{{Short description|American politician (born 1953)}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Nicholas A. Spano | image = | caption = <!--Former office--> | state_senate = New York State | district = 35th | term_start = January 1, 1987 | term_end = December 31, 2006 | predecessor = John E. Flynn | successor = Andrea Stewart-Cousins | office1 = Member of the New York State Assembly | term_start1 = January 1, 1979 | term_end1 = December 31, 1986 | predecessor1 = Thomas J. McInerney | successor1 = Terence M. Zaleski | constituency1 = 83rd district (1979-1982) <br> 87th district (1983-1986) | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1953|05|21}}<ref name="NY Times 2007"/><ref name="NY Times 1996"/> | birth_place = Yonkers, New York, U.S. | party = Republican | spouse = Linda Spano | children = 2 | alma_mater = Iona College | profession = Politician, commercial real estate agent, lobbyist | website = {{URL| http://www.empireplanning.com/|Official website}} | footnotes = | relatives = Mike Spano (brother)<br />Leonard Spano (father) }}
'''Nicholas A. Spano''' (born May 21, 1953) is a lobbyist and Republican politician from New York. He served in the New York State Assembly and New York Senate.
==Biography== Spano's paternal grandfather, also named Nicholas, emigrated with two brothers from the Italian province of Bari to the United States in 1918.<ref name="NY Times 1996"/> Spano's father Leonard ran for public office in 1967, employing his son Nicholas in door-to-door campaigning.<ref name="NY Times 1996"/> After losing in 1967, Leonard became a county legislator in 1971, an office he held until 1993 when he was elected to the job of Westchester county clerk.<ref name="NY Times 1996"/>
Nicholas Spano grew up in Yonkers as the oldest of 16 children of Leonard and Josephine Spano;<ref name="NY Times 2007"/> He is a graduate of St. Peter's Elementary School in Yonkers and Iona College in New Rochelle, New York. He and his wife Linda reside in Yonkers.<ref name="NY Times 2007"/> Spano has two children, Lenny and Christina.<ref name="NY Times 2007"/>
Spano entered politics as a Republican. He was a member of the New York State Assembly from 1979 to 1986, sitting in the 183rd, 184th, 185th and 186th New York State Legislatures.
He was a member of the New York State Senate from 1987 to 2006, sitting in the 187th, 188th, 189th, 190th, 191st, 192nd, 193rd, 194th, 195th and 196th New York State Legislatures.
He represented Yonkers and surrounding areas in the Legislature. During his state senate career he served on the Rules, Transportation, Finance, Education, Health, and Racing, Gaming, and Wagering committees, chaired the Senate Investigations Committee, as was the Senior Assistant Majority Leader.{{Citation needed|date=August 2011}}
In 2004, Spano won re-election by only 18 votes after facing a serious challenge by Westchester County Legislator Andrea Stewart-Cousins.<ref name="Empirezone 2006"/> Neither Nick Spano nor his opponent from the Democratic Party Andrea Stewart-Cousins received an endorsement from The Working Families Party. As a favor, Spano made a promise to the working class and the labor activists of New York that he would support raising taxes progressively and support raising the New York State minimum wage.<ref>https://archive.nytimes.com/empirezone.blogs.nytimes.com/2006/06/29/spano-and-the-working-families-party/</ref>
During his run for re-election in 2006, Stewart-Cousins ran against him again, this time with the support of Democrats Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Eliot Spitzer, David Paterson and Andrew Cuomo. Spano lost the rematch;<ref name="Empirezone 2006"/> he conceded defeat on November 16, 2006.
Spano subsequently become involved in commercial real estate<ref name="Hudson 2007"/><ref name="YonkersPro 2011"/> as well as lobbying state and local governments in New York through Empire Strategic Planning, a firm he established after his defeat.<ref name="Empire Strategic Planning"/>
The lobbying firm came under fire in 2023 during the re-election campaign of Nicholas Spano’s brother, Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano. Calls for investigation around nepotism and corruption were centered around Empire Strategic Planning’s business before the city.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lee |first=Lindsay |date=2023-05-23 |title=A Rally Against Nepotism Foreshadowed Another Story on Potential Spano Impropriety |url=https://www.theyonkersledger.com/politics/rally-against-nepotism-foreshadowed-another-story-on-potential-spano-impropriety/3579/ |access-date=2024-01-18 |website=The Yonkers Ledger |language=en-US}}</ref>
==Tax fraud== In 2012, Spano was indicted for federal income tax evasion. Spano pleaded guilty to a single felony count. He admitted that he underreported his income — $42,419 in federal income taxes and $10,605 in state taxes — from 2000 to 2008. He was sentenced to a year and a day in prison.<ref>{{cite news |last=Schweber |first=Nate |date=June 19, 2012 |title=Jail for Ex-Westchester Legislator in Tax Case |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/19/nyregion/nicholas-spano-westchester-politician-is-sentenced-for-tax-evasion.html |access-date=2024-01-17 |work=The New York Times}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Former New York State Senator Nick Spano Pleads Guilty To Fraud |url=https://www.parentadvocates.org/nicecontent/dsp_printable.cfm?articleID=8233 |access-date=2024-01-18 |website=www.parentadvocates.org}}</ref>
==Boycott proposal== In 1990, Spano recommended a boycott of Sinéad O'Connor's concert in Saratoga Springs as retaliation against her choice to skip over the US national anthem at a Madison Square Garden concert some days prior.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1990/08/28/listeners-angered-by-sinead-oconnor/b0b89b89-3ec1-4ad8-8978-4dd80513f342/ |title=LISTENERS ANGERED BY SINEAD O'CONNOR |date=1990-08-28 |newspaper=The Washington Post |place=Washington, D.C. |issn=0190-8286 |oclc=1330888409}}</ref>
== References == <references>
<ref name="NY Times 1996">{{cite web |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1996/04/26/nyregion/when-county-politics-is-a-family-business-westchester-feels-the-spanos-presence.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm |title= When County Politics Is a Family Business;Westchester Feels the Spanos' Presence |work= The New York Times |author= Joseph Berger |date= April 26, 1996 |accessdate= August 1, 2011 |quote= Nicholas, now 42, and Michael, 32, were both Republican district leaders in Yonkers at 18. Nicholas won his bid for the Assembly at 25.}} </ref>
<ref name="Empirezone 2006">{{cite web |url= http://empirezone.blogs.nytimes.com/2006/11/05/small-senate-battle-big-names/ |title= Small Senate Battle, Big Names |author= Danny Hakim |date= November 5, 2006 |work= Yonkers Professionals Network |accessdate= August 1, 2011 |quote= Former President Bill Clinton, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Eliot Spitzer, David Paterson and Andrew Cuomo all made their pitch for Andrea Stewart-Cousins, who lost by 18 votes to Senator Nicholas Spano in 2004.}} </ref>
<ref name="Empire Strategic Planning">{{cite web |url = http://www.empireplanning.com/executiveteam.html |title = Executive Team |work = Empire Strategic Planning |accessdate = August 1, 2011 |url-status=dead |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20110408145346/http://www.empireplanning.com/executiveteam.html |archivedate = April 8, 2011 }} </ref>
<ref name="Hudson 2007">{{cite web |url= http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2007/04/25/introducing-nick-spano-real-estate-agent/ |title= Introducing Nick Spano, real estate agent |author= Glenn Blain |date= April 25, 2007 |work= Politics on the Hudson |accessdate= August 1, 2011 |quote= At a press conference in Yonkers this morning, Spano was introduced as the latest addition to Prudential Rand’s Commercial Services division. Spano, who received his real estate license a week ago, described his new job as an outgrowth of his work in the Senate.}} </ref>
<ref name="NY Times 2007">{{cite web |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/17/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/17mainwe.html |title= Working Under a New Title, but Using the Same Albany Charm |work= The New York Times |author= Elsa Brenner |date= June 17, 2007 |accessdate= March 20, 2011 |quote= Mr. Spano, 54}} </ref>
<ref name="YonkersPro 2011">{{cite web |url = http://www.yonkersprofessionalsnetwork.org/News/YonkersCampusSells04022010.htm |title = Yonkers campus sells for $14 million |author = Joseph Berger |date = April 2, 2010 |work = Yonkers Professionals Network |accessdate = August 1, 2011 |quote = Rand Commercial Services brokered the sale for both buyer and seller. Adler and Nicholas Spano, a Rand agent and former state senator from Yonkers, negotiated the sale. |url-status=dead |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20111022022126/http://www.yonkersprofessionalsnetwork.org/News/YonkersCampusSells04022010.htm |archivedate = October 22, 2011 }} </ref>
</references>
==External links== * {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://senatorspano.com |date=* |title=Senator Nicholas A. Spano's legislative web site }}
{{s-start}} {{s-par|us-ny-hs}} {{succession box | title = Member of the New York State Assembly<br />from the 87th district | years = 1979–1982 | before = Thomas J. McInerney | after = Peter M. Sullivan}} {{succession box | title = Member of the New York State Assembly<br />from the 83rd district | years = 1983–1986 | before = George Friedman | after = Terence M. Zaleski}} {{s-par|us-ny-sen}} {{succession box | title = Member of the New York State Senate <br />from the 35th district | years = 1987–2006 | before = John E. Flynn | after = Andrea Stewart-Cousins}} {{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spano, Nicholas A.}} Category:1953 births Category:Living people Category:Republican Party members of the New York State Assembly Category:Republican Party New York (state) state senators Category:Politicians from Westchester County, New York Category:Iona University alumni Category:American people of Italian descent Category:New York (state) politicians convicted of crimes Category:Politicians from Yonkers, New York Category:21st-century members of the New York State Legislature Category:20th-century members of the New York State Legislature