Many in the Arena

After decades of commuting to Albany, Senator Vincent Leibell has announced his intention to become Putnam’s next County Executive. He leaves the state capital as it descends to a nadir of dysfunction and debt, hoping to maintain Putnam County’s relative strength and political health.

Leibell has been praised as one of New York’s hardest working legislators, and criticized as a formidable political operator. “I’m the most boring man in Albany,” said Leibell, recalling a moniker given to him by a former colleague. “I work my legislation and come home at night.”

If Leibell lacks pizzazz, he can claim staying power. For nearly three decades, Leibell has been Putnam’s preeminent political survivor. His decision to run for Putnam’s top post is the latest pivot in a public life with many consequential turns and some roads not taken.

Public service was not Leibell’s first passion. When Leibell was attending Loyola High School in Manhattan, he thought of becoming a priest, only to be told that his Latin wasn’t good enough. “And I got pretty good grades in Latin,” Leibell added. “When you come up in that system you write a certain way, you are structured.”

The formation provides solace to Leibell even to this day. Visiting a dying friend in a hospital not long ago, Leibell intoned the words “Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres.” His friend replied with the translation, “All Gaul is divided into three parts,” the beginning of Caesar’s Gallic Wars.

By the time Leibell entered St. John’s University, he began beating a path that would lead to his longtime public career. He studied economics, and began to develop his political convictions. “I had to take one look at [President] Lyndon Johnson and I was a Republican,” said Leibell, “I disliked where he was taking the country. I disliked his foreign and domestic policy, and I didn’t think he was a nice man either.”

Leibell would do a stint in the Navy and earn his law degree from St. John’s. But Leibell insists that by the time he became assistant district attorney in the Westchester County District Attorney’s office he still had no intention of running for elected office. “It was the furthest thing from my mind,” he said. He envisioned a future where he would do his time as a prosecutor and eventually become a country lawyer.

Leibell became counsel to the Senate banking committee in Albany, where he attracted the attention of Will Stephens, Sr., who asked Leibell if he wanted to be Assemblyman. “I never expected to be there for a long time, honestly,” said Leibell.

But the former prosecutor took to his new role with relish. He sought committee assignments that would allow him to build relationships with civil service employees, firemen, and police. He developed his reputation and habit of “working” legislation, knowing the ins and outs of Albany’s legislative committees. “I don’t just draft a bill and put out a press release,” Leibell said. “You have to convince enough people in your own house that it’s worth consideration; you try to get it through an appropriate committee, hopefully one where you know a ranking member.”

The process of working legislation has reinforced Leibell’s view of politics as the art of compromise. “I’ve never seen a perfect bill,” said Leibell. But according to this lion of the legislature, giving in is part of the genius of the American system. “I come into the process with strong beliefs, but I say that I compromised and some people think of that as a weakness,” said Leibell. “But we compromise on everything, from the Declaration of Independence, to the Bill of Rights–there were 12 submitted. The Constitution was a bloody fight in the summer of 1787.”

Leibell’s predilection for compromise and even the nature of his committee assignments have made him admire other moderate and innovative Republicans. He cites former vice-presidential candidate and Housing and Urban Development innovator Jack Kemp as influencing his work on committees dealing with public housing. He looks to George Pataki, who preceded him in the New York Senate as another model.

Leibell has no problem fighting for what he sees as his district’s interests, whether they be earmarked projects—derided as pork by his critics—or special enterprise zones to encourage business. He rejects what he sees as free-market fundamentalism, believing that government, despite its flaws, should be made to serve the public interest within limits.

Just as government has limits, so does Leibell’s political ambition. When Congressman Hamilton Fish was preparing to retire in 1994, he asked Leibell to succeed him. But it was Fish’s career that served as a warning to Leibell. “Fish was first elected in 1968 and immediately after, his wife was killed by a drunk driver, leaving him with many small children,” Leibell said. “There he was in Washington, children all over, going to boarding school. It was a very difficult life he lived.” Just recalling Fish’s impossible task at balancing a career and family life makes Leibell cringe noticeably.

Leibell could not live that life. “It’s always been a family issue; I can get home in two hours from Albany,” said Leibell. He described his wife, Helen, as a nonpolitical wife. And his children, Martha Anne, Vincent, and Elizabeth Marie, live at home or close to home. Talking about them brings out a tender side of Leibell, a part of him that he keeps separate from his public life. Notably, he does not drag his family around the hustings. “I don’t have a political family at all,” said Leibell.

But Leibell’s occasional ambivalence about his political career is balanced by his relish for a political fight. “I enjoy the competition, I enjoy the combat,” said Leibell, before admitting, “It’s a character flaw … I love the exchange. God, forgive me.” In his Senate runs, Leibell has posted double-digit victories or has run unopposed. He doesn’t hesitate to clash with his rivals, lately with Assemblyman Greg Ball, who seeks to succeed Leibell as the 40th district’s senator in Albany.

Pursuing the County Executive’s seat means a political life that may not be as raucous as that of Albany, but with great responsibility, including the administration of a nine-figure budget. Leibell sees his potential role as County Executive as one of a conciliator, someone who can bring together the various levels of county, town, and village government to come up with solutions to suddenly vexing budget problems. He hopes also to reduce the overall tax burden. “We’re number ten on the list of most taxed counties,” said Leibell, “that’s not a list you want to be on.”

Leibell thinks his aggressive, on-thestreet approach will be useful to attract employers to Putnam County. “There are places right next door, in Danbury, who will be inviting businesses, we have to be out there promoting the county,” said Leibell. Some politicians fight for the culture or for the soul of their districts, Leibell focuses on those “boring” issues: taxes, jobs, and education funding.

The decision to seek the County Executive’s seat was not an easy one. His Republican colleagues hoped that with him they can retake the majority in Albany. He has even contemplated switching careers altogether. “If I could do anything besides this it would be to teach,” said Leibell, “I love the classroom.”

But like the seminary or the quiet law practice, teaching may never capture Leibell; the rough and tumble of politics pulls at him too strongly. After all, Leibell is a skillful political insider who has a long memory for what he perceives to be independent thinking. He spends a good deal of time stopping his opponents, whether they are Democrats or Republicans, and attempts to do so leaving no fingerprints.

Many love him, some fear him, and a few hate him. But Leibell always manages to maintain a smile. With Bob Bondi leaving his seat atop the county, the future of Putnam is at stake. It’s a battle that Leibell, a happy warrior, cannot resist joining.