It’s hard to call someone a “pain in the neck” and make it sound like a compliment. But Sen. John Flanagan did it during a Sept. 8 visit to the National Purple Heart Hall of Honor.
The Long Island Republican is the majority leader of the New York State Senate. On Sept. 8, he toured Orange County with Sen. Bill Larkin at his side.
The Purple Heart Hall of Honor was an appropriate place to start. The two legislators had helped secure $250,000 for the redesign of the hall. In addition to that, Sen. Flanagan had supported the Veterans Buyback Bill, and had been instrumental in getting an $800,000 grant for a program to treat Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Sen. Flanagan walked slowly past the exhibits in the Hall of Honor, and stopped on several occasions to read the plaques. At a small theatre on the main level, he spoke to an audience that included Gold Star Mothers, Purple Heart recipients, and members of Rolling Thunder, the veterans motorcycle group.
Rather than an address, his remarks were more like a conversation with a room full of people. He smiled as he referred to his colleague, Sen. Larkin, who years ago had served in the state Assembly with Sen. Flanagan’s father.
That didn’t keep the Senate Majority Leader from delivering his unusual compliment. “Bill Larkin,” he said, “is a complete pain in the neck. He’s doggedly persistent, because he actually believes in what he’s doing…. In our job,” Sen. Flanagan continued, “the most important thing we do is listen. A lot of senators are good at talking. But Sen. Larkin has distinguished himself as a consummate listener.”
The majority leader referred to a new veterans home on the Stony Brook campus, as a model of what the state can accomplish. “This is the Empire State,” he reminded people. “We don’t talk about that enough.”
Before leaving the Hall of Honor, the senator accepted pins from the Gold Star Mothers, who had lost children in combat.
