Onondaga County Democrats partied on Election night last week like it was 1977.
The evening saw the party take control of the County Legislature for the first time since voters went to the polls 48 years ago, back to a time when “Rumours” by Fleetwood Mac was America’s top album, “Star Wars” still ruled at the box office, and ABC dominated primetime television with “Laverne and Shirley,” “Three’s Company,” “Charlie’s Angels” and “Happy Days.”
Following the resignation of President Richard Nixon after Watergate, life was good for the blue party in Onondaga County.
“The 1970s were a nightmare in some respects for the Republicans in New York State and Onondaga County,” Post-Standard political reporter Luther “Gus” Bliven wrote at the end of the decade. “By the same token they were triumphant times for Democrats.”
As Election Day 1977 approached, Jimmy Carter was in the White House, Hugh Carey was governor, Lee Alexander was the immensely popular mayor of Syracuse, and Democrats controlled the Syracuse’s Common Council.
But the party had never been in the majority in the Onondaga County Legislature.
Republicans had a narrow lead in the Legislature, 13-11, that morning. They had been in control of the county since the Civil War.
Bliven predicted a “battle royal” that day for the 24-seat Legislature.
“Informed observers feel the crucial races are close enough so that either party can win control,” he wrote.
Those close races all went blue, and after all the votes were officially tabulated on November 9, the Democrats had wrested control, 14-10, for the first time ever.
County government would be led by the local political titans of the late 20th century.
Michael Bragman was chosen to be the Legislature’s Chairman. Nicholas Pirro was the Republicans’ choice to be Minority Leader and the GOP’s John Mulroy continued on as County Executive.
All three men called for unity and bipartisanship to fix the county’s problems.
“Democrat or Republican, the Legislature has to deal with some important issues next year,” Mulroy said after Election Day.
“We will not oppose for the sake of opposition,” Pirro promised.
Bragman was hopeful but wary.
“Mulroy is willing to compromise,” Bragman said on November 10, 1977. “He has done so in the past. We have to prove ourselves in these two years.”
On January 3, 1978, a new era in local politics began.
“We are going to solve the problems that have not before been solved,” Bragman promised. “These goals are not obtainable without cooperation and dedication from every member of this legislature.”
Bragman’s goals were an ambitious list of the many issues hamstringing the county for years.
There was a serious need for a solid waste-burning steam plant, there were calls for a replacement of the old Jamesville Penitentiary, which the Post-Standard called a “filthy fire trap,” there was disagreement of where to build the new Syracuse University football stadium, and hopes for the “better delivery” of health, mental health and social service programs.
The hopes for unity never materialized and many of these issues stalled out during the two years of Democratic leadership, despite a close relationship between Bragman and Mulroy.
“Ironically, the new Democratic majority has worked closer with County Executive John Mulroy on major issues than members of Mulroy’s own Republican party,” reporter Don Lawless wrote in the Dec. 30, 1978, Post-Standard.
The solid waste facility and the plans for the new jail were studied and discussed but never got off the ground.
The new penitentiary at Jamesville opened finally in 1983 and Onondaga County solid waste facility began operating commercially in 1995.
A 1979 letter to the editor perfectly summarized local frustration with the County Legislature at that time.
“The same old do-nothing county legislators promising to do the things next time out that they did not get done in the past years,” the anonymous letter said. “As (Winston) Churchill might have phrased it, ‘Never have so many spent so much time and money and accomplished so little.’”
To be fair, there were some achievements.
Work started on what would become the new Carrier Dome at the site of old Archbold Stadium.
And the Legislature found a home for a new museum to house the county’s historic treasures on Montgomery Street after the purchase of the old New York Telephone building. The Onondaga Historical Association still stands there today.
Leading up to Election Day 1979, Bragman boasted the Legislature had done a lot of good.
There was a nine-percent cut to the county tax rate in 1979, the first reduction since 1974, and the Legislature voted for a change in the way sales tax revenue was distributed, with more going towards local schools.
Economic concerns were addressed with the revitalization of the Onondaga County Industrial Development Agency (OCIDA), the creation of a Small Business Commission, and calls to strengthen Downtown Syracuse.
But, after two years, voters wanted a change.
Election Day 1979 saw Republicans flip the Legislature back to their favor. Pirro and Bragman swapped their leadership chairs.
The spread was 13-11 back to the GOP, a single vote.
Luther Bliven thought the slim margin should be an easy one for Democrats to overcome.
“The margin is so skimpy,” he predicted, “there will be a constant threat in the ’80s of Democrats recapturing control of the body.”
But that didn’t happen until last week, some 46 years later.
