Tom Kirwan may have hung up his holster when he retired from the New York State Police, but he rarely failed to call out those he thought weren”™t doing the right thing. Although, as politics go, truth and tall tales can often get jumbled and reconfigured.
Kirwan learned that lesson quickly when he was elected to the New York State Legislature in the mid-1990s to represent the 100th Assembly District. Parts of Orange, Dutchess and Ulster counties were part of Kirwan”™s beat, and the Newburgh native liked to call things as he saw them. He could make you laugh ”“ or he could make you pretty darn mad ”“ but Tom Kirwan was heard.
“You don”™t have to agree with me, but I think it”™s a waste of taxpayers”™ money,” Kirwan told Orange County Chamber of Commerce members when former Gov. George Pataki announced an Institute for Rivers and Estuaries would be built in Beacon. “What”™s wrong with putting a ship on the water and letting it go to each city on the Hudson? Why not help all the cities on the waterfront? Get all our kids involved, and our cities, too.”
Kirwan, who served the in the Assembly from 1994-2008, didn”™t bat an eyelash ”“ at least, not in public ”“ when he lost to Frank Skartados. “You can”™t win them all,” he said stoically. “I had a good run.”
Although he had been dealt with a heart condition for several years, it didn”™t stop him from going up against Skartados in 2008 and waiting out the counting up of the ballots, which finally put him ahead by a handful of votes weeks later. He was back in business in Albany.
Whether it was suing the Assembly and Pataki for what Kirwan described as “creating total dysfunction in Albany,” or telling Pataki that taxpayer money could be better spent on other things than building the Beacon Institute, he persevered.
He had his critics, but twice as many admirers. He helped New Yorkers get some school tax relief through the STAR program.
Many who worked alongside him ”“ even those on the other side of the aisle ”“ didn”™t hesitate to mourn his loss.
Kirwan died at St. Luke”™s Cornwall Hospital on Nov. 28. He leaves behind his wife, Verna, two children, two grandchildren ”“ and many friends and constituents who are going to miss his ready candor.
