I see that State Sen. Mike Nozzolio has introduced a bill that would require the Superintendent of State Police to be subject to periodic re-confirmation by the Senate. I hope that this response to the current controversy that is raging between Gov. Eliot Spitzer and Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno and his supporters does not go any further.

There is an African proverb that goes: “When the elephants fight, the grass suffers.” In this case, what is at stake is the prestige and reputation of the finest police agency in the world - one that has a record of faithful service to the state and people of New York that goes back to its inception in 1917.

Col. George Fletcher Chandler, the first Superintendent of State Police, laid down a cardinal rule - that the Division of State Police must never become an instrument of political power. Every superintendent since his time has followed that rule to the letter.

Recently, the most celebrated and respected living alumnus of the State Police, former Superintendent Tom Costantine, put it this way:? “[Col. Chandler] had a very solid philosophy. His law enforcement had all this power, the power to investigate, the power to detain, the power to arrest and it would be contaminated if it were ever used for political purposes. And that really became part of the DNA of the state police.”

Governor Spitzer, Senator Bruno and Senator Nozzolio should remember that long, unsullied tradition of service as they wage their transitory political battle in Albany.

Terry O'Neill

Albany