Politics Brooklyn Boro

Mike Long steps down as Conservative Party chair

Gerard Kassar a candidate to succeed him

January 29, 2019 By Paula Katinas Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Mike Long, pictured with his wife Eileen at a Bay Ridge luncheon a few years ago, caused a political earthquake with his retirement announcement. Eagle file photo by Paula Katinas
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It’s the end of an era.

In a move that took his party’s leaders by surprise, Mike Long, who has served as chairperson of the New York State Conservative Party for 30 years, suddenly announced on Monday that he was stepping down from his post.

Long, 78, made his announcement at the conclusion of the 52nd Annual Conservative Party Political Action Conference in upstate New York, a mini-convention during which party leaders from all over the state hear presentations from elected officials and candidates and map out the party’s agenda for the year.

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Long told party leaders that he had “a heavy heart,” but that he firmly believed “the time has come for me to step away as chairman” and that he felt “the time for new leadership is upon us.”

Gerard Kassar, who stepped down last year as chairman of the Brooklyn Conservative Party, has expressed a strong interest in becoming the next state chairperson, according to sources.

“Jerry is interested, and I support him 100 percent,” Fran Vella-Marrone, who took over for Kassar as Brooklyn chairperson, told the Brooklyn Eagle on Tuesday.

The party’s executive committee will meet next month to start the process of selecting the next chairperson.

Long, who lives with his wife Eileen in Bay Ridge, first took the helm of the Conservative Party in 1988 and worked with Republicans to form coalitions that helped get right-leaning GOP candidates elected to seats in Congress and the state Legislature.

Among those Long supported in their political ventures are former Gov. George Pataki, former U.S. Reps Susan Molinari, Vito Fossella, Michael Grimm and Dan Donovan and former state Sen. Marty Golden, as well as current Assemblymember Nicole Malliotakis.

Long enjoyed a particularly close relationship with Golden, with whom he had worked to revive the Fifth Avenue Board of Trade in Bay Ridge in the 1990s. Long and his brother Tom Long were the owners of Long’s Wines and Liquors, a store on Fifth Avenue, and Golden then owned the Bay Ridge Manor catering hall on 76th Street. The relaunch of the board paved the way for business leaders to work with New York City to establish the Bay Ridge Fifth Avenue Business Improvement District. The Long brothers later sold the liquor store.

In a letter he wrote to party leaders to formally announce his retirement, Long vowed to continue to promote conservative principles. “As I step away from my current role, I continue to stand with you as a proud member of the Conservative Party of New York,” he wrote.

The Brooklyn Conservative Party has always had a strong connection to Bay Ridge. The party’s headquarters is located on 78th Street.

Long served as a U.S. Marine in the early 1960s and joined the Conservative Party in 1964. He was elected chairman of the Brooklyn Conservative Party, a post he held for many years before moving up to head the state party.

Over the decades, Long worked diligently to attract young people to the Conservative cause, according to his friends.

“I met him when I was 17 years old. He was always very encouraging and willing to listen to ideas,” Vella-Marrone said. “I will miss him. He was the greatest chairman of any party in the state. He was fully supportive of his county chairs and went out of his way for you if you needed his help.”

Liam McCabe, who founded the Brooklyn South Conservative Club, worked in Long’s Wines and Liquors when he was in college.

“I wish Mike Long the best, and I thank him for inspiring me to get involved in politics,” McCabe wrote on Facebook. “It was working in his store as a college student in the late ’90s where in between stocking shelves and studying I would talk about the issues of the day with Mike and Tom Long. Mike convinced me to do more than talk and to call a guy named Gerard Kassar to get involved. That was 20 years ago, and it’s been a great ride since.”

Long is also known in Bay Ridge for his deep Catholic faith. He and his wife Eileen, who together have nine children, are parishioners at Our Lady of Angels Catholic Church. Long is chairperson of the Board of Directors at Holy Angels Catholic Academy, a school with strong ties to the parish.


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