Politics

Bruno's Tumultuous Run In N.Y. State Senate Ends

ALBANY, N.Y. (CBS) ― For fourteen years, he was one of the most powerful men in New York politics. But Friday is Joe Bruno's last day in the State Senate. As he packed up his office, the Republican leader shared his thoughts about his past battles, and his uncertain future.

There aren't as many boxes to pack, since the FBI hauled off most of Bruno's records last month as part of a three year federal probe into his outside consulting work, but what's left is a lifetime of memories.

Broadway Joe's football…His first campaign poster.

And, perhaps fittingly, boxing gloves given to a man who has had his share of battles while in office, most notably, his recent battle with former Governor Eliot Spitzer.

"A man who came in with such great expectations, high hopes, turned out to have a serious problem of balance and knowing right from wrong," said Bruno.

Before the prostitution scandal, there was Troopergate, in which Spitzer was accused of trying to embarrass and discredit the majority leader.

Some might see irony in the fact that both men will have left office under a cloud of controversy. But not for Bruno, whose emotional resignation echoed his love for the job.

He says what he won't miss is the infighting. What he will miss, is making a difference.

"What I'll miss, being there at the table. Being part of what made this state move," said Bruno, "FDR and Teddy Roosevelt walked these halls. The greatest people in New York State walked these halls, and I was a part of it all."

Bruno says he resigned, in part, to protect the slim Republican majority in the State Senate from having to take sides in his on-going investigation. As for the 79-year-old's future plans, he says he's entertaining eight or nine job offers from non-profits and the private sector.

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