright, an act
20 to amend the Penal Law;
21 3869, by Senator Larkin, an act
22 to amend the Civil Practice Law and Rules;
23 3924, by Senator Nozzolio, an
24 act to amend the Penal Law;
25 4589, by Senator Padavan, an
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1 act to amend the Penal Law;
2 5280, by Senator Volker, an act
3 to amend the Penal Law;
4 5789, by Senator Volker, an act
5 to amend the Criminal Procedure Law, and
6 5930, by Senator Alesi, an act
7 to amend the Penal Law.
8 Senator Rath, from the
9 Committee on Local Government, reports:
10 459, by Senator Larkin, an act
11 to amend the General Municipal Law;
12 526, by Senator Present, an act
13 to amend the General Municipal Law;
14 2021, by Senator Leibell, an
15 act to amend the General Municipal Law;
16 3636, by Senator Rath, an act
17 to amend the General Municipal Law; and
18 3670, by Senator Rath, an act
19 to amend the General Municipal Law.
20 Senator Seward, from the
21 Committee on Energy and Telecommunications,
22 reports:
23 Senate Print 3898, by Senator
24 Present, an act to amend the Economic
25 Development Law;
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1 4271, by Senator Seward, an act
2 to amend the Public Service Law.
3 Senator Velella, from the
4 Committee on Insurance, reports:
5 Senate Print 1418-A, by Senator
6 Cook, an act to amend the Insurance Law;
7 4012, by Senator Alesi, an act
8 to amend the Insurance Law; and
9 4062, by Senator Velella, an
10 act to amend the Insurance Law.
11 Senator Farley, from the
12 Committee on Banks, reports:
13 Senate Print 2144, by Senator
14 Farley, an act to amend the Banking Law;
15 2145, by Senator Farley, an act
16 to amend the Banking Law; and
17 3803-A, an act to amend the
18 Banking Law.
19 All bills ordered direct for
20 third reading.
21 THE PRESIDENT: Without
22 objection, all bills direct to third reading.
23 Reports of select committees.
24 Communications and reports from
25 state officers.
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1 Motions and resolutions.
2 Senator Bruno.
3 SENATOR BRUNO: Madam
4 President, I believe that there is a
5 privileged resolution at the desk. I would ask
6 the title be read and move for its immediate
7 adoption.
8 THE PRESIDENT: Secretary will
9 read.
10 THE SECRETARY: By Senator
11 Alesi, Legislative Resolution, congratulating
12 the Fairport Senior High School football team
13 and girls 400 relay swim team on winning the
14 New York State Class Double-A Championships.
15 THE PRESIDENT: Oh. Senator
16 Alesi.
17 SENATOR ALESI: Thank you,
18 Madam President.
19 My colleagues, today is a rare
20 pleasure for me to look up into the gallery
21 and see such a wonderful group of young
22 athletes from my home town of Perinton.
23 Fairport High School football champions and
24 swimming champions are joining us today;
25 they've come from the Assembly, where they
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1 were recognized earlier and speaking of
2 recognizing, I think I recognize some familiar
3 faces in that gallery, not the least of which
4 is an old high school friend of mine, football
5 coach, head coach Dave Lanning, whom I saw
6 earlier this morning at about 7:00 clock on
7 the Thruway. Dave has led his football
8 champions in a not surprising fashion. As I
9 remember him, he was a stellar athlete, an
10 accomplished student as well, and I'm sure
11 that he has imparted his character on these
12 fine young athletes, and that is no small part
13 of their success.
14 And to the swimming team, the
15 girls swimming team as well, I'm so pleased to
16 welcome all of you and your coach, Mike
17 Kennedy as well as Jim Zumbo, the athletic
18 director. I'm especially pleased and proud of
19 Fairport, since your school superintendent,
20 Bill Corla, was a college classmate of mine,
21 and if you look up in the gallery there in the
22 last row, you'll see Margaret DeFrancisco, who
23 is a Fairport school board member and who is
24 now the Deputy Commissioner of Motor
25 Vehicles.
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1 So let me welcome all of you on
2 behalf of my colleagues today, not only in the
3 Assembly where you were earlier, but today in
4 the Senate, and let you know how absolutely
5 proud and pleased I am to share the same town
6 that you all have come here from this morning,
7 and to recognize that the kind of achievement
8 that you all have shown during the athletic
9 season and during the regular school year,
10 because we all know that you must maintain
11 certain academic standards as well to be
12 capable of playing on the sports teams.
13 To look up in this gallery and
14 you could just as easily look up into a galaxy
15 of bright young stars. My colleagues, these
16 are the bright young stars of the future, any
17 one of which we could make a wish upon to lead
18 us into that future and I'm sure that we will
19 be better off as time goes by because of the
20 kind of young people that we have with us
21 today.
22 Welcome. Thank you for joining
23 us.
24 THE PRESIDENT: The question is
25 on the resolution. All in favor please
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1 signify by saying aye.
2 (Response of "Aye.")
3 Those opposed nay.
4 (There was no response. )
5 The resolution is adopted, and
6 I'd like to welcome, on behalf of everyone
7 here in the Senate chamber, welcome all these
8 young athletes from Fairport High School and
9 North Babylon High School to the chamber
10 today.
11 (Applause.)
12 Senator Marcellino.
13 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Madam
14 President, on another issue of some other
15 business, I move the following bills be
16 discharged from their respective committees
17 and be recommitted with instructions to strike
18 the enacting clause: That would be Senate
19 Number 4058.
20 THE PRESIDENT: So ordered.
21 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Thank
22 you.
23 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Bruno.
24 SENATOR BRUNO: Madam
25 President, I believe there's another
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1 privileged resolution at the desk by Senator
2 Johnson. I would ask the title be read and
3 move for its immediate adoption.
4 THE PRESIDENT: Secretary will
5 read.
6 THE SECRETARY: By Senator
7 Johnson, Legislative Resolution,
8 congratulating the North Babylon varsity
9 football team, the Bulldogs, and Coach Terry
10 Manning, on their outstanding season and
11 overall team record.
12 THE PRESIDENT: Senator
13 Johnson.
14 SENATOR JOHNSON: Yes. This
15 team won the championship. They're an
16 outstanding group of young people. Again we
17 give them credit for academic achievement, and
18 they certainly deserve recognition at this
19 time.
20 Thank you.
21 THE PRESIDENT: The question is
22 is on the resolution. All those in favor
23 please signify by saying aye.
24 (Response of "Aye.")
25 Opposed nay.
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1 (There was no response.)
2 The resolution is adopted.
3 (Applause)
4 Senator Bruno.
5 SENATOR BRUNO: Madam
6 President, I believe there is a privileged
7 resolution at the desk by Senator Stachowski.
8 I would ask that the title be read and move
9 for its immediate -- we're going to read the
10 resolution in its entirety and then move for
11 its immediate adoption.
12 THE PRESIDENT: The Secretary
13 will read.
14 THE SECRETARY: By Senator
15 Stachowski, Legislative Resolution,
16 proclaiming Hunter James Kelly's birthday,
17 Valentine's Day, February 14, 1998, as
18 Hunter's Day of Hope for children in New York
19 State.
20 WHEREAS, it is the sense of
21 this legislative body to recognize that the
22 quality of life for children in the
23 communities across this great state of New
24 York is enriched by the concerned and
25 dedicated efforts of those organizations and
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1 individuals of distinction whose singular
2 purpose is the care and welfare of children;
3 and
4 WHEREAS, this legislative body
5 is moved to proclaim Hunter James Kelly's
6 birthday, Valentine's Day, February 14, 1998
7 as Hunter's Day of Hope for the children of
8 New York State; and
9 WHEREAS, the Hunter's Hope
10 Foundation was established in September 1997
11 by football great and NBC broadcaster, Jim
12 Kelly and his wife Jill, in honor of their son
13 Hunter James Kelly, who was diagnosed with
14 Krabbe's disease (globoid cell
15 leukodystrophy).
16 Krabbe's disease is one of nine
17 leukodystrophies. It is a rare degenerative
18 enzyme disorder of the central and peripheral
19 nervous system. Children who inherit the
20 disease lack an important enzyme, GALC, that
21 is a component of the white matter of the
22 brain, myelin. This enzyme deficiency produces
23 toxins in the brain causing myelin loss and
24 neurological symptoms.
25 Signs and symptoms of infantile
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1 Krabbe usually appear at three to six months
2 of age. Development may be normal up to that
3 time. Extreme irritability, developmental
4 delay or regression and decreased muscle tone
5 are among the first symptoms to appear. These
6 early symptoms are followed by seizures,
7 unexplainable fevers, difficulty in feeding
8 and paralysis. Eventually children lose all
9 mental and motor function, become deaf and
10 blind and usually do not survive beyond two
11 years of age, and
12 WHEREAS, Jim and Jill Kelly
13 hope that through sharing Hunter's story,
14 parents all over the world will give their
15 children more time and love and will thank God
16 every day for these precious little gifts of
17 life.
18 Hunter's Hope is their life
19 long commitment to increase public awareness
20 of Krabbe and other leukodystrophies so that
21 other children may have early detection and
22 treatment; and
23 WHEREAS, New York State is
24 continuously looking for opportunities to
25 increase parental awareness about the need for
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1 proper nurturing during child development;
2 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED,
3 that this legislative body pause in its
4 deliberations and proclaim Hunter James
5 Kelly's birthday, Valentine's Day, February
6 14, 1998, as Hunter's Day of Hope for children
7 in New York State. In recognition of this day
8 a candlelight vigil will be held celebrating
9 the life and love of all children; and
10 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that
11 copies of this resolution, suitably engrossed,
12 be transmitted to the Kelly family and
13 Hunter's Hope, Gateway Park, Buffalo, New
14 York.
15 THE PRESIDENT: Senator
16 Stachowski.
17 SENATOR STACHOWSKI: Madam
18 President, as the resolution stated, the Kelly
19 family found out that their son had this
20 leukodystrophy early in his lifetime. He had
21 been here just before that. We honored him on
22 his retirement. At that time he had just
23 found out, at least he had thought that his
24 son had cerebral policy, and we were all kind
25 of stunned by the fact that he made that
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1 announcement to us here in the Senate and it
2 really was the first time he had publicly
3 spoken of any problem with his son.
4 Shortly thereafter, he found
5 out that the problem was much more serious.
6 The interesting thing with Krabbe's disease is
7 that both parents have to be the carrier, they
8 have to have that gene, and it's something
9 that you're not tested for when you get
10 married, or when you're going to have
11 children, you don't get tested for that and
12 that's an interesting fact that we don't, and
13 as a result of both parents having that gene,
14 it's a one-in-four chance any time you have a
15 child born that that baby will have Krabbe's
16 disease, which as it tells you in the reso
17 lution, is currently (unintelligible) the
18 child dies by the time it's two years old.
19 Hunter will be one year old this February 14th
20 and, as far as we know now, he's going to make
21 it to his birthday. He's already pretty
22 progressed with what's going on in this
23 disease, not to the good I might add; so it's
24 interesting to see that the Kellys instead of
25 feeling bad for theirselves -- and I'm sure by
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1 this time -- I'm sure by this time, almost
2 everyone has seen one of the TV spots
3 where they've been on various different
4 shows and either together or Jim or Jill or
5 both, and they talk about how that everybody
6 should take this time when they think about
7 them, to think about their own children and
8 maybe love them a little more or think about
9 them a little more or care about them a little
10 more and be happy that their children aren't
11 found in the same kind of predicament, so that
12 they are far from being -- taking a position
13 of feeling sorry for themselves or wondering
14 why this has happened to us. They're
15 taking a proactive position of trying to bring
16 a greater focus on loving the children but
17 also at the same time Jim is using his status
18 as a public celebrity to raise money to try to
19 bring awareness to Krabbe's disease and maybe
20 some research and care to leukotrophies in
21 general.
22 This candlelight vigil that
23 we're speaking about in this resolution is
24 something that they thought of. They've been
25 selling candles. All the members will have
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1 gotten a letter from me advising them of this
2 at their office, because the Albany shop is
3 opened up this week and so what we're hoping
4 that they do well and eventually they can find
5 a cure for that disease and maybe children
6 won't have this, some day we'll eliminate this
7 problem, but if we don't eliminate it we can
8 at least make parents aware and maybe have the
9 testing so that people don't suddenly find
10 themselves with a child that they had no idea
11 anything could go wrong with and the baby -
12 if you saw a picture of Hunter, it's one of
13 the cutest babies you'll ever see. He looks
14 perfectly normal, he looks like he's sleeping
15 but, in fact, he's blind; he can't swallow;
16 they feed him through a feeding tube and he's
17 just not doing well at all; and so thank you
18 very much for this opportunity, and hope that
19 they'll be very successful in bringing love
20 and making people aware and finding a cure for
21 this disease.
22 THE PRESIDENT: The question is
23 on the resolution. All in favor signify by
24 saying aye.
25 (Response of "Aye.")
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1 Opposed nay.
2 (There was no response.)
3 The resolution is adopted.
4 Senator Bruno.
5 SENATOR BRUNO: Madam
6 President, I believe all of the membership
7 here in this Senate had a resolution prepared
8 in the memory of Senator Mike Tully. I would
9 ask that it now be read in its entirety and
10 that we move for its immediate adoption.
11 THE PRESIDENT: Secretary will
12 read in its entirety.
13 THE SECRETARY: By Senator
14 Bruno, et al, Legislative Resolution, honoring
15 the memory and celebrating the life and
16 accomplishments of Senator Michael J. Tully,
17 Jr.
18 WHEREAS, the members of this
19 legislative body are greatly moved to pay
20 reverent tribute in memoriam to Michael J.
21 Tully, Jr., Senator of the 7th District,
22 representing part of Nassau County and
23 cherished friend and colleague; and
24 WHEREAS, it is with feelings of
25 great sorrow and deepest regret that this
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1 legislative body records the passing of
2 Senator Michael J.Tully, Jr., on August 5th,
3 1997; and
4 WHEREAS, Senator Michael J.
5 Tully, Jr., was a man of action and deep
6 commitment. He cared about the world and the
7 people in it. He was devoted to his
8 constituency and to the belief that government
9 can be a positive force for improving people's
10 lives; and
11 WHEREAS, renowned as a man of
12 wit and humor, Senator Tully had tremendous
13 energy and resolve. The more complicated a
14 problem was, the greater was his resolve to
15 solve it. A resident of Port Washington, New
16 York, Senator Michael Tully was born in New
17 York City on June 23rd, 1933. He grew up in
18 the Hell's Kitchen area of Manhattan, and
19 through hard work and determination earned a
20 law degree from St. John's University. A
21 former Nassau County Assistant District
22 Attorney Senator Tully's roots in public
23 service date back to his appointment to the
24 North Hempstead Town Board and subsequent
25 elections as town councilman and town
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1 supervisor, an office he held for more than a
2 decade; and
3 WHEREAS, Senator Michael Tully
4 began his service as Senator of the 7th
5 District of New York State in 1982. He
6 brought with him a determination to address
7 issues of importance to the people of his
8 state and district. That he succeeded to an
9 extraordinary degree with his characteristic
10 integrity and exemplary style is indisputable.
11 Senator Tully worked tirelessly
12 for strong public health and environmental
13 protections throughout his distinguished
14 Senate career. He served as chair of the
15 Senate Health, Environmental Conservation and
16 Water Resources Committees and as chair of the
17 Council on Health Care Financing. A veteran
18 who served in the U. S. Army and Army Reserve,
19 he was also proud of having had the
20 distinction of serving as the first chair of
21 the Senate Veterans Committee. He was also
22 Assistant Majority Whip and a member of
23 numerous state committees, task forces and
24 councils; and
25 WHEREAS, Senator Tully combined
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1 his wit and humor and his determined advocacy
2 and resolve with his unique ability to see
3 issues and the world from the perspective of
4 the average citizen and his heart for bring
5 ing opposing sides together to implement
6 important legislation. He came early to many
7 issues, most especially combatting breast
8 cancer and the control of tobacco use and
9 exposure, offering often bold and creative
10 proposals which will benefit the people of the
11 state of New York for many generations to
12 come, and during his tenure as chair of the
13 Senate Health Committee, from 1989 through
14 1994, Senator Tully offered many laws which
15 protected the public health, enhanced the
16 quality of health care and improved patient
17 access to services.
18 Among the laws he sponsored are
19 the Clean Indoor Air Act, the Health Care
20 Agency Proxy Law, the Prenatal Care Act, the
21 Hysterectomy Information and Education Act,
22 the nation's first Anabolic Steroid Control
23 Act; numerous laws to improve hospital and
24 health care financing; numerous laws to
25 improve primary care, long-term care, home
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1 health care and hospice care; the Physician
2 Discipline Reform Act, the 1991 Omnibus
3 Medical Reform Act; the Organ Procurement and
4 Tissue Bank Standards Act, the Health
5 Insurance Reform Act, which ended age and
6 illness age discrimination in insurance; the
7 Health Work Force Development Act, the
8 Emergency Medical Services Standards Act and
9 direct access to ob/gyn services for women in
10 managed care; and
11 WHEREAS, he also sponsored laws
12 which expanded insurance coverage for
13 mammography screening, assured that women
14 would be informed about alternatives to
15 mastectomy, created a network of breast cancer
16 screening and educational programs and
17 promoted breast cancer early detection and
18 research initiatives.
19 Senator Tully sponsored, in
20 addition, significant laws protecting the
21 health and well-being of our children,
22 including the Child Health Insurance Reform
23 Plan, guaranteeing coverage of primary and
24 preventive care for all children; the Child
25 Health Insurance Plan, which subsidizes health
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1 insurance for children of low income families;
2 the Childhood Immunization Act, encouraging
3 the proper immunization of children against
4 disease, and the Pro-Kids Law, which protects
5 children from tobacco exposure; and
6 WHEREAS, Senator Tully also
7 championed laws making stalking a crime and
8 protecting victims of sexual assault in rape
9 prosecutions.
10 Committed to safeguarding our
11 natural resources and promoting a high
12 standard of water quality, Senator Tully
13 sponsored the Bottled Water Quality Act and
14 the Historic Maritime Areas Act; and
15 WHEREAS, former chairman of the
16 Environmental Conservation Committee, he was
17 concerned about the possible relationship
18 between the environment and chronic illness,
19 and actively sponsored the investigation of
20 potential linkages between breast cancer and
21 environmental factors such as air pollution
22 and pesticides. Senator Tully was also the
23 sponsor of the Senate's first version of
24 pesticide registry legislation, and was a
25 co-sponsor of the 1996 Breast Cancer Research
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1 and Pesticide Registry Law; and
2 WHEREAS, in recognition of his
3 extraordinary service on behalf of his
4 constituents and all New Yorkers, Senator
5 Michael J. Tully, Jr., was the recipient of
6 numerous awards and commendations, including
7 an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from the
8 New York Institute of Technology College of
9 Osteopathic Medicine; the Theodore Roosevelt
10 Award from the Nassau-Suffolk Hospital Council
11 and the Health Care Association of New York
12 State, and the Certificate of Extraordinary
13 Service in the cause of cancer control from
14 the American Cancer Society; and
15 WHEREAS, loyal friend, trusted
16 adviser and tenacious fighter for the causes
17 in which he believed, the accomplishments of
18 Senator Michael Tully are legion. He will be
19 deeply missed and truly merits the grateful
20 tribute of this legislative body.
21 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED
22 that this legislative body pause in its
23 deliberations to honor the memory and
24 celebrate the life and achievements of Senator
25 Michael J. Tully, Jr., recognizing the
46
1 significance of his exemplary record of public
2 service and dedicating ourselves anew to the
3 causes and people he served, and
4 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a
5 copy of this resolution, suitably engrossed,
6 be transmitted to the family of Senator
7 Michael J. Tully, Jr. with the deepest
8 condolences of this legislative body.
9 THE PRESIDENT: Senator Bruno.
10 SENATOR BRUNO: Thank you,
11 Madam President.
12 You can't help but listen to
13 the reflections in this resolution that we've
14 just listened to without realizing what a
15 very, very special person Senator Mike Tully,
16 was. Special for his family who are here,
17 with his close friends, many of them are here,
18 his colleagues, constituents.
19 It's difficult as you listen to
20 think in terms of Mike Tully past, but I
21 couldn't help but think as I was reflecting
22 that Senator Mike Tully will never be past in
23 this chamber, in his district, and in the
24 state because what Mike Tully left us truly
25 was a legacy of good works to improve the
47
1 quality of life of people. That was his
2 mission in life, and when you hear about a
3 politician who started in Hell's Kitchen, born
4 in Hell's Kitchen, brought himself to where he
5 was, a distinguished career, an extraordinary
6 individual, a person that people just liked to
7 be around.
8 Mike was just a great guy.
9 People liked to have him around. They liked to
10 be with him and if any of us that are in
11 government want to look to a role model, you
12 could look to Mike, because Mike knew how to
13 get it done. I don't remember his ever being
14 obnoxious when he had to differ with you, and
15 I'm sure he differed with many people here. He
16 differed with me, but he always had to
17 understand if he could why he differed with
18 you, and then if he was in a position where
19 something wasn't going to happen and he knew
20 it, and I could remember when he would say,
21 "Maybe we could work it out this way. Do you
22 mind if I try?" And invariably he would make
23 it happen.
24 With the breast cancer
25 pesticide registry, we struggled for years and
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1 couldn't make that happen, but Mike stayed
2 with it always and made it happen. The Clean
3 Indoor Act, which dealt with smoking in public
4 places, but think about what it took to get
5 that done, given the interests that are out
6 there. Mike made that happen.
7 Now, does that go away with
8 Mike's passing? None of what you heard, and
9 you didn't hear it all because you couldn't
10 recite it all in the time frame that we have
11 here before us, as to what Senator Mike Tully
12 meant to the people of this state and in his
13 district.
14 So there aren't words that can
15 really do justice to the memory of Mike Tully,
16 and it's difficult for many of us, but it was
17 also stated right that what we celebrate now
18 is his memory, his legacy. We're celebrating
19 that because truly people's lives are better
20 because Mike Tully was here and, boy, that's a
21 testimony that any one of us would like to
22 hear at any time and there are people who will
23 live to be a hundred that will never ever
24 reach the heights and the accomplishments that
25 Mike Tully reached in his short lifetime.
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1 So he was taken from us
2 suddenly, too early. It leaves us with a
3 memory, and it is a great memory of an
4 individual, of a person, of a man of
5 accomplishment, and we're indebted to Mike.
6 There isn't a day passes here that goes by or
7 a week when you don't hear some reference to
8 Mike Tully. Yeah, that was Mike's bill. Mike
9 did that. Yeah, that was Tully's. I mean you
10 think about it, as we go forward through this
11 session and for the sessions beyond, for as
12 long as many of us will be here, you will
13 hear, That was Mike's issue; Mike did that.
14 Mike was involved in that.
15 So, Madam President, my
16 colleagues and everyone here, and especially
17 those who were closest to Mike, it's pretty
18 difficult to accept someone as vital, vital as
19 Mike passing early, but if there's comfort in
20 thinking in terms of celebrating, to think in
21 terms of a short life, a man accomplished what
22 many people couldn't do in several lifetimes,
23 and I know that Mike is up there and he is
24 looking down, and I know he is part of
25 everything that's going on here today, and as
50
1 we go forward doing the kinds of things that
2 he spent his life doing on behalf of the
3 people of this state and of his district.
4 Thanks you, Madam President.
5 THE PRESIDENT: Thank you,
6 Senator Bruno.
7 Senator Connor.
8 SENATOR CONNOR: Thank you,
9 Madam President. I rise in support of this
10 resolution, and let me say as the resolution
11 and as Senator Bruno has certainly outlined
12 and while at the same time only touching on a
13 small part of Senator Mike Tully's
14 contribution to the people of the state of New
15 York, as a Senator, in his prior experience as
16 a supervisor, as a public servant, I think we
17 look at the accomplishments in terms of bills,
18 in terms of successes, in terms of what became
19 law, what will benefit the people of the state
20 for years and years and years to come, and
21 certainly in the case of Senator Tully, this
22 is a magnificent and well deserved and
23 appropriate legacy; but I think in his passing
24 at much too early an age, we all will miss
25 something else too. We certainly will miss
51
1 his contributions as a legislator, but I think
2 those accomplishments were because of the kind
3 of person Mike Tully was, the kind of
4 colleague, the kind of concerned, caring
5 individual who had a sense of humor, who was
6 smart and fun to work with, and easy to work
7 with, and indeed in our system that's what
8 makes for the great success which he had as a
9 legislator, and I know his colleagues will
10 certainly miss him. His children, his family,
11 his loved ones, those who loved him, those he
12 loved, will indeed, I hope, take some comfort
13 in knowing how -- not only successful he was,
14 that's apparent -- that's apparent in writing,
15 but will take comfort in knowing that all of
16 us, his colleagues, we who worked for him had
17 such great respect for him, such great
18 admiration and love, and it was fun having him
19 as a colleague, and we do thank God for the
20 time we were allowed to share a bit of Mike
21 Tully's life, and for him to share a bit of
22 our life, both professionally and personally.
23 Thank you, Madam President.
24 THE PRESIDENT: Thank you,
25 Senator Connor.
52
1 Senator Goodman.
2 SENATOR GOODMAN: Madam
3 President, there's no one in this chamber to
4 whom I felt closer personally than Senator
5 Mike Tully, and his passing was really like a
6 blow in the solar plexus. I couldn't grasp the
7 fact that this extraordinary man had suddenly
8 been taken from us.
9 As many of you know, Mike was a
10 superbly conditioned athlete, a scratch
11 golfer, a vigorous human being, and one who
12 took good care of himself and had begged all
13 of his colleagues never to smoke a cigarette.
14 If there was smoking in a room in which Mike
15 came, he would either leave the room and
16 suggest that the smoking stop, or he would ask
17 the people to stop and remain in the room
18 without the cigarettes.
19 But the things that I think of
20 about Mike Tully are many, and I'd just like
21 to share a few personal observations that
22 don't relate to his prodigious professional
23 career. Mike was gregarious and collegial, he
24 was kind and compassionate, he was hard
25 working and conscientious. He was
53
1 professionally astute and professionally very
2 wise indeed. He was a man who, I would say,
3 was many-dimensional, in certain respects was
4 quite intellectual achievements. I don't know
5 how many of you ever talked about books or
6 theatre or the movies with Mike, but he read
7 very widely and knew a great deal about
8 contemporary theatre and the stars of movies
9 going back to the 1940s.
10 He was a tremendously witty
11 fellow, and one of his great capacities was
12 not just to tell good stories but to listen
13 and if satisfied with the punch line to give
14 you a high five to salute your telling of a
15 particular joke which, of course, brought on
16 many more unnecessary outbursts of irrelevant
17 humor.
18 Mike was someone whom you
19 wanted to go out to dinner with, because to
20 have a dinner with Mike Tully was to have an
21 enriching personal experience. He'd order
22 carrots and around the outer edge of his plate
23 and he would ask to have a very carefully
24 prepared salmon with no butter. He would take
25 a little pasta as a first course without any
54
1 sauce and a little wine just to leaven the
2 event, and you knew that Mike would live
3 forever, because of the great care which he
4 took, both dietarily and in terms of his
5 regimen of strict personal discipline, and I
6 think he does live forever in our memories,
7 but that's another story and doesn't relate to
8 carrots.
9 Mike was someone without whom I
10 think this body is the poorer. There's no
11 question that his professional accomplishments
12 were extraordinary in many ways. You've heard
13 of some of the bills that he passed, and I can
14 recall so distinctly his passionate advocacy
15 of breast cancer detection legislation, of
16 insurance policies which made certain that
17 kids up to the age of puberty would be fully
18 covered by health insurance, especially
19 poverty kids.
20 His efforts related to so many
21 different aspects of health, whether it was
22 HIV and the attempt to provide treatment and
23 diagnosis, or all of the things which a
24 conscientious chairman of the Health Committee
25 should have appropriately addressed himself
55
1 to, Mike did that and more; but when all is
2 said and done, my good colleagues as you know,
3 this place breeds a very special bond of
4 personal and collegial friendship. Sometimes
5 in the heat of political battle, we forget
6 what we mean to one another, but when a John
7 Marchi is in a serious automobile accident or
8 Mike Tully leaves us so prematurely, we
9 remember just a little bit about the personal
10 bonds which, under the pressure cooker
11 environment of this place, bring us together
12 and congeal us in an intimate relationship
13 which is really like none other that you can
14 find anywhere in life except perhaps in the
15 trenches of the battlefield.
16 We are a unique group, asked to
17 assume immense responsibilities under
18 tremendous pressures upon the shoulders of
19 each of us and having someone like Mike Tully
20 share that experience made it not just
21 memorable, but all the more worthwhile.
22 I will miss Mike more deeply
23 than I can possibly say, and I just want his
24 family to know that while he was here, he was
25 a brother to many of us, and we shall always
56
1 remember him.
2 Thank you, Madam President.
3 THE PRESIDENT: Thank you,
4 Senator Goodman.
5 Senator Skelos.
6 SENATOR SKELOS: Thank you,
7 Madam President.
8 Before we started session, I
9 was talking to Senator Velella. We were
10 discussing what we were going to say about
11 Mike and as so often in politics and life,
12 we're asked to get up and speak, sometimes at
13 a eulogy, sometimes at a testimonial, and it
14 seems very easy to go on, sometimes too long
15 in the minds of those who are listening to us,
16 and we said, What are we going to say about
17 Mike, because all the emotions start running
18 through your body and through your mind, the
19 experiences that you had with the individual
20 and you don't know what to bring up. You're
21 confused. You're confused that this person
22 who sat over there is no longer with us in the
23 Senate chamber. You're confused because you
24 remember the person that, when you first came
25 to the Senate, was like a mentor.
57
1 Mike represented to those of us
2 from Nassau County and obviously beyond
3 Nassau, what we considered the best in
4 politics and the best in government, and we
5 believe that there's nothing wrong in saying
6 that you're a politician and that you're a
7 government official because good politics and
8 being a good public official, in my opinion,
9 makes good government, and that's what Mike
10 Tully was.
11 But beyond that, he was a good
12 friend. You had a political problem you'd go
13 and talk to Mike as a friend. You had a
14 governmental problem, you went and talked to
15 Mike as a friend. You had a golf problem, if
16 you were on his team, you'd talk to him as a
17 friend. If you weren't on his team, believe
18 me, somehow he came out ahead.
19 But these are the emotions and
20 these are the experiences that all of us have
21 in this room and that rush through our minds
22 right now. Roy couldn't have said it any
23 better. Sometimes we all take each other for
24 granted, and it's days like this that, and I
25 know Joe and I have discussed this, that we
58
1 sometimes look around the chamber and we have
2 our own individual memories and experiences of
3 each other and, generally, even if they're
4 political sometimes they're all happy, they're
5 all good experiences, because that's what our
6 profession is about.
7 So to the Tully family that is
8 here, we thank you for having shared Mike with
9 us. Public service takes you away perhaps too
10 much from your family but Mike was a dedicated
11 public official who would not miss a minute
12 here, and when session was over was in that
13 car going back to serve his constituents. He
14 represented the best, and I know that I shall
15 miss him very dearly.
16 THE PRESIDENT: Thank you,
17 Senator Skelos.
18 Senator Libous.
19 SENATOR LIBOUS: Thank you,
20 Madam President.
21 I think when you lose a friend
22 or a loved one, I choose to kind of think of
23 the happy times, how that individual kind of
24 touched your life and did some special things,
25 and I just want to share a couple of smiles
59
1 that I remember Mike Tully by.
2 Mike used to sit a couple seats
3 over from me, and I'd be sitting here signing
4 letters, and maybe I'd have something that he
5 didn't have, and he'd kind of look up at me
6 and say, what have you got over there, Tommy?
7 What have you got? And I said, It's -- well,
8 I'm sending some birthday cards out to some of
9 my constituents, and he'd be looking over at
10 Jim Sherry who'd be sitting over here, and he
11 says, Jimmy, find out don't we have one of
12 those. Go get one of those from Tommy.
13 I can remember the many times
14 we shared dinner, and many of you had that
15 opportunity to share dinner with Mike, and I
16 can remember one of the first times I went to
17 dinner with Mike. We sat down at a
18 restaurant, and Mike was very particular about
19 the restaurants he went to. He wouldn't go to
20 just any restaurant, and I remember sitting
21 down, and I took my jacket off and I put it on
22 the back of the chair, and I sat down and Mike
23 looked at me and he said, "What's wrong with
24 you?" I said, "I'm sorry?" He said, "What's
25 wrong with you?" He says, "You took your
60
1 jacket off." I said, "Yeah." He says, "You
2 don't take your jacket off in a restaurant."
3 He says, "You're a Senator," he says, "you
4 wear your jacket in a restaurant." He says,
5 "You're a guest here, you wear your jacket,"
6 and he says, "Don't you have restaurants where
7 you live in your place?"
8 The other thing that I remember
9 fondly about Michael is, Michael had his own
10 language. You'd be sitting in a restaurant or
11 sitting in a committee meeting or he'd be here
12 on the floor, and he'd kind of look up at you
13 and he'd say, he says, Tom, I got to talk to
14 you, we got to talk to the big guy about the
15 little guy and we got to go over here and we
16 got to do this, and he would do it with his
17 hands, and he knew who he was talking about
18 but we didn't always know who he was talking
19 about.
20 Those were just some of the
21 small ways that Mike touched me as a friend,
22 and Senator Bruno, Senator Skelos, and Senator
23 Connor talked about his accomplishments, and I
24 know that my colleagues will continue to talk
25 about his accomplishments and how he touched
61
1 them but, Mike, I only want to say one thing,
2 is that it was a pleasure for me to know you.
3 I'm glad I had the opportunity in my life and
4 when I think of Mike Tully, I think of style
5 and I think of class.
6 THE PRESIDENT: Thank you,
7 Senator Libous.
8 Senator Alesi.
9 SENATOR ALESI: Thank you,
10 Madam President.
11 Unlike most of the Senators
12 that will speak about Mike Tully today, I did
13 not know him for a very long time and after
14 listening to the resolution that highlighted
15 so many of his lifetime accomplishments, I
16 felt that I really had missed an awful lot. I
17 wasn't here for that, and that I can remember
18 years ago when I was a county legislator talk
19 about this clean -- indoor clean air act, and
20 I never knew Mike Tully then and it wasn't
21 until I knew of his legacy that that was an
22 issue that was so important to me back then,
23 and it turns out that it was this fellow that
24 sat just in front of me.
25 The Mike Tully I know in the
62
1 very short time that I did know him was
2 someone that I played golf with only six or
3 seven times, and for those of you who played
4 golf with him, you knew that he was an
5 exceptional golfer, well balanced and so even
6 tempered and always had an twinkle in his eye
7 and what appeared to be a subtle wit
8 and sense of humor for someone who was either
9 hooking it or slicing it, and I remember Mike
10 as being a gentleman and someone who was
11 willing to offer his help to me as a Senator
12 and someone who very readily offered his
13 friendship to me when I came here as a
14 newcomer, and so as much as I feel deprived
15 for not knowing Mike Tully as long as many
16 others, I feel very honored that I did know
17 him for the length of time that I did and,
18 like all of you, I'll miss him in my own way
19 to a certain degree, and be comforted in
20 knowing that wherever Mike is, he's playing
21 the ball in the fairway, and I'm sure that
22 he'll be hitting the green in regulation.
23 THE PRESIDENT: Thank you,
24 Senator Alesi.
25 Senator Marcellino.
63
1 SENATOR MARCELLINO: Thank you,
2 Madam President.
3 I knew Mike Tully like many of
4 us from Nassau County in the political
5 spectrum. Nobody was a better politician
6 locally, statewide than Michael, and when I
7 had the good fortune to come up and serve in
8 this body, one of the first people who came
9 over to me and said, Look, he smiled and he
10 said, Look, Carl, he said, there's a lot of
11 things that go on here he says, but always
12 keep one thing in mind. Everybody in here is
13 trying to do a job. It doesn't matter what
14 side of the aisle they're on. They're just
15 trying to do a job. They may disagree with
16 you. Sometimes the discussion is a little
17 heated, but just keep it in the back of your
18 mind that everybody is here to do a job and
19 that's to serve their constituents, so, he
20 said, when you keep that in mind you can't
21 get too angry at the person who is debating
22 one of your bills. He says, Just keep it
23 civil. That's the way it works, and that's
24 the way, he says, I've found it to make it
25 work best, and I don't know, I've tried to
64
1 emulate that as much as I possibly can, and I
2 find that it works; but I must say that Mike
3 had a lot of good points. He did have some
4 negatives. I hate to be the one to point it
5 out.
6 Mike was the only one who could
7 laugh at Roy Goodman's jokes. It was -- if
8 Roy told one joke at a dinner table, Mike
9 would laugh; Roy would tell another; Mike
10 would laugh; Roy would tell another; Mike
11 would laugh. The rest of us would try and get
12 through dinner. Roy would tell another and
13 Mike would continue laughing so, you know, I
14 had to point that out just to balance things
15 out a little bit. I apologize, Roy; but Mike
16 was a good friend; is, was and always will be
17 a good friend and will be missed in this
18 Legislature and will be missed in his
19 district.
20 Thank you.
21 THE PRESIDENT: Thank you,
22 Senator Marcellino.
23 Senator Nozzolio.
24 SENATOR NOZZOLIO: Madam
25 President, like Senator Tully, those of us in
65
1 this chamber at home away from home, this is a
2 life that can be very difficult at times, but
3 Mike Tully was an individual, a Senator, a
4 wonderful man, who made those times easier to
5 take.
6 We just didn't go out to dinner
7 with Mike. Mike would organize the dinner, he
8 would bring us all together. As Tom Libous
9 said, it's always one of these and a few of
10 those and a few of those and maybe another one
11 of them and we'll do it all together tonight.
12 That's Mike.
13 I was very honored to be part
14 of it, a group that shared the conviviality,
15 friendship, learning a great deal about the
16 history of this chamber, about the political
17 dynamics of other parts of the state, but
18 certainly those times are times that I will
19 hold very near and dear.
20 I had the honor of playing golf
21 with Mike on quite a few occasions and, as I
22 look back and will always remember, I played
23 golf with him just a few days before his
24 passing. He snuck out, tried to get a few
25 hours before sunset of golf in, and I would
66
1 have to say to his loved ones, to his family,
2 Mike was never better on a golf course. He
3 blew us away. Roy Goodman said he was a
4 scratch golfer. Well, he always said he had a
5 handicap of five or six or seven, but you're
6 right, Roy, because he played like a scratch
7 golfer, but that day -- he lied about his
8 handicap, but that day that we played just
9 before his passing, he blew us away with at
10 least five strokes, was putting from all
11 corners of the green -- 25-, 30-foot putts,
12 and even Mike was surprised, I think, at how
13 well he did that afternoon. That was at his
14 favorite course, and it always reminded us
15 that on his birthday a year or so before, he
16 got his hole in one, the 12th hole at Schuyler
17 Meadows on his birthday.
18 I'm sure where Mike is, that
19 every shot will be a hole in one. Mike was a
20 hole-in-one golfer, a hole-in-one Senator, and
21 one that we will always remember as a near and
22 dear friend.
23 THE PRESIDENT: Thank you,
24 Senator Nozzolio.
25 Senator Spano.
67
1 SENATOR SPANO: Thank you,
2 Madam President.
3 You know, in the hustle and
4 bustle of the life that we all live in, it's
5 times like this, as has been said before and
6 been said more eloquently now by Roy Goodman,
7 that we do stop for a moment and reflect on
8 our colleague, and it makes no difference
9 which side of the aisle we're on, but there's
10 a commonality that exists among all of us that
11 is unparalleled in any other profession, and
12 there's a lot has been said about Mike Tully,
13 the legislator, and the resolution certainly
14 outlines his accomplishments, and we all know
15 them full well.
16 But the real part of my -- the
17 many good laughs, the wit, that was discussed
18 by my colleagues and, certainly, you know, one
19 of my first experiences in the Senate when I
20 came here, and if you remember when Warren
21 Anderson was the leader, and when we used to
22 work late and we used to get food in the
23 lounge, a lot of us would grumble about the
24 food, and he'd come in and he'd say, "Spano,
25 you're Italian, right? You like food, right?"
68
1 Looked at me, I guess, and said, "We're going
2 to have to do something about the food in
3 here," and shortly he shuffled me off to
4 Warren Anderson and to Steve Sloan, and we
5 upgraded the food and I became chairman of the
6 food committee in the Senate, but it was the
7 type of guy that we could spend a lot of time
8 with in here and outside can be as serious as
9 any one of us can be, can be as dedicated as
10 anyone can be to the issue, whether it be his
11 crusade against smoking or the issues that he
12 felt strongly about, but just as well as we
13 sit and we discussed maybe, many nights we'd
14 discuss family and our lives and got serious,
15 but at the same time he'd be able to turn in
16 his chair and say, "O.K., Roy, it's time for a
17 joke; let's hear a joke," and he'd pick out
18 people at the table and say, "Now, it's your
19 turn." I'd always shudder when he tried to
20 look at me and tell a joke because I would be
21 the worst person in the world to try to do
22 that, but he'd get in our -- and we laugh
23 about it in the chamber, and we laugh about it
24 in the conference, where he'd, you know, We've
25 got to do questions now. Couple of times,
69
1 there were a couple of tough budgets here, and
2 he'd say, Hands in the file. All we'd hear
3 about him was hands in the file and we would
4 joke about the -- and Tommy mentioned how he
5 would say to us, Yeah, we're going to go out
6 tonight with the Big Guy and the Little Guy,
7 and the Little Guy is going to bring the other
8 guy and he said we're going to go for dinner.
9 I said, O.K., I'll be there. Where? And he
10 said, The Shipyard, and you know, I'd show up
11 at the Shipyard not knowing who all these
12 other guys were going to be, and sit there and
13 realize who they were when they showed up.
14 But he taught us a lot and he
15 taught us a lot about being membeers of the
16 Senate, taught us a lot about, of course,
17 being a class act was mentioned and it was
18 certainly him. One other quick thing he
19 taught me out on Long Island, we went to a
20 restaurant for dinner. After dinner we walked
21 out to the bar and he stands, and he
22 said,"Hey, Spano," he says, "take your coat
23 off." Now, you never want to take your coats
24 off; I took my coat off. He says, "Get on
25 your knees; just get on your knees; get on
70
1 your knees." And so I get on my knees. He
2 says, "You see that chair over there? See if
3 you can lift it up, from the bottom. You got
4 to lift it up from the bottom from the leg and
5 try to lift that up without bending your arm."
6 So I'm trying and I couldn't do it. He gets
7 down there, lifts it up, he lifts it up right.
8 Finally I watched him, I learned how to do it
9 and, Tom, you were there that night and we had
10 a great deal of fun, a lot of laughs and all
11 of our lives collectively are a lot better for
12 those types of memories that make everything
13 that we do so worthwhile in this chamber.
14 We say thank you to Mike. I
15 know we can't talk too long because he would
16 be sitting over there looking at me now,
17 saying, you know, "Let's go."
18 O.K. Mike, let's go.
19 Thank you.
20 THE PRESIDENT: Thank you,
21 Senator Spano.
22 Senator Farley.
23 SENATOR FARLEY: Thank you,
24 Madam President.
25 I rise also to pay tribute to
71
1 Mike Tully who was my seatmate right here and
2 sat next to me in conference and, although I
3 was a little bit older than Mike and a senior
4 to him, he always treated me a little bit like
5 his little brother or somebody who was a slow
6 little brother or something.
7 He was a real "take charge"
8 guy. He knew all the -- he had most of the
9 answers, and I still recall all the things he
10 used to tell me about his children,
11 particularly his son, and so forth, and his
12 youth and his family, a lot of personal things
13 which were very meaningful not only to me but
14 to me, and, you know, of all the people that I
15 serve with and now as I look around this room,
16 and I do think everybody feels this way, I
17 can't think of anybody in this room that ever
18 expected a guy like Mike who was in the peak
19 of physical condition and was so careful about
20 his health and his diet. The last night of
21 the session I brought him in a little
22 miniature Almond Joy, and he gave me a lecture
23 how nobody should ever eat that poison, and
24 all of this stuff. I think he ate it, though,
25 because it got later on.
72
1 You know, he was a man of
2 principle and on certain issues, you just
3 couldn't budge him, and he stood there, and
4 you know, he was so circumspect about so many
5 things, his appearance and as I said, his
6 health, his diet, and so forth, and I guess
7 one of the things that was the most could be
8 attributed to him was how loyal he was to his
9 friends. Boy, I'll tell you, Mike Tully would
10 be there; if you were his friend, he was there
11 for you and, you know, he's the last person to
12 let you down or leave you, but you know, we're
13 all going to miss him, and what a loss it is
14 to this Senate, but what a loss it is to his
15 family and to his friends, and to them you
16 have my deepest sympathy, but what a legacy he
17 leaves you. I wish you well.
18 THE PRESIDENT: Thank you.
19 Senator LaValle.
20 SENATOR LAVALLE: Thank you,
21 Madam President.
22 I rise not only as a colleague
23 and a Long Island colleague, but we've talked
24 today about Mike's accomplishments and his
25 dedication in the area of health care and the
73
1 environment. I can tell you as chairman of
2 the Higher Education Committee, and Mike was a
3 member of that committee, he never missed a
4 committee meeting. He was there as probably
5 the first person seated at the table, and I'm
6 not always known for starting meetings on
7 time, but Mike would sit there and the staff
8 would come in and say, "Senator Tully is
9 getting a little antsy; I think you better
10 come out and start the meeting," and as soon
11 as I would walk in, just so I would get the
12 message he would always look at his watch, and
13 you know, after a while we began to start
14 meetings more on time, as best as Ken LaValle
15 could do.
16 But one of the things and we
17 talked -- we've talked so much here today
18 about what is the measure of a person, and
19 we've talked about dedication and style. No
20 one has actually used the word "loyalty". I
21 don't think there was -- is a more loyal
22 person than Mike Tully. If he was on your
23 side, he was at your side and he would not
24 leave your side.
25 I can tell you as chairman,
74
1 once in a while, as we all can relate to in a
2 committee meeting, sometimes things get
3 carried away and indeed you're not quite sure
4 what's going to happen to a bill. I would
5 look down the table and Mike always sat in the
6 same seat, and on cue, he would say something
7 to reinforce the fact that the bill that we
8 were discussing was very meritorious and he
9 reminded everyone that there were sufficient
10 votes for the bill to be reported.
11 So his contribution to his
12 concern for higher education and education
13 began at home with his own family. That was
14 very, very important to him. He certainly
15 carried that over, and was, as I have
16 indicated, a contributing member to the Higher
17 Education Committee. I think each chairman
18 would love to have one member who is there one
19 hundred percent of the time, in their seats,
20 helping and contributing.
21 And so we will miss a person
22 who really showed us what loyalty is all
23 about, of dedication and, as Senator Libous
24 said, a person of great style.
25 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
75
1 Thank you, Senator LaValle.
2 Senator Maltese.
3 SENATOR MALTESE: There is very
4 little I can add, but I do want to indicate
5 that when I first came, I had known Mike for
6 some years and he was as a mentor to me, but
7 also in his gentlemanly way, so deferential,
8 so conscious of sensitivity as far as whatever
9 the issue was in the course of our work
10 together and our friendship. I think it was
11 said before he had a certain grace, a certain
12 style that you don't see the like of too
13 often.
14 I think in all the years I knew
15 him, I never heard him speak ill of any
16 person, in politics or out of politics, and I
17 think that's the measure of a man, the measure
18 of a person, not only a measure of a
19 legislator.
20 I think there were boxers, I
21 believe they called "Gentleman Jim" or
22 "Gentleman Jim" Corbett or so on, and I think
23 an apt title for a Senator Tully, would be
24 "Gentleman" Mike Tully, a gentle Senator, a
25 gentleman, a good friend, sorely missed.
76
1 ACTRING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
2 Thank you, Senator Maltese.
3 Senator Maziarz.
4 SENATOR MAZIARZ: Thank you,
5 Mr. President.
6 I rise to join my colleagues in
7 praising the late Mike Tully. I didn't know
8 Mike very long; I only served here three
9 years, but I very distinctly remember I think
10 it was my second day here in this chamber and
11 I came in right in the middle of a session. I
12 was sitting outside in the next room, and Mike
13 came over and I was calling up for hotel rooms
14 trying to find a place to stay, and Mike sat
15 down and I think we talked about three hours
16 and Mike told me more about the Senate as an
17 institution and the individuals that were
18 here, in those three hours than I think I've
19 learned in the last three years.
20 He was an excellent mentor, as
21 was pointed out. He was extremely loyal, very
22 funny. He was really a proud member of this
23 body, somebody that all of us, as we go on in
24 our careers, can be proud to say that we knew
25 a guy like Mike Tully.
77
1 There was, however, one thing
2 about Mike that, quite frankly, I did not
3 like. Besides my mother, Mike is the only
4 person that ever called me "Georgie", and I
5 hate that, and I told him that I hated it and
6 he said, "Now that I know you hate it, I will
7 call you nothing else but that," so I'm sure
8 going to miss him. I'm not going to miss him
9 calling me "Georgie" but he was a great
10 person. His family and friends and his staff
11 should be extremely proud of the work that he
12 did here, and I know that I'm extremely proud
13 to have known him.
14 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
15 Thank you, Georgie -- Senator Maziarz.
16 Senator DeFrancisco.
17 SENATOR DeFRANCISCO: It's
18 certainly an honor to speak after Georgie, and
19 (laughter) -- but like you, I've been a seat
20 mate with Mike, and I'll never forget as long
21 as I'm around, that the day, last day of
22 session was a golf tournament that Senator
23 Bruno had, and I mentioned to Mike as we were
24 leaving, "I'll see you at the golf
25 tournament," and he said, "you know, I feel a
78
1 little tired today. I think I'll go back
2 home." Never did I, in my wildest
3 imagination, feel that that's was the last
4 time I would see him, and you wonder whether
5 that tiredness was a signal of a problem. But
6 he was an unbelievable individual, as everyone
7 has said, and I'm not going to repeat what
8 everyone said, but there were so many side
9 bars that went on during the course of a
10 session that I wish I could share with you but
11 he would never have wanted me to do that.
12 One I can share, and that is,
13 as Hugh mentioned about the slow brother, one
14 thing he did help Hugh with, only one thing he
15 helped Hugh with, and that was the crossword
16 puzzles. There was no way that had you could
17 get through a crossword puzzle without Mike's
18 help, and Mike is the only individual I know,
19 except maybe Senator Marchi, who every single
20 session day he was not only here but he was
21 here for virtually every minute of every
22 session unless there was another meeting that
23 he had to attend, and you can't say that about
24 too many people, and the one thing I will
25 remember that was the best advice he ever gave
79
1 me when my blood was starting to boil when
2 someone was saying something on the floor that
3 I wanted to jump up and respond to, "It will
4 pass and, please, I've got a golf match at
5 4:30. Hold on until the next time."
6 So Mike, we're all going to
7 miss you. I'm going to miss your advice and
8 the great guidance that you gave to me and
9 gave to the members of this Senate and we will
10 never forget you.
11 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
12 Thank you, Senator DeFrancisco.
13 Senator Velella.
14 SENATOR VELELLA: I really
15 hadn't intended to speak on this, but I guess
16 as we sat here -- all sit here and listen and
17 think about our favorite Mike Tully story, I
18 was thinking about something John just briefly
19 alluded to, and that is he probably would have
20 come over and said to me, Come on, I've got to
21 get somewhere. "You don't really have to
22 speak on this, do you? You can save it for
23 another day."
24 But I think Mike has probably
25 touched all of us in special ways, and the
80
1 reason why I did decide to rise was probably I
2 don't know anyone in this chamber who cared
3 more about the people he worked with. I
4 thought about Mike coming over to me, and as
5 most of you know, I was probably one of the
6 heaviest smokers in the chamber, and just
7 coming over to me constantly, reaching into my
8 shirt pocket and taking the cigarettes and
9 throwing them away on me, and I used to go
10 crazy, and he'd say to me, "Throw them right
11 in the garbage pail" and always insisted that
12 I had to give up smoking and finally, when I
13 did in June, he was probably one of the
14 happiest guys. Kept giving me that reinforce
15 ment.
16 But I think one of the most
17 important things was that I thought about my
18 last conversation with Mike Tully and that was
19 probably outside the chamber here as we were
20 leaving a long session, a tough night, and
21 Mike Tully was thinking about all the guys and
22 gals in this chamber, and he said, "We've
23 really got to sit with Joe when we get back in
24 January," which would have been now, "and talk
25 about ending these late night sessions because
81
1 we've got a long, long way and certainly we've
2 reformed what we used to do, but," he said,
3 "there's a lot of guys in the chamber that
4 aren't in as great shape as I am; they aren't
5 as young as I am; they aren't as strong as I
6 am. They don't take such great care of
7 themselves. We got to worry about them
8 because this is really a strain on them," and
9 when I got that call, most of us when we got
10 that call and heard that somebody from the
11 chamber had passed away, one of our
12 colleagues, we probably could have given you a
13 list of 60 Senators in that order and 61 would
14 have been Mike, because he was just strong.
15 He was there, he took care of himself. He was
16 probably a mother hen to some of us, trying to
17 monitor our own health.
18 So we're all going to miss him,
19 not only for the great job he did as a
20 Senator, for the personal commitment he had to
21 all of us but just for the love he had for all
22 of us, and we have for him.
23 THE PRESIDENT: Thank you,
24 Senator Velella.
25 Senator Cook.
82
1 SENATOR COOK: Mr. President, I
2 didn't want the occasion to go by without
3 expressing a thank you to Mike. I said it to
4 him many times but I think it ought to be on
5 the record. He was certainly a good personal
6 friend, somebody we always felt at ease with.
7 He was a great intellect, had deep
8 understanding of things that you talked with
9 him about. He grasped the issues. He knew
10 the issue. He knew the real story, what was
11 going on and what you were talking about.
12 But one of the things that I
13 really appreciated about him was that he was
14 not to be, to use the vernacular, he was not a
15 "pig". He did not insist that Mike Tully
16 always had to get credit for everything that
17 happened. You didn't -- if you wanted to work
18 with Mike on something, his staff, many of
19 whom are here, would join with us at Mike's
20 instruction and help to do things, and he was
21 chairman of the Health Committee, a budget
22 subcommittee. When he was chairman of the
23 Health Committee, as you know, I was dealing
24 with rural health issues and Mike was from
25 Long Island, where he didn't need to care much
83
1 about rural health, but he would always sit
2 and say, "Charlie, we want to do what you've
3 got to do for your people," and he was not
4 saying, you know, it's got to be a Mike Tully
5 bill; and the great thing that I really
6 appreciated about him was that, when it came
7 time for that bill to come to the floor or the
8 budget to come to the floor, he'd come over to
9 me and he'd say, "Charlie, is this going to be
10 all right?" Now, sometimes it wasn't what we
11 wanted to have done, but you knew that Mike
12 had gone as far as he could go, you knew that
13 the situation, whatever it was, was being
14 resolved with his help, and the fact that he
15 was that kind of an individual who wove
16 himself throughout this entire chamber and
17 gave strength to everything that everybody
18 else was trying to do made him a very, very
19 special person.
20 So not only are we remembering
21 a great friend and a great intellect, but
22 we're remembering a guy who invested himself
23 in us, and that we are a part of his life as
24 he is a part of ours.
25 Thank you.
84
1 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
2 Thank you, Senator Cook.
3 Senator Marchi.
4 SENATOR MARCHI: Mr. President,
5 it's difficult to put into words what so many
6 of my colleagues have done so well. What
7 moves me is the sincerity with which it was
8 stated, and the resonance it must have found
9 in every individual that's in this chamber, as
10 it is expressed.
11 I've been here 43 years, my
12 43rd year, and I've had literally hundreds and
13 hundreds of companions, but I remember each
14 and every one of them as having made a special
15 impact and it completes that mosaic which is a
16 rich heritage, as some of my colleagues have
17 stated here on the floor.
18 I remember last July I was in
19 the hospital for a good part of a month, and
20 he sent me several "get well" cards and some
21 humorous asides, and when I saw him, he was
22 ever that constructive collegial, warm friend,
23 and almost infallible mentor on almost any
24 subject matter, his devotion was that large.
25 Many of us went to his funeral
85
1 and I think that anyone who went in the
2 outpouring, human outpouring, that he elicited
3 the same rich wealth of expressions and
4 gratitude. These, I'm talking about his
5 constituents who perhaps just saw him
6 occasionally but didn't have the benefit that
7 we did of continuous contact, and the warmth
8 which he expressed certainly tells us a lot
9 about him and his fine family which I met then
10 and now we've all been better served.
11 I -- there is a deep
12 interaction that takes place, believe you me.
13 Everyone in this chamber makes an impact;
14 everyone contributes to that mosaic which is
15 the hallmark of our heritage. We must
16 acknowledge the fact that there is an
17 institutional reaction and an institutional
18 response which enhances every aspect of our
19 own living.
20 So I join my colleagues in
21 expressing my deep sympathy again, but we
22 spoke of a celebration. In my religion, a
23 Saints' Day is celebrated on the day that they
24 entered into eternal life, and that's what
25 Mike did. He's in eternal life, speaking well
86
1 and taking it all in. I think as many of you
2 have expressed on the floor, that which bound
3 us together in the unforgettable heritage
4 which he left us at each and every contact
5 that we had with him.
6 So it's a joyful celebration in
7 this sense, and it's the only one that really
8 wears well and stays with you when everything
9 else fades into insignificance, that rich
10 cameraderie that existed with us, in addition
11 to the very fine legislative qualities that he
12 expressed. So I join with them and I feel
13 very deeply that he's observing it well, and
14 that should be a vast compensating factor with
15 the members of his family and those who knew
16 him so well.
17 Thank you, Mr. President.
18 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
19 Thank you, Senator Marchi.
20 Senator Mendez.
21 SENATOR MENDEZ: Mr. President,
22 I also want to join in support of this
23 resolution. I want to express my sympathy to
24 the family of Senator Mike Tully.
25 As I was listening to my
87
1 colleagues here, I thought that the -- that
2 the individual testimony of each of the
3 persons here do show the collective admiration
4 that Senator Tully had from -- had received
5 from all of his colleagues.
6 We know that he was very
7 bright, very intelligent, that he had a very
8 clear analytical mind and that showed itself
9 in the productive work that he had here, and
10 the thing that I remember most of him was his
11 endearing personality, his sense of humor, and
12 he used to haunt me and not in front of
13 everybody, haunting me to be requesting for me
14 to stop smoking, and I used to always say to
15 him, One of these days, not yet, but one of
16 these days.
17 So we are all going to miss
18 him. It was really an experience serving with
19 him, and again I agree, I think that he
20 probably will shoot up straight to heaven
21 without taking his shoes off because he did so
22 much good work on behalf of so many people
23 while he served here in this chamber as well
24 as in his district and throughout the state.
25 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
88
1 Thank you, Senator.
2 Senator Smith.
3 SENATOR SMITH: Thank you, Mr.
4 President.
5 I, too, rise to speak, Mr.
6 President. Mike Tully gave dignity to the
7 title "Senator". Mike was always there, not
8 only for the members of his party but for
9 those of us on this side of the aisle.
10 I remember fondly being on the
11 Health Committee, and when there were
12 contentious issues, issues that didn't benefit
13 one side or the other, and he knew that it was
14 not going to be favorable for any of us,
15 especially in the press, he would call all of
16 us together and we would discuss it, and
17 jointly we would make a decision even though
18 Mike had made the decision long before he
19 called us together, but he believed that if we
20 were a part of the decision-making that we
21 would be outspoken especially after the
22 decision had been made that was favorable to
23 all of us.
24 Mike will be missed because he
25 had that wonderful smile and that wonderful
89
1 way of making everyone feel that they were
2 important. He congratulated me, I don't know
3 how many times, when I stopped smoking because
4 he, too, bothered me. It took him three years
5 but he managed to get me to do it, and I'm
6 proud of being able to not pick up a cigarette
7 and I'm proud to have had Mike Tully as a
8 friend. He will be sorely missed.
9 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
10 Thank you, Senator Smith.
11 Senator Larkin.
12 SENATOR LARKIN: You know,
13 we've heard great stories by the orator,
14 Senator Goodman, and nobody could really
15 follow Roy in what he was saying. He just had
16 everything to say about Mike that most of us
17 remember about him.
18 My first introduction to Mike
19 Tully was when I came here in January '91 from
20 the lower house and that was the time of
21 Desert Storm. The first week we were here in
22 session the bombings were going on day and
23 night. Mike Tully called me and he said, "Can
24 I talk to you for a few minutes?" I said,
25 "Yes," and he said, "You know, I used to be
90
1 chairman of the Veterans Committee. This is a
2 very trying time for young men and women going
3 to be called up, many of them are from here in
4 New York. They're being called up every day,
5 being sent overseas, and I'm worried about
6 their families. How many will have
7 insurance?"
8 My good colleague, Senator
9 Velella, he called Senator Velella, and he
10 said, "You know, I think you and I ought to
11 sit down with Larkin, and we ought to talk
12 about the veterans and what we're going to do
13 to help them and help their families." There
14 were families here of veterans called to
15 active duty who had no insurance whatsoever,
16 and I'm sure Senator Velella remembers the
17 time and effort we spent together because we
18 weren't gettin' the cooperation from the
19 second floor at that time that we needed, and
20 Mike said, "Well, I know somebody here and I
21 know somebody here and Guy knows somebody
22 here," and his whole concern was for this
23 young soldier who is going to be called to
24 active duty, sent overseas and his family
25 would be left with no protection, and some
91
1 people were saying, "Well, you know, he's a
2 member of the armed forces, they'll take care
3 of him." Yeah, but he lives in Randy Kuhl's
4 district in Elmira, and Drum is hours away.
5 What do they do in an emergency? Some of the
6 places that they worked for had no insurance.
7 Once they got called to active duty in harm's
8 way they lost all of their insurance.
9 A lot of people don't remember
10 that. Guy, I'm sure you remember giving us
11 the help that you gave us, and a lot of
12 others, and that was a mark for Mike Tully.
13 He could have stepped aside and said, It's
14 Billy Larkin's problem. He's chairman of the
15 Veterans Committee, but he gave so much time
16 and effort to it. When that bill was signed
17 into law, no insurance company today can ever
18 cancel an individual who's called to active
19 duty. How about the life and comfort that he
20 gave, somebody going to be called, and those
21 of you who have ever served in the armed
22 forces and have loved ones at home, you know
23 what it was that you were worried about. Were
24 they protected? What about their health?
25 What about their well-being? What about their
92
1 jobs when they come back?
2 That was striking to Mike
3 because, as a lot of you know, he used to
4 needle me all the time about being the
5 Colonel. I always thought in my my mind, here
6 was an individual who'd served a short span of
7 time in the military, been chairman of the
8 Veterans Committee, but, you know, when a
9 crisis came up, here was a man who remembered
10 others and he always wanted to make sure and
11 I'm sure that in those few days that we were
12 at it, the few weeks we were at it, Senator
13 Velella probably wished I was still in the
14 Assembly because I wouldn't give up, and Mike
15 Tully was insistent how the language should
16 read and I can remember Al spending time, and
17 Frank and Jimmy, and it was very, very
18 important, and all the other things that he
19 did, I guess one of the other things that I
20 found so important, when I finally convinced
21 him to come to West Point and find out what
22 the real world was like instead of Nassau and
23 Long Island. When he came to West Point, he
24 said, "That's it."
25 Thank you.
93
1 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
2 Thank you, Senator Larkin.
3 Senator Seward.
4 SENATOR SEWARD: Thank you, Mr.
5 President. So much has been said about Mike
6 Tully this afternoon, and very appropriately
7 so, that I would be remiss if I did not stand
8 to add my words of tribute to a colleague and
9 good friend. I considered it an honor and a
10 pleasure to sit here in the front row a couple
11 of seats from Mike during my years here in the
12 Senate and across from Mike at the table in
13 the conference room, and I will never forget
14 that very empty feeling, that sense of loss
15 that I felt when I got that terrible telephone
16 call last August in the morning, that Mike had
17 been taken from us.
18 At a time like this, we can
19 cling to not only Mike's memory but also to
20 his legacy. The people of this state
21 particularly his district, but people in every
22 corner of this state are better off from the
23 service that Mike has rendered these last
24 number of years. Whether it be health care,
25 education, the list goes on and on. The people
94
1 of this state are better off because of the
2 years that Mike Tully spent in public service
3 and for those of us who are involved in public
4 service, I can only say that, without question
5 he represented the very best of what it means
6 to be a public servant.
7 First of all, he was
8 intelligent, a man of great intellect. He was
9 hard working, conscientious. He had an
10 uncanny sense of knowing exactly what was
11 going on in this place at all times. He was a
12 man of substance. He dealt with the tough
13 issues, the substantive issues. Mike was
14 there, and he was on top of them. He was a
15 man of principle, and he looked out for the
16 best interests of his colleagues in this
17 chamber and all of his constituents.
18 He was a man of class and one
19 that I will never ever forget; but most of all
20 he was a man that cared very deeply about his
21 family and his loved ones, and to those who
22 are with us today, I can only say that I add
23 my words of sympathy and to say that I'm very
24 proud to call Mike Tully a friend and a
25 colleague.
95
1 Thank you, Mr. President.
2 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
3 Thank you, Senator Seward.
4 Senator Paterson.
5 SENATOR PATERSON: Thank you,
6 Mr. President.
7 Earlier when acting as a
8 Senator, you referred to our prospect of
9 professionalism and duty, in spite of which
10 side of the aisle that we might sit on, and
11 that's a concept that we probably all
12 understand, but I think could not have been
13 made more clear to me than when I was here
14 about four years, and it was a spring day in
15 May, 1990 and there was a huge rally right
16 outside the Capitol given by one of the
17 hostile workers unions, and there were a
18 number of health care activists getting up and
19 speaking, and the speeches became at times
20 more and more shrill, and all of a sudden they
21 said, now we want to interrupt -- want to
22 introduce one of our best friends in state
23 government, Senator Mike Tully, and Senator
24 Tully got up to rather thunderous applause and
25 made a speech that really seemed to impress
96
1 all the union delegates and what seemed to be
2 10- to 15,000 people, and in speaking to some
3 of the union leadership, I said to them, "I
4 didn't know you had that kind of relationship
5 with Senator Tully," and they said to me that
6 every time there had been an issue in which
7 they'd wanted to talk to someone that he had
8 made himself available and had fought on their
9 behalf and had always given them counsel even
10 if he didn't agree with what the issue may
11 have been.
12 At that time, I think I really
13 understood the need for the types of
14 relationships that we have in this chamber and
15 so I thought that since he was the one who, in
16 a sense, educated me, I went and told him
17 about that particular incident and always
18 found him to be quite gracious and quite
19 helpful to me.
20 I showed up at The Shipyard one
21 night to be part of a dinner party that did
22 not include Senator Tully but, as he was
23 organizing his own dinner party, he ushered me
24 to my table and gave me a few words of wisdom
25 and seemed to be very much in charge, as I
97
1 learned from some of the very interesting
2 stories about him telling Senator Spano when
3 to take his coat off and Senator Libous to put
4 his jacket on, and the way that he seemed to
5 have great authority in this chamber.
6 I will really remember him as a
7 colleague that had a rare combination of
8 skills that he dedicated to a number of tasks
9 and had a tremendous amount of energy and will
10 always remember him as someone who was always
11 accessible and always quite affable, and so as
12 we tribute him today, as we pay tribute to him
13 we're really speaking for all of those from
14 his district and all of those who met him over
15 the years who would like to lend their voices
16 to ours if they had had the opportunity,
17 whether they had been associates, colleagues
18 or friends.
19 Thank you, Mr. President.
20 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
21 Thank you, Senator Paterson.
22 Senator Kuhl.
23 SENATOR KUHL: Thank you, Mr.
24 President.
25 I think it's just a marvelous
98
1 tribute to Mike Tully that the people who have
2 spoken today have done so, so eloquently and
3 certainly at such length. I think, regardless
4 of the time that we spend here in the chamber
5 it still wouldn't be enough in a tribute to
6 Mike Tully.
7 He's obviously touched all of
8 us but in a uniquely different way but in a
9 way I think it's tremendously positive. I
10 consider Mike Tully a friend for a number of
11 reasons. We had an affinity, I think, for the
12 same sport, golf, and we had many occasions to
13 battle it out, so to speak, on golf courses in
14 this area, and one of the great pleasures that
15 I had was watching Mike tackle Augusta
16 National Golf Course, the pinnacle of a
17 golfer's idea of what the world of golf is and
18 what it can be and certainly what there is to
19 be.
20 But Mike Tully also, I think,
21 as much as he was a leader acknowledged that
22 there -- other people did have concerns at
23 times and did have a specific interest in a
24 topic, and it takes me back to when we were
25 thinking about Mike Tully and the stories that
99
1 all of us have to one time years ago when Mike
2 was chairman of the Health Committee, an issue
3 that was very, very much of concern to myself
4 and Senator, then, John McHugh, and other
5 upstate representatives and it dealt with new
6 kinds of restrictions on summer camps for
7 children, and the issue of whether or not
8 there were going to be requirements for all of
9 the toilet operations in the state and the
10 toilet seats changed from circular to one
11 having vents arose, and Mike was very quick to
12 find out that he didn't have the support of
13 the majority in his committee, and the bill
14 stopped dead right there.
15 Well, after that Mike made a
16 very personal attempt and attachment to all of
17 us to inquire as to whether or not we had any
18 objection to the bills that were going to be
19 coming from his Health Committee thereafter.
20 So there certainly was a recognition that even
21 though he had this grandiose view and perhaps
22 how to better the world and which he did,
23 particularly our residents in New York, he
24 certainly was willing to accept other ideas.
25 As many of you may know and it
100
1 was mentioned here today, Mike was really the
2 predominant force behind the adoption of the
3 pesticide registry in New York. The initial
4 proposal really was viewed as a tremendous, if
5 it had been adopted as presented, a tremendous
6 detriment to the agricultural industry, and so
7 being a representative of that industry in
8 this state for the last couple years as far as
9 the Senate goes, that threw the two of us to
10 potentially a tremendously argumentative
11 position. Neither of us viewed it as that and
12 certainly after three years, I think it was,
13 of consultation and trying to work the
14 situation out, Mike was successful in his
15 effort and we were successful in ours and so
16 that that issue has been resolved, I think to
17 the betterment of everybody the pesticides.
18 Mike, as far as I'm concerned,
19 will be missed every day. I can't tell you
20 that since his loss in August, I don't
21 remember anybody's loss that I have had
22 reflections on on a daily basis and I think
23 that goes back to perhaps our last supper here
24 in Albany. Billy Larkin and I were very
25 fortunate to have that last supper in Albany
101
1 before Mike's demise with him, and I recall
2 it, as you may all recall the end of our
3 session this last year, and Mike came up as he
4 usually does when I was presiding, and said
5 "Well, what are you going to be doing for
6 dinner," and I said, "Well, I don't really
7 have any plans," and he said, "Why don't you
8 and I and the Colonel just find some place
9 where we can go and have dinner" in the maybe
10 hour and a half that we had, and we did. We
11 went to one of his favorite spots, The
12 Shipyard, and we had a really delightful
13 dinner and Mike was typically at his best. He
14 was light, happy, witty, cheerful, and we
15 didn't talk about anything really serious, and
16 when it came time for us to leave, we said,
17 "O.K., now, let's split this bill up." Mike
18 says, "No, no, no, no, no," and we were
19 insistent that we split it up, but Mike was
20 more persistent than Bill and I were and he
21 said, "Look, I'll get this one. You get the
22 next one." Mike, I'm waiting to get the next
23 one.
24 Thank you.
25 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
102
1 Thank you, Senator Kuhl.
2 Senator Lachman.
3 SENATOR LACHMAN: Mr.
4 President, I would also like to rise and very
5 briefly add my words to what so eloquently has
6 been said by so many others.
7 Since I entered this chamber
8 the same day that Senator Alesi did, I too
9 regret that I did not have the good fortune of
10 spending more time with our good friend whom
11 we miss so much. I never had the pleasure of
12 either playing golf or having dinner with
13 Senator Tully, but at the same time, I
14 appreciated two things about him.
15 Since I have family and friends
16 who lived and still live in his district, I
17 knew of his major concerns for the health and
18 well-being of the people of this state, his
19 non-partisan concerns for the health of every
20 one, and that was very important to me, and it
21 was an incident that occurred in the lounge
22 just two or three days before the end of
23 session when we were all exhausted, our nerves
24 were frayed, and Senator Tully came over to me
25 and in a most humane and personal manner,
103
1 expressed his concern about two of our
2 colleagues who that week were taken ill -
3 Senator Marchi, who was better, and with great
4 pleasure, we see him now in the Senate, or on
5 the Senate floor, and Senator Levy, who we
6 hope will be restored to complete health and
7 will be seen in the near future, and I said to
8 myself, here is a man of concern, of great
9 heart, of great principle, and I remember that
10 to this very day.
11 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
12 Thank you, Senator Lachman.
13 Senator Leichter.
14 SENATOR LEICHTER: Mr.
15 President, there's no question that Mike Tully
16 was a superb legislator, but I think it's
17 interesting and very telling that most of the
18 comments that you've heard this afternoon have
19 really been about Mike Tully, the person,
20 because I think it says how much he touched us
21 as individuals and aside from the clamor of
22 battle here and all the political discord, and
23 so on, we're human beings working at a job and
24 really nobody did it more as a human being
25 than Mike Tully.
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1 If I thought one word to
2 describe Mike Tully, it would be "gracious".
3 In all these years we served together I never
4 knew him to be angry, to be mean, to be nasty,
5 to be short-tempered. He was always a
6 gentleman. He was always a pleasure to work
7 with. He was always patient. He would always
8 speak to you; he would always show real
9 concern for his colleagues. He was very
10 definitely so much a part of the fabric of
11 this house, and in the very best sense.
12 He was particularly kind to me.
13 He'd sometimes make a little comment about,
14 Franz, don't keep us here so late, and so on,
15 but there was never any nastiness about it.
16 There was friendliness. I think he understood
17 what his other colleagues did, he accepted
18 them. He was a fine person, and it's very hard
19 to think as you look across the aisle and not
20 see him there. He'd always come to chambers,
21 always had a lot of papers with him, always
22 working. He was very conscientious, always in
23 his seat, knew what was going on. He always -
24 if you wanted to know what was happening, you
25 could always check with Mike Tully, and he
105
1 would know what was going on, and to think
2 that he's no longer here with us is really
3 very, very hard.
4 Sometimes we only really
5 appreciate how much people mean to us when
6 they're no longer with us, and that's
7 certainly the case with Mike Tully. It was a
8 terrible shock shortly after we left session
9 to hear what had happened to Mike. I remember
10 we were talking 5:00, 6:00 a.m., in the
11 morning. He had even said he was going to
12 drive back, and I said, Well, please be
13 careful. He said, Well, I've got a driver,
14 and when I heard what had happened, as I said,
15 it was with unbelief.
16 But we were fortunate to have
17 had Mike Tully amongst us, and we're all the
18 better for it, and certainly the people of
19 this state of New York are better for it,
20 because as I started off he was a superb
21 legislator. He was conscientious, hard
22 working, caring, compassionate. He came here
23 to do a job for the people of the state of New
24 York. He did a wonderful job, and he left all
25 of us with fond memories and the knowledge and
106
1 the understanding that you can be political
2 opponents, but we can be involved as
3 colleagues in a greater cause.
4 Thank you.
5 THE PRESIDENT: Thank you,
6 Senator Leichter.
7 Senator Meier.
8 SENATOR MEIER: Yes, Mr.
9 President.
10 When you come here as a new
11 member as I did last year, you quickly learn
12 two things about this Senate, and that is that
13 seniority is important here and collegiality
14 is important here, and when you're new you
15 find a lot of occasions where you find out
16 just how important seniority is and you even
17 bump into a few people who are more than
18 willing to teach you how important seniority
19 is.
20 Shortly after I came here,
21 Senator Tully had an environmental bill that
22 raised some concerns among some folks in the
23 logging industry in my district, and I've only
24 been to Nassau County a few times but I don't
25 believe there's a lot of people there who make
107
1 their living cutting down trees and turning it
2 into lumber, but shortly after I had a
3 conversation with Mike Tully about the
4 concerns in my district about that bill, I was
5 visited by his counsel, and I was told by that
6 staff member that Senator Tully had given
7 instructions that they were to work with me
8 until my constituents were satisfied with the
9 bill.
10 Mike Tully, although he was
11 vastly senior to me in experience and in
12 service in this body, was interested in me as
13 a colleague, and I learned that day what
14 collegiality means in the Senate -- respect
15 for a colleague and an understanding that we
16 are all here to serve all the people of the
17 state of New York, through offering that
18 respect to our fellow Senators.
19 I was privileged to receive
20 that part of my indoctrination and my
21 instruction as a new Senator from a fine
22 gentleman, Senator Michael Tully, and although
23 I was not privileged to serve with him for
24 long, I was privileged to watch someone who
25 embodied the best traditions of this Senate in
108
1 public service itself.
2 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
3 Thank you, Senator Meier.
4 Senator Balboni.
5 SENATOR BALBONI: Mr.
6 President, my colleagues. It is indeed
7 fitting that the first time that I rise to
8 speak on the floor of this historic chamber is
9 to support a resolution for my predecessor,
10 Mike Tully.
11 Mike Tully and I shared a
12 couple of common characteristics: We both
13 hated speaking at memorials. I am ill at ease
14 and Mike Tully just thought there was much
15 better to focus on in life, so that's what I
16 will do. I will leave you with one story.
17 We so often don't view
18 ourselves as others do and in this age of
19 cynicism revolving around politics, it's so
20 difficult to judge, particularly how other
21 people in our community judge us. I was
22 walking through Franklin Square, and I was
23 knocking on doors, some of the same doors that
24 Mike Tully knocked on for years, and I
25 happened to meet a little old Italian lady,
109
1 and I said, "Hi! I'm Mike Balboni; I'm
2 campaigning for the Senate. You know, Mike
3 Tully passed away." She said, "Excuse me." I
4 said, "Mike Tully passed away," and she says,
5 "Oh, my God," and she stepped back and she
6 started to cry, and I said, "Are you a
7 relative of the Senator?" And she said, "No,
8 but I loved him."
9 Where do you get that kind of
10 love from? What kind of business do we have to
11 enter into where we have somebody with no
12 other connection than someone who represents
13 us, that cares for what we do. Mike Tully was
14 that kind of man and it will be very difficult
15 ever to match his accomplishments, though I
16 will try my hardest.
17 Permit me, if I may, to leave
18 you with one last instruction from your
19 colleague, Michael Tully, in the words that he
20 loved and guided him: God grant me the
21 serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
22 the courage to change the things I can, and
23 the wisdom to know the difference.
24 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
25 Thank you, Senator Balboni.
110
1 The question is on the
2 resolution. I'm sorry. Senator Montgomery.
3 SENATOR MONTGOMERY: Thank you,
4 Mr. President.
5 I rise to support the
6 resolution and to just say to my colleagues
7 and family members and friends of Senator Mike
8 Tully, that there were two colleagues of mine
9 on the Republican side who -- who have been
10 people that have been closer than the average
11 Republican, if you can understand this, and
12 one of them was Gene Levy, to whom I felt a
13 particular sense of closeness as a person to
14 person, and the other one was Senator Tully,
15 and I believe that part of it is because they
16 didn't take themselves so seriously as a
17 Republican so they could feel very comfortable
18 talking to me as a Democrat from another part
19 of the world from theirs, and I appreciated
20 that and respected it.
21 I was fortunate to be once in
22 Senator Tully's district. There was a meeting
23 with some women who were part of the nursing
24 association who invited me, and when I walked
25 into the room, Senator Tully was there,
111
1 surrounded by some of the people who were
2 there. He -- there was a great smile that
3 came across his face. He was very happy to
4 see me. We did a photo session briefly and he
5 said, Now that you're here, I can leave, and
6 he left but from that, I have a wonderful
7 photo which I will treasure for the rest of my
8 life here.
9 Senator Tully became chair if
10 the Health Committee. I thought that
11 everything would stop, all work would just
12 absolutely disintegrate when Senator Lombardi
13 left, but lo and behold, the Senator who took
14 his place became an extremely effective
15 advocate especially around women's health, and
16 I appreciate the fact that, even though I was
17 badgering and pleading and begging and working
18 for the expansion of school-based health, I
19 even stole Senator Tully's bill and did a
20 hostile amendment to see if we could try and
21 get it passed that way to have a school-based
22 health standard. We did not, but he never
23 took it as a hostile affront; he accepted it
24 for what it was, and that was my genuine
25 interest and making it move and, therefore,
112
1 was never angered by the fact that I was so
2 persistent and aggressive about it.
3 So I appreciated him as a
4 colleague, as a person who was extremely
5 approachable and who did not make the line of
6 distinction between Republican and Democrat
7 large R and large D, but rather was really a
8 statesman and could accept controversy for the
9 fact that people really cared about issues
10 though they may have been on different sides.
11 I certainly will miss him. He had a wonderful
12 personal smile and warmth about him that I
13 truly appreciated, and I certainly think that
14 today we are doing him an honor by saying how
15 much he has contributed to the body here.
16 Thank you.
17 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
18 Thank you, Senator Montgomery.
19 Senator Onorato.
20 SENATOR ONORATO: Mr.
21 President, I rise to join my colleagues in
22 paying tribute to Mike Tully, one of my
23 dearest friends in this chamber.
24 All of the things that have
25 been said previously are certainly true. I
113
1 would really be remiss if I didn't just get up
2 to add my words of my knowledge of or with
3 Mike Tully.
4 I knew Mike when he was a
5 member of North Hempstead. I played golf with
6 him there on several occasions. He knew that I
7 was considering joining this club. He was
8 going to sponsor me, and I came out there on
9 an occasion and I had jeans on. He said,
10 "Georgie, you can't come in here with those
11 on." I said, "What do you mean I can't come
12 in?" I said, "These are Calvin Kleins." He
13 said, "I don't care who they are, you can't
14 come in here with jeans. Go out and change."
15 So I went out and changed into my golf clothes
16 to get into the clubhouse.
17 And then on the other occasion,
18 there, I think it was very recently, he came
19 in and he said, "Georgie, I got something I
20 got to show you." So I went over; I said,
21 "What is it?" He said, "Look at this." "What
22 is it?" He says, "It's the titanium Taylor
23 bubble, it's terrific." He says, "I'm getting
24 an extra 20 yards out of it." He said, "I
25 played with it yesterday with my pro, and I
114
1 shot a 72 with it, so I'm getting it." He
2 says, "Maybe you ought to get one, it'll do
3 you terrific." He says, "Matter of fact,
4 tomorrow, if you can get ahold of Franz
5 Leichter and quiet him down a little bit, I'll
6 give you an opportunity to try it out." Well,
7 as luck would have it, I got ahold of Franz
8 Leichter and quieted him down, but I forgot
9 about Rick Dollinger, and that was the end of
10 the session, so we got out a little too late,
11 and I never got a chance to try that titanium
12 bubble.
13 But all of my memories of Mike
14 Tully are all very, very fond and loving and I
15 extend my heartfelt sympathy to the family and
16 wish them all the best that life can offer in
17 the future.
18 Thank you.
19 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
20 Senator Onorato, if you can do that for
21 Senator Dollinger and Senator Leichter, this
22 session I'll let you use my Taylor bubble.
23 Senator Rath.
24 SENATOR RATH: So much has been
25 said, and I thought what could I possibly add
115
1 to what those of you who knew Mike so much
2 better except, of course, to extend my
3 sympathy to Mike's family and friends, but
4 also maybe on a rather lilting note, come near
5 the end of these remarks today with the Irish
6 blessing, that the road would rise up to meet
7 you, and that may the wind be always at your
8 back, and the rain fall soft upon your field,
9 and, Michael, until we meet you again, may God
10 hold you in the palm of his hand.
11 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
12 Thank you, Senator.
13 Senator Oppenheimer.
14 SENATOR OPPENHEIMER: Well,
15 this has just been a magnificent tribute to
16 Mike, and I know he is listening in on this
17 and grinning, a lot of warmth and good feeling
18 because that's what he gave to all of us. He
19 had time for all of us, he cared about all of
20 us. He made us feel warm and welcome and he
21 did, as was mentioned by my colleagues, feel
22 very comfortable crossing party lines and
23 dealing with the issues which were important
24 to him and to us, and, of course, my issues
25 being the environment and women's health, it
116
1 was an arena that we could share together and
2 he was so knowledgeable and I just think that
3 he was -- maybe I shouldn't say that this way,
4 but he was just very beautiful. He was
5 beautiful in his appearance and he always
6 looked so elegant, and he was so charming and
7 yet he was so knowledgeable and so genuine and
8 so reaching out, so it's just an incredible
9 loss to all of us and I think that's what
10 you're hearing here today.
11 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
12 The question is on the resolution. All in
13 favor signify by saying aye.
14 (Response of "Aye.")
15 Opposed nay.
16 (There was no response.)
17 The resolution is passed.
18 On behalf of my colleagues, to
19 the family and friends of Senator Tully, we
20 wish you Godspeed and now you've got a sense
21 of what your loved one meant to everyone in
22 this chamber. Certainly was a fine gentleman
23 and beloved by all.
24 Thank you very much.
25 Senator Bruno.
117
1 SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President,
2 I believe there are a number of committee
3 assignments and changes that have been
4 designated that are at the desk. I would ask
5 that they be filed there at the desk and acted
6 on accordingly.
7 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
8 They are at the desk, Senator, and they will
9 be filed in the Journal.
10 Senator Bruno, again. Senator
11 Bruno.
12 SENATOR BRUNO: Mr. President,
13 we have a bill that's being drafted now. I had
14 expected it would be here by now, but we're
15 expecting it momentarily and I believe that we
16 have agreement here in this house and in the
17 Assembly, and it changes the date for
18 qualification as it relates to the STAR
19 program for senior citizens to qualify for
20 homestead exemption.
21 The Assembly is not in session
22 tomorrow. We are trying to pass the bill
23 tonight in both houses. If it appears that it
24 will be within these next few minutes, I would
25 request that we stand in recess and not get
118
1 too far away or at ease. If it appears that
2 it's going to be an extended period anything
3 past 15 or 20 minutes, then I would suggest
4 that we take it up tomorrow.
5 We have instant action in this
6 chamber, probably in honor of Senator Tully,
7 that we don't have to hang around. We're
8 going to ask for an immediate meeting of Rules
9 in Room 332.
10 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
11 There will be an immediate meeting of Rules in
12 Room 332, and the Senate will stand at ease
13 until the committee comes back.
14 (The Senate stood at ease from
15 4:53 until 4:57 p.m.)
16 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
17 Senator Skelos.
18 SENATOR SKELOS: If we could
19 return to reports of standing committees. I
20 believe there is a report of the Rules
21 Committee at the desk. I ask that it be
22 read.
23 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
24 Secretary will read a report of a standing
25 committee.
119
1 THE SECRETARY: Senator Bruno,
2 from the Committee on Rules, reports the
3 following bill direct to third reading:
4 Senate Print 5998, by Senator
5 Bruno, an act to extend the period for filing
6 applications.
7 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President,
8 I move to accept the report of the Rules
9 Committee.
10 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
11 All in favor of accepting the report of the
12 Rules Committee signify by saying aye.
13 (Response of "Aye.")
14 Opposed nay.
15 (There was no response. )
16 The report is accepted.
17 Senator Skelos.
18 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President,
19 at this time if we could take up Senate 5998.
20 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
21 Secretary will read.
22 THE SECRETARY: Calendar Number
23 37, by Senator Bruno, Senate Number 5998, an
24 act to extend the period for filing
25 applications for the school tax relief
120
1 exemption.
2 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
3 Senator Skelos.
4 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President,
5 is there a message of necessity at the desk?
6 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
7 Yes, Senator Skelos, there is.
8 SENATOR SKELOS: Move to
9 accept.
10 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
11 All in favor of accepting the message of
12 necessity signify by saying aye.
13 (Response of "Aye.").
14 Opposed nay.
15 (There was no response.)
16 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
17 The message is accepted.
18 SENATOR SKELOS: Read the last
19 section, please.
20 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
21 Please read the last section.
22 THE SECRETARY: Section 4.
23 This act shall take effect immediately.
24 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
25 Call the roll.
121
1 (The Secretary called the
2 roll. )
3 THE SECRETARY: Ayes 56.
4 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
5 The bill is passed.
6 Senator Skelos.
7 SENATOR SKELOS: Is there any
8 housekeeping at the desk?
9 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
10 There is no housekeeping, sir.
11 SENATOR SKELOS: Mr. President,
12 in the name and in memory of Senator Michael
13 J. Tully, there being no further business, I
14 move we adjourn until Tuesday, January 13th,
15 at 3:00 p.m.
16 ACTING PRESIDENT MARCELLINO:
17 On motion, the Senate stands adjourned in the
18 name and memory of our honored colleague,
19 Senator Michael J. Tully, until June -- until
20 Thursday, January 13th, at 3:00 p.m. The
21 Senate stands adjourned.
22 (Whereupon at adjourned at 5:06
23 p.m., the Senate adjourned.)
24
25