ALBANY – Gov.-elect Eliot Spitzer yesterday unexpectedly picked a Republican – state Sen. Michael Balboni from Nassau County – as his homeland-security chief, setting the stage for a special election that could bring Democrats close to controlling the Senate.
Balboni, 47, the Senate’s homeland-security expert, will replace lame-duck Gov. Pataki’s public-safety advisors, former New York City FBI office chief James Kallstrom and former State Police Superintendent James McMahon.
The job, which does not require Senate confirmation, focuses mainly on coordinating the state’s response to emergencies and serving as the governor’s liaison to federal and New York City public-safety agencies.
Balboni, a lawyer who was first elected to the Senate in 1997, said a top priority will be to tend to fears over the vulnerability of the PATH trains under the Hudson River, which were addressed in a recently disclosed report prepared for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
“There is no one better prepared to serve the state in this capacity than Michael Balboni,” said Spitzer, the outgoing attorney general and a Democrat.
Spitzer had promised to ignore party labels as he hired senior staffers for his new administration.
Balboni, who considered running for the Republican nomination for attorney general late last year, said he had agreed to work for the Democratic governor-elect in part because “there’s no room for partisanship in homeland security.”
Balboni, meanwhile, said he would resign from the GOP-controlled Senate right after Spitzer’s State of the State Address on Jan. 3, dropping the number of Republicans to 33, or just two more than needed for a majority in the 62-member chamber.
Balboni said that just before he resigns, he’ll vote to reelect Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno as the GOP leader – at a time when Bruno, 77, is under a cloud because of an FBI probe of his business deals that was revealed last week.
Spitzer is expected to call a special election within the next three months to fill Balboni’s seat. By law, the election must be held within 30 to 45 days after the announcement.
“This is a seat Democrats can win and it’s going to be a very tough race,” said a senior Senate Republican.
The Long Island district has 78,000 Democrats and fewer than 72,000 Republicans.
Some Senate Democrats were privately gleeful over Balboni’s selection.
The decision by Balboni, one of the youngest Senate Republicans, to quit for a job with Spitzer was widely seen as a sign that he believed Democrats would soon win control of the Legislature’s upper house.
It was also expected to encourage other Senate Republicans to at least consider giving up their seats for other pursuits.
While Spitzer insisted that he didn’t pick Balboni in order to free up a Senate seat, the governor-elect is expected to play a significant role in raising funds for the Democratic candidate.
Republicans lost a Westchester seat in the November election, bringing the number of Democratic senators to 28.
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Michael Balboni
Political affiliation: Republican
Job history: State senator since 1998, chairman of the Senate’s Committee on Veterans, Homeland Security and Military Affairs; previously served as an Assemblyman; has private law practice
Educational background: Adelphi University, St. John’s University Law School
Age: 47
Resides: East Williston, Nassau County
Family: Wife Stephanie; four children