SEMINERIO DEAD AT 75

Anthony Seminerio Former Assemblyman Anthony Seminerio, whose threedecade career in public office came to an end amid scandal, died in a federal prison in North Carolina last Thursday, Jan. 6 at the age of 75.

The Ozone Park native reportedly succumbed to medical complications while serving a six-year sentence he received last February for his 2009 guilty plea to honest service mail fraud charges, according to a statement released by his family.

First elected to the state Assembly in 1978, Seminerio garnered the reputation as a bipartisan dealmaker for much of his 30 year tenure in Albany, often being nominated by both the Democratic and Republican parties for re-election to his seat every two years. He was remembered by former colleagues and civic leaders for providing both political and monetary support to local organizations toward the improvement of his district’s quality of life.

But Seminerio’s career came crashing down in September 2008, when the federal government in- dicted him for using a consulting firm he created and the power of his elected office to receive illegal payments from entities doing business with New York State. Though he was re-elected to another term in office that November, he would resign in June 2009 prior to pleading guilty in the federal case.

Despite the legal troubles that brought his career to an end, many local residents and civic leaders chose to focus on the high points of Seminerio’s tenure. Attendees at the Glendale Property Owners Association (GPOA) lamented the loss of Seminerio during their Jan. 6 meeting at St. Pancras Pfeiffer Hall in Glendale. A moment of silence was observed in memory of the former assemblyman.

“It’s unfortunate that his career ended the way it did, but he did a lot for this area,” said GPOA President Brian Dooley.

Vincent Arcuri, chairperson of Community Board 5 and a friend of Seminerio, recalled that the legislator helped secure millions of dollars in funding for the renovation of Wyckoff Heights Medical Center during the 1990s. Arcuri observed that the help he provided not only helped to save the hospital, but also the surrounding community.

“He was very instrumental in the major modification at Wyckoff Heights and all around the community,” Arcuri told the Times Newsweekly. “He was very good to GCOP (the Glendale/104th Precinct Civilian Observation Patrol) and other community organizations. He was truly a community representative. ... If he was your friend, he was a very good friend.”

“For over 30 years Anthony Seminerio represented the 38th Assembly District with passion and dedication,” Assemblyman Mike Miller, who succeeded Seminerio after winning a special election in September 2009, said in a statement. “We should remember all of the good things that he has done for the community. My heartfelt sympathy goes out to his wife and his children.”

Working class roots

A native of southern Queens born in February 1935, Seminerio started out by working in a dye works factory owned by his family, according to his son, John Seminerio. Anthony Seminerio would then join the New York City Corrections Department during the late 1950s, serving as an officer on Rikers Island for 19 years.

For most of his time as a corrections officer, John Seminerio recalled, his father also drove a cab.

The first entry into the political arena for Anthony Seminerio occurred during the 1970s, when he became an executive board member of the Corrections Officers Benevolent Association. He helped negotiate contracts between his fellow officers and the city.

Seminerio ran for and won the 31st Assembly District seat—which at the time covered parts of Woodhaven, Richmond Hill and Ozone Park—in 1978 and would remain in that seat for 14 years.

Population changes caused a shift in the district lines across New York State in 1992, with Seminerio’s old district being merged with the area represented by the late-Assemblyman Frederick Schmidt, which covered parts of Ridgewood, Glendale and Woodhaven. Schmidt retired from the Assembly and was appointed to a judicial post, while Seminerio ran for and won the newly-created 38th Assembly District seat.

Though a registered Democrat who supported labor unions and environmental conservation, Seminerio held to many conservative beliefs including support of capital punishment and opposition to abortion. In many elections, he often appeared on both the Republican and Democratic ballot lines and campaigned for various candidates of both parties.

‘Old fashioned’ style

John Seminerio remembered his father’s work, in particular, on legislation which made it mandatory for drivers to turn on their headlights and use windshield wipers during bad weather. The former assemblyman also advocated for a series of bills that provided economic relief to uniformed city and state workers—such as firefighters, police officers and sanitation employees—who suffer heart attacks that were determined to be brought on by job-related stress.

“If you look at my father’s career, there’s quite a bit of crossing the aisle to get legislation passed. He was noted for that, but he would never think of stopping the assembly or senate.

“He was proud to say [that] he never turned down a person seeking his help, whether they lived in the district or not,” according to a statement from the Seminerio family. “He was proud of his ability to work with both sides of the aisle to get major legislation passed.”

Former State Sen. Serphin Maltese, who along with his wife Constance were close friends of Seminerio, described the former assemblyman as an “old fashioned guy” with a unique approach to politics. When Anthony Seminerio received letters from constituents or agencies regarding a certain matter, Maltese noted, the lawmaker took it upon himself to meet face-to-face with them to resolve problems or bring improvements.

“His style with [Assembly Speaker] Sheldon Silver was one of almost friendly confrontation,” Maltese remembered. “He was the only one who would face Shelly for his constituents.”

“There’s nobody with his type of style around anymore,” he added, noting that Seminerio backed numerous conservative causes including the Defense of Marriage Act and various bills increasing criminal penalties. Maltese and Seminerio also sponsored a bill that aimed at paddling individuals convicted of quality-of-life crimes such as graffiti, but the legislation never made it beyond the state capitol.

“It never passed either house, but I think it sent a message to the vandals” that their crimes would not be tolerated, the former state senator added, who noted that the idea for the paddling legislation was “perfectly Tony.”

A controversial end

Following a lengthy investigation by federal authorities, a grand jury convened by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York indicted Seminerio in September 2008 for using the consulting firm he created— Marc Consultants—to receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in unlawful payments from clients who sought to conduct official business with New York State.

In return for receiving the payments between 1999 and 2008, prosecutors charged, Seminerio arranged for clients to meet with government officials and lobbied on their behalf to secure lucrative contracts and services. The entities who signed on with Marc Consultants included health care entities, an educational institution and insurance marketing firms.

At times, the federal government determined that the lawmaker intimidated and threatened individuals in order to secure payments for Marc Consultants. For one of his clients, Medisys (owners of Jamaica Hospital), Seminerio allegedly lobbied on their behalf for approval of the acquisition of St. John’s and Mary Immaculate hospitals without disclosing to the state Department of Health that he was being paid by the company to do so.

In the end, both St. John’s and Mary Immaculate were sold to Caritas Health Care and were shuttered in February 2009.

Seminerio, at one point, was caught on tape in conversations with a government informant—later revealed to be former Assemblyman Brian McLaughlin, whose political career also ended in scandal and prison—describing the true nature of the firm, adding that he was more concerned about being a “consultant.”

Indicted on the charge of honest services mail fraud, Seminerio agreed to plea guilty in June 2009 and resigned from office. He was then sentenced to serve six years in federal prison. The then-74-year-old charged at the time that the term amounted to a death sentence.

The Seminerio family noted that appeals were filed for the prison term to be reduced after a Supreme Court decision found that the charge of honest services mail fraud was “too vague to constitute a crime unless a bribe or kickback was involved.”

“Mr. Seminerio never accepted or admitted to accepting anything except viable payment for consulting work. Thus, since June of 2010, Mr. Seminerio was a prisoner without a crime,” according to a statement by the family. “Mr. Seminerio's judge, Ms. Naomi Reice Buchwald sua sponte (on the court’s own accord) felt that Mr. Seminerio accepted bribes, even though no trial was held and Mr. Seminerio never admitted to the allegation. Applications for bail were repeatedly denied even though the charge against him no longer existed. All the while it was repeatedly documented that Mr. Seminerio’s health was slipping away.”

Family members were at Seminerio’s side when he died last Thursday in North Carolina. He is survived by his wife Catherine (nee McCormick), son John, daughters Anna Culley and Mabel Kirtz, brothers Frank and Angelo, sisters Carmela Gandolfo and Antoinette Gioia, eight grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews.

A wake for Seminerio was held on Monday, Jan. 10 and Tuesday, Jan. 11 at Leahy-McDonald Funeral Home, located at 111-02 Atlantic Ave. in Richmond Hill. A Mass of Christian burial held on Wednesday morning, Jan. 12, at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in South Ozone Park, followed by interment at Calvary Cemetery in Woodside.