GOWANDA — Assemblyman Joseph M. Giglio formally announced Friday he will not seek re-election in the 148th Assembly District in November.
Giglio was first elected in a special election in the then-149th District in 2005 to serve the remainder of Katharine M. Young’s Assembly term after she was elected to the state Senate.
“It will be 19 years in June since I was first elected to the Assembly,” Giglio said in an exclusive interview Thursday. “It’s hard to realize it went by so fast. I still feel like the new guy.”
Giglio made a simple promise when he was first elected in a special election against Democrat Carmen Vecchiarella, the Cattaraugus County Legislature minority leader from Salamanca.
“I promised everybody I would work very hard on their behalf and would not settle for any less than my absolute best,” Giglio said. “I tried to do that as hard as anyone could.”
Giglio laughed that rumors of him leaving have been “going on for a long time.” Initially, he told himself, he’d stay only six terms — 12 years.
“I stayed seven years longer because there were things I wanted to do,” Giglio explained. “Sometimes you need an incumbent in this seat to make sure we were protected.”
GIGLIO WORKED across the political aisle because it is the only way to influence legislation if you are a Republican in the Assembly or state Senate where Democrats have supermajorities.
As a state lawmaker, Giglio drew from his law enforcement background in the state Inspector General’s Office, state Attorney General’s Office and Cattaraugus County Sheriff’s Office, where he served as director of operations.
He helped write numerous reports after holding public meetings across the state with bipartisan Assembly committees and Assembly minority task forces. Giglio said it was important to show majority Democrats the reasoning behind some issues that were hard to apply statewide. Recent issues he cited included cashless bail, COVID-19 and redistricting.
Why did Giglio decide now was the time to step back and not seek re-election?
“I’ve been at this for a long time,” said the 69-year-old assemblyman. He’s driven back and forth to Albany for 19 years. “It gives you time to think,” he said.
Lately, his thoughts have turned to his family, his wife, Ann, their four grown children and two grandchildren. “It takes a lot of family support for this job,” Giglio said.
The assemblyman said since his family got SiriusXM for his car, he’s been listening to a lot on the Classic Vinyl Channel — especially Bruce Springsteen. He also listens to Books on Tape.
Secondly, Giglio has the feeling “that now is the time to hand things off to someone else. There are probably a few people out there who would want this job.”
GIGLIO DECLINED to talk about who might be interested in running for the Assembly seat.
“Whoever I hand it off to is going to have to do the same thing my office has done from the start, especially constituent service,” he said. “We’ll see what the field looks like. There are a few people out there who would do a real good job.”
The 148th Assembly District includes all of Cattaraugus and Allegany counties and six towns in Steuben County. The district has 67 towns, 19 villages, two cities and all or parts of three territories of the Seneca Nation of Indians.
Giglio is chairman of the Assembly Minority Conference’s Committee on Standing Committees, part of the Republican leadership team in Albany. His current committee assignments include ranking member on both the Ethics and Guidance and Corrections committees and member of the Codes and Rules committees.
Giglio thinks he has had a lasting impact as a member of the Medicaid Redesign Team under former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. “One of my motivations was to get Medicaid costs off the backs of county taxpayers. We did that to a point by capping administrative costs.”
Coming from a law enforcement background, Giglio wanted to make sure Medicaid fraud was adequately addressed as well.
Another recurring battle was over Corrections Department staffing in prisons and closing of prisons. Domestic violence and the heroin/opioid crisis are other concerns Giglio has investigated and reported on to his colleagues.
“We have to find ways to get people into rehab and recovery; we changed the way doctors prescribe opioids, changed the laws to get people into recovery and created specialty courts to get people into recovery,” Giglio said. “Those are the kinds of things I’m most proud of.”
Another issue of keen interest to Giglio is school safety and security. Among the propositions he’s advancing is a clearinghouse where school districts can look at a variety of safety plans.
The clearinghouse would also provide information on where school districts would get training for safety programs. “It would create a place for people to go for help — like a library for resources,” Giglio said. Cattaraugus County’s plans and training “ is one of the examples of everybody working together.”
Giglio said “I’ve made a lot of friends on the other side of the aisle” by building relationships with Democratic colleagues and doing his homework. It’s all about learning trust’s able to explain why minority Republicans are against something. “That’s when we come up with compromises. It’s all about earning trust,” he added.
CATTARAUGUS COUNTY Republican Party Chairman Mark Heberling said Giglio informed him of his plans earlier on Thursday.
“Assemblyman Giglio has been in public service throughout his life and has had some huge accomplishments,” he said.
“He has always stood up for law enforcement and the protection of citizens from his time with the Attorney General’s office.”
Giglio “has been a leader in the fight against bail reform and discovery reform,” Heberling continued. “He’s been an advocate for public safety and health. He’s had a huge impact. He’ll be missed. He will leave big shoes to fill.”
Heberling also declined to discuss possible candidates who might run for the 148th Assembly District. Instead, he wished Giglio the best.
The county Republican Party is expected to meet to settle on a candidate in advance of circulating nominating petitions for the Assembly seat beginning on Feb. 27.
