Powerful N.Y. legislator gives up seat

ALBANY, N.Y., July 15 (UPI) -- Joseph Bruno, the longtime majority leader of the New York State Senate, abruptly ended his political career Tuesday.

Bruno, 79, who resigned as majority leader last month and said he would not run for another term, had said he would probably give up his seat before the end of his term but had not set a date, The New York Times reported. He talked to reporters during an appearance at the State University of New York-Albany.

"I feel like my transition is done," Bruno said. "The furniture is moving out of my office, I think tomorrow. The pictures are off the walls. There's boxes everywhere."

Bruno, a Republican who entered politics as a campaign aide to Gov. Nelson Rockefeller, was first elected to the state Senate in 1976. He represented a district south of Albany.

He has been majority leader since 1995.

On Tuesday, Bruno once again said that his decision to resign had nothing to do with a federal investigation into his business activities.

"There is nothing there," he said. "And I am told by my lawyers I met with yesterday there's absolutely nothing that we've done wrong. So I'm very comfortable in that. But would it be nice if people would just go on and let me live my life? Yeah. That would be very, very nice."