Otto Kelsey

Otto Goodell Kelsey (November 11, 1852 – August 20, 1934) was an American lawyer and politician.

Early life He was born on November 11, 1852, in Rochester, Monroe County, New York. He was the son of Wisconsin State Senator Charles S. Kelsey (born 1822) and Lucretia Parson (née Bacon) Kelsey (died 1868).

Congressman William H. Kelsey and Wisconsin State Senator Edwin B. Kelsey were his uncles.

Career He became a printer, then studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1875, and practiced law in Geneseo, Livingston County, New York.

Political career He was a Republican member of the New York State Assembly (Livingston Co.) in 1894, 1895, 1896, 1897, 1898, 1899, 1900, 1901 and 1902. In November 1902, he ran for County Judge of Livingston County, but was unexpectedly defeated. Subsequently his party friends forced Theodore P. Gilman to resign the office of First Deputy Comptroller, and had Kelsey appointed to the post. When Comptroller Nathan Lewis Miller was appointed to the New York Supreme Court, Kelsey was appointed New York State Comptroller to fill the vacancy, and was elected at the New York state election, 1904, to succeed himself.

On May 2, 1906, Kelsey was appointed by Governor Frank W. Higgins to a three-year term as Superintendent of Insurance, and resigned the comptrollership. Early in 1907, Governor Charles Evans Hughes asked Kelsey to resign, but he refused. The governor then asked the New York State Senate to remove Kelsey on the ground that "while honest he utterly lacks in force and initiative", but after a lengthy hearing in the Judicial Committee, Kelsey was upheld by a vote of 27 to 24 on May 3, 1907. Then Governor Hughes appointed Matthew C. Fleming a Special Commissioner to examine the Insurance Department, and on February 2, 1908, Fleming declared Kelsey "unfit for the office" in his report to the State Senate, but Kelsey was maintained in office by an even larger majority.

Eventually, Kelsey resigned from the Insurance Department to be re-appointed First Deputy Comptroller by Charles H. Gaus on January 1, 1909, and acted as Comptroller after Gaus's death until the appointment, on November 11, of Clark Williams to fill the vacancy. A week later, Kelsey was forced to resign as First Deputy Comptroller.

Personal life He died on August 20, 1934, in Perry, Wyoming County, New York, after complications from a fall, and was buried in Geneseo.