Mike Long Steps Down as
Chairman of NYS Conservatives
A political earthquake in New York State came last week in Albany when legendary NYS Conservative Party Chairman Mike Long announced his retirement. Long, 78, has served as chairman for 30 years. “I am fully aware that the fight for Conservative values carries on and that many battles remain, but I feel the time for new leadership is upon us,” wrote Long.
Long, who made the announcement at the annual Conservative Party meeting in Albany last week, was the glue that kept the Conservative Party together, and a viable partner with the NY GOP. He is irreplaceable. Enrollment figures show Conservative enrollment remaining flat.
Long, a Marine, always stood on principle and who kept the Conservative Party as an influential minor party and kept it on Row C on the statewide ballot. Last year, conservative party candidate for Gov. Marc Molinaro received more than 250,000 votes on the Conservative line, more than the three minor progressive party lines (Working Families, Women’s Equality and Green) combined.
Long is best known for his standing up to former Gov. Mario Cuomo in the late 1980s and 90s, and as one of the key players in getting a little-known assemblyman from Peekskill named George Pataki elected governor three times – in 1994, ’98 and 2002. Pataki’s 2002 re-election was the last time a republican -conservative candidate won statewide office.
In more recent years, Long has helped keep the republican-conservative coalition of state senators in power in Albany until last November. “A true Marine, Mike Long’s determination, grit and integrity served as a guiding light for a generation of conservative, and indeed many other New Yorkers,” said state Republican Chairman Ed Cox. “In all matters, his word was his bond.”
Long did battle with another Cuomo is recent years, Gov. Andrew Cuomo. After Cuomo said there was “no place in New York” for extreme conservatives, Long responded, “Unlike Andrew Cuomo, I think people with conservative values have a place in New York.”
Long predicted that the political pendulum, now swinging in the direction of a blue wave of democratic-progressive support, will return back to a conservative-republican New York State. “The liberal Democrats will overplay their hand and I’m not throwing in the towel. We have to dig in deeper and speak our values loud and clear.”
Long, who lives with his wife Eileen in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, first took the helm of the Conservative Party in 1988 and worked well with Republicans to form coalitions that helped get right-leaning GOP candidates elected to seats in Congress and the State Legislature.
Long and his brother Tom Long were the owners of Long’s Wines and Liquors in Bay Ridge. The Long brothers later sold the liquor store, but the Conservative Party headquarters remained in Bay Ridge.
Over the decades, Long worked diligently to attract young people to the Conservative Party cause. According to his friends: “He was the greatest chairman of any party in the state. He was fully supportive of his county chairs and went out of his way for you if you needed his help.”
Long’s strong Catholic faith, with his wife, Eileen, together they have nine children, have always been a part of the chairman’s’ Conservative values.
But the realities of New York State politics have seen diminished returns for Conservatives in the Empire State, despite enrollment figures that show Conservative Party enrollment staying about the same over the past 10 years, with 157,315 registered Conservatives in the state last year compared to 151,063 in 2008. Here in Westchester, Conservative enrollment has dropped by 20 percent, from 10,668 in 2008 to 8,208 in 2018. At least one registered Conservative holds office in Westchester, County Legislator Margaret Cunzio.
More important, the last time a conservative won statewide office was republican Gov. Pataki in 2002, for his third term. In Westchester, former County Executive Rob Astorino ran on the republican and conservative line and won twice, in 2009 and 2013.
Sixteen years later after Pataki’s victory, the man that held the NYS Conservative Party together for more than a generation is stepping down. And while he deserves his retirement, he will be missed, and his departure marks perhaps the end of a movement, an end to a loyal and loud opposition, to democratic liberalism in New York State.
Newsmax wrote a fitting tribute to Long, which will give you a better taste of who this man was. The story reads, in part:
“The political epiphany in Long’s life took place when he attended the great Goldwater Rally at Madison Square Garden in 1964. The enthusiasm at the rally was infectious, and Long decided then and there he had to be actively involved in politics.
“Long became a member of the fledging Conservative Party that was founded in 1962. In 1965, he took over as chairman of the Cypress Hills Conservative Club and became a worker in William F. Buckley’s famous campaign for mayor of New York City. He also had a key role in helping elect James L. Buckley – who ran solely on the Conservative Party line – to the U.S. Senate in 1970.
“In 2011, Long fearlessly took on the state’s liberal establishment. The New York Times reported that Empire State elites were fulminating because of the ‘single most potent and immoveable obstacle to the legislation of same-sex marriage in New York,’ Conservative Party Chairman Michael R. Long.
“For Long, when it came to getting the Conservative endorsement, one of the real breakers was traditional marriage: ‘You say ‘I’m not for traditional marriage, you’re not going to get an endorsement. It’s as simple as that.’
“Long refused to accept any compromises, ‘…there are certain things you have to stand for’ he told the Times. ‘If we don’t stand for this, then why are we in business?’ After the same-sex marriage bill passed in 2011, true to his word, Long stripped the endorsement from the four Republican senators who supported the legislation. As a result, one decided not to seek another term and the others were losers in 2012.”
