Stanley Steingut

Stanley Steingut (May 20, 1920 – December 8, 1989) was an American politician, New York Democratic Party leader, insurance brokerage owner, and lawyer. He took over his father's position as boss of Brooklyn County Democratic politics and eventually parlayed that position to become Speaker of the New York State Assembly. Before reaching that office, Steingut engaged in a power struggle along with Reform Democrats beginning in the early-1960s, when he was an early and powerful supporter of Robert F. Kennedy's bid for Senate from New York. In the late 1950s, he was an early supporter of then-Senator John F. Kennedy's bid for the nomination of the Democratic Party for the presidency. His support of both Kennedys caused a major rift with Tammany Hall Democrats led by then-Mayor Wagner. Those loyal to Wagner combined with Rockefeller Republicans deprived him of the Speakership in 1965 even though he had a great majority of the Democratic Assembly members. He would not take over the party leadership in the Assembly until 1969. He considered his sponsorship of landmark legislation providing public educational services for the developmentally disabled his greatest legislative accomplishment.

Political enmity did not then die out, and allegations of self-dealing began to dog him. Ultimately at the height of his political power within the Assembly, a primary challenge arose from a nearly unknown candidate. Steingut had been an ardent supporter of abortion as well as an outspoken foe of the death penalty. Although Steingut was supported by high-profile Democrats and employed a court challenge to save his seat, he ultimately lost. He spent the rest of his life as a lawyer refusing many opportunities to trade on his relationships by engaging in lobbying.

Early life Stanley Steingut was the son of Irwin Steingut, a first-generation American, himself the son an immigrant from Hamburg (Simon Steingut) who left his own prosperous family (his father and brother were bankers with their own firm in Hamburg) to emigrate to the United States sometime before 1886. Irwin Steingut worked first as a reporter and then in his father's Manhattan real estate office, before his 30-year career as New York Assemblyman from Kings County (1922-1952). During that time, he acted as minority leader from 1930 to 1934 and 1936 to 1952 and was Speaker in 1935 for the one term that Democrats had a majority in the New York Assembly during the 51 years from 1914 through 1964.

Stanley Steingut was born on May 20, 1920, in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn to Irwin Steingut and Rae Kaufmann Steingut. He was the couple's second and only other child, his older sister June Eleanor having been born on August 12, 1917. He attended the Peddie School and Union College. He served as a chief petty officer in the U.S. Naval Reserve during World War II, went on to graduate from St. John's University School of Law and was admitted to the New York bar in 1950.

Early politics Stanley learned retail politics at a young age from his father, with whom he campaigned door to door. Late in life he would recall swimming with Franklin D. Roosevelt in the Governor's mansion in Albany as well as in the White House and running errands as a page boy for Al Smith.

In Brooklyn, his father's political base was the Madison Club of Brooklyn, a machine founded by his mentor John H. McCooey, who sponsored Irwin Steingut's first run for the Assembly in 1921. Steingut's father became head of the Club during the New Deal (in part to appease the Administration for McCooey's decision to support Al Smith over Franklin D. Roosevelt ) and remained boss until his death. Steingut joined the Madison Club early, and it was there that he came into close contact with his father's friends, who also came to Brooklyn from Manhattan's Lower East Side: Abraham "Abe" Beame and Nathan Sobel. When his father died in 1952, Steingut stepped into the leadership position of the Madison Club. He would become head of the Brooklyn Democratic Committee in 1962 (together with Congresswoman Edna F. Kelly, a protege of Irwin Steingut ). In that position, he would amass "vast power and patronage."

New York Assembly career

In 1953 Steingut also succeeded to his father's Assembly seat, which he would hold until his defeat in 1978, sitting in the 169th, 170th, 171st, 172nd, 173rd, 174th, 175th, 176th, 177th, 178th, 179th, 180th, 181st and 182nd New York State Legislatures.

He was never known as a legislative craftsman, but early in his career, he worked diligently as a member of the joint legislative committee on physical handicaps and on mental retardation and eventually was appointed chairman of the Joint Committee on Child Care Needs. These areas became closely associated with him since the 1950s when he co-sponsored many programs with Republican Earl Brydges, who was especially interested in education policy and mental health issues.

Throughout the years, reporters remarked on his unprepossessing appearance. One said that "his slow-moving bulk, his heavy-bagged eyes, his thinning reddish hair and the creases in his face make it seem as if he was born old and has weathered since under the stresses of political wars." As a public speaker he was called "lackluster," and he was always "wary of reporters." He was also known for having a tireless work ethic, and for demanding the same from his colleagues, often rising to call fellow Democrats and his staff before 6 a.m. to discuss political business. Two things were needed for that to happen: Steingut would have to become the leader of the Assembly Democrats and the Democrats would have to become the majority party. When Eugene Bannigan died on July 4, 1958, Steingut sought to replace him as Minority Leader. Steingut was relatively junior by Albany standards and lacked the necessary "political muscle." The Democrats then controlled by Tammany Hall leader Carmine DeSapio chose Anthony Travia, also of Brooklyn, instead.

By 1964, with 15 years in the Assembly, Steingut was ready to try again, and this time the political muscle would be aided by the extensive organization of newcomer (to New York politics) Robert F. Kennedy. At the initial suggestion of Steingut after learning that President Johnson would not ask him to be his running mate, Kennedy reluctantly reconsidered a run for the Senate from New York, something he denied contemplating on June 22. Almost all the Democratic bosses and machine politicians (including Nassau County boss John English, Erie County chairman Peter Crotty, Bronx boss Charles Buckley, powerful Harlem Congressman Adam Clayton Powell Jr. and Steingut) supported Kennedy, impressed with the need for fresh blood in the party, which had not won a Senate seat since 1950 or the Governor's office since 1954, despite the advantage of 500,000 more registered voters than the Republican Party. One time Tammany machine politician Mayor Robert Wagner now represented the opponents of Kennedy, who like the New York Times and the New York Herald Tribune and others opposed Kennedy and put forward the lackluster upstate Congressman Sam Stratton. Wagner's goal was to maintain control of the state party with a view to his own governor's race in 1966. Although Kennedy himself claimed to be neutral, the Kennedy coalition together with Kennedy's brother-in-law and campaign manager Stephen Smith and Kennedy scheduler Justin Feldman appeared to be actively supporting Steingut. There were unfounded charges of "crude" tactics including offers of campaign cash, threats of retaliation and, according to Wagner, promises of increased "lulus" (the term for legislators' untabulated expense accounts). On December 22–23, 1964, at an informal party conference in Albany Steingut was preferred over Travia by a vote of 52 to 33. Both the state party chairman

Wagner's victory, in the end, could not have pleased either of his blocs, the reformers or the liberals. Zaretzki lived up to the description of New York Times editorial board member William Shannon: "To call Zaretzki a hack, would be undue praise." Jack Newfield of the liberal Village Voice found Travia as conservative as Zaretzki, and although brighter, was friendly with Rockefeller. And Travia became recognized as the "arch-enemy of the so-called 'reform wing' of the state Democratic Party." Kennedy for one was outraged, as can be gathered from his letter to Zaretzki and Travia after their win, notwithstanding his officially neutral stance. Part of the arrangement Steingut had made was giving up control of the Brooklyn Democratic Committee, and its vast pool of influence, associations, and favor-seekers. The Committee, however, fell into the hands of Steingut's close associate and business partner Meade Esposito. Many assumed Esposito did Steingut's bidding because they would continue to see "Steingut's fine hand in some of the Machievellian maneuvers in the Brooklyn political scene." Steingut tried to explain that he misunderstood the question. Columnist Michael Kramer opined that either Steingut lied or he was "too dumb" to be Speaker. In the end, Steingut acceded to a few demands. He gave up the Speaker's unfettered "right" to "star" calendared bills in order to prevent consideration by the Assembly. He also agreed to provide each member $7,500 to staff district and Albany offices and to discontinue the practice of using County Democratic Leaders (like Esposito) as whips.

The concessions also failed to please his critics. Michael Kramer said that Steingut was "using 'legislative reform' as a smoke screen to hide his real interest, the perpetuation of the business-political web that allowed him to prosper while he serves in Albany." The extensive investigations by Hynes and his final report never mentioned any wrongdoing by Steingut. Stein continued to pursue Steingut on claims of corrupt relations with Bernard Bergman. Steingut was vulnerable not only because of insurance firm had extensive dealings with Towers Nursing Home but also because Steingut's attorney, Daniel Chill, represented Bergman before state agencies.

In the midst of mounting scandals relating to his insurance interests, Steingut was indicted together with his son by a Brooklyn grand jury on charges of corruption relating to Robert Steingut's election campaign for a New York City councilman-at-large seat. The indictment alleged that Steingut and his son promised to assist Hans Rubenfeld, a Bronx haberdasher, in obtaining an appointment to an unpaid honorary non-existent City position in exchange for a $2,500 in contribution to Robert Steingut's campaign. The New York Court of Appeals two years later dismissed the indictment on the threshold ground that the indictment by the Brooklyn District Attorney did not plead a "materially harmful impact on governmental processes," which gave the impression that he was cleared on a technicality. The matter had in fact been transferred to the office of Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, known as Mr. District Attorney, who after an extensive investigation declined to even present the case to a grand jury, saying that there was no evidence of any wrongdoing.

In January 1978, at the beginning of the next legislative session, having weathered the nursing homes scandals and avoided a criminal trial, Speaker Steingut's prospects were as bright as at any time in his career. Democrats had added three more seats to the Assembly, and Hugh Carey was now governor, and Carey had apparently resolved the fiscal crisis of New York City in his first year. Steingut was contemplating pet projects for the new session, including a constitutional amendment to allow casino gambling. He also planned a "new approach" to the treatment of mental patients in group homes. "With little worry about losing the majority, and his title, Speaker Steingut [was] enjoying himself ... ."

But early in 1978 a primary challenger for Steingut's Assembly seat appeared—Helene Weinstein, supported by the New Way Democratic Club, a newly formed organization outside Madison Club influence, which operated out of a storefront and had only one elected official as member, insurgent Democrat Theodore Silverman. Andrew Stein, now Borough President of Manhattan, endorsed Weinstein against Steingut and began actively working for her in July, later saying that when he realized Steingut would not be indicted for the nursing home scandals, he "made up [his] mind to destroy him." And all the allegations concerning the Towers Nursing Home, and other scandals, again rose to the surface. Steingut would not go down easily, however. He attacked Weinstein's residency in court and on August 30, Ms. Weinstein was ruled off the ballot with seven days left before the primary. But the court did not rule against her petitions, only her residency, so with the court's approval, her father, Murray Weinstein, stepped in as a stand-in for his daughter. Governor Carey, however, stayed out of the race, as did Esposito, now fully alienated from Steingut. But the Speaker campaigned ruthlessly, Weinstein calling him an "integrationist" in the areas of the district with high concentrations of Italian Americans, Lubavitcher Hasadim and other Orthodox Jewish communities. The United Federation of Teachers, still under the control of Albert Shanker, actively supported Steingut with pamphleting and phone work. Steingut also was supported by an ideologically diverse array of New York-based Democratic political figures (including United States Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, City Council President Carol Bellamy, former Manhattan Borough President Percy Sutton, Congresswoman Elizabeth Holtzman, Stein said that the campaign was one of "great nastiness, fought block by block, like nothing we ever see in Manhattan." Steingut's political career and the influence of the Madison Club were over.

Legislative legacy

Despite the scandals and the allegations of self-dealing, Steingut's positions were often progressive and sometimes unpopular. This dichotomy accelerated throughout the early 1970s and into his speakership, when many of his direct constituents were lower middle class, proto-Trumpist white ethnics who had expressed their incipient disaffection by crossing party lines to vote for Richard Nixon in 1972 (directly presaging the broader Reagan Democrat milieu of the 1980s) or recent Black migrants—exemplified by sociologically distinct African American and Afro-Caribbean communities with frequently antipodean political motivations—who perceived Steingut as a distant and paternalistic figure who largely eschewed grassroots campaigning until his final race. During this period, he opposed the death penalty, worked on a bill to decriminalize possession of marijuana and fought for a range of child-protection and pro-consumer bills, including a generic drugs bill. He was the author of a law requiring the State to educate handicapped students. He also promoted a law that prohibited redlining.

Steingut continued to act as trustee for Touro College. He also resumed the practice of law, first as counsel to the firm of Baskin & Sears and later as the senior partner in the Manhattan law firm of Berger & Steingut.

Among the accolades he received were honorary degrees from his alma mater Union College and from Polytechnic University.

After long suffering from lung cancer, Steingut was admitted to Tisch Hospital on December 4, 1989, and died of pneumonia early on December 8.

Family

Steingut married Madeline "Madi" Fellerman of Long Beach, New York on May 30, 1943, They had three children together: Robert Steingut, an investment banker, City Council member at large from Brooklyn and one time chairman of the New York Workers Compensation Board, born 1945; Theodore Seth Steingut, a lawyer in private practice in Manhattan, born 1949; and Ilene Steingut, an architect (and partner with her husband Giuseppe Vallifuoco in VPS Architetti), born 1954.