Michael Albano (born November 6, 1950) is an American politician, college professor, and government affairs consultant who resides in Longmeadow, Massachusetts. He is the former mayor of

Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield is the most populous city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States, and its county seat. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ea ...

and the former

Massachusetts Governor's Council The Massachusetts Governor's Council (also known as the Executive Council) is a governmental body that provides advice and consent in certain matterssuch as judicial nominations, pardons, and commutationsto the Governor of Massachusetts. Council ...

or representing western Massachusetts's 8th Council district. Albano began his public service career as a Probation Officer in the Westfield District Court in 1974. Subsequently, he was appointed to the Massachusetts State Parole Board in 1982 by Governor Edward J. King and reappointed by Governor

Michael Dukakis Michael Stanley Dukakis ( ; born November 3, 1933) is an American politician and lawyer who served as governor of Massachusetts from 1975 to 1979 and from 1983 to 1991. He is the longest-serving governor in Massachusetts history and only the s ...

in 1987. In 1992 Governor

William Weld William is a masculine given name of Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern era. It is ...

appointed Albano as a Special Parole Board Member. In 1994, State Auditor Joseph DeNucci appointed him as an Audit Specialist. Prior to his election to the Governor's Council, Albano's served on the Springfield School Committee from 1985–1989 (one 4-year term); the Springfield City Council 1991–1995 (two 2 year terms) 1995. Albano served as Council president in 1994 and 1995. In 1995, Albano was elected mayor of Springfield and went on to serve four two-year terms, leaving office in 2003. On November 6, 2012, Albano was elected to the Governor's Council representing the counties of Hampden,

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

and Franklin of Massachusetts.

Mayoralty

Albano defeated incumbent mayor Robert Markel in 1995's mayoral preliminary and faced off against Charles Ryan, who served as mayor in the 1960s. He defeated Ryan with 18929 votes to Ryan's 17274 votes. Much of the latter half of his time as mayor took place concurrently with a wide-ranging FBI mafia investigation that began targeting corruption in public officials in 2000, and which resulted in more than 30 convictions. These convictions included convictions of Albano's then chief of staff, Anthony M. Ardolino, and a political appointee and close friend, Gerald A. Phillips. Albano has claimed that the investigation was retaliation from the FBI stemming from his time on the Parole Board in the 1980s. When Albano left office the Commonwealth of Massachusetts imposed a financial control board seven months later, removing local control of the budget.

Political views

Michael Albano describes himself as a "Kennedy Liberal." Albano says he strongly supports the woman's right to choose an abortion,

affirmative action Affirmative action (also sometimes called reservations, alternative access, positive discrimination or positive action in various countries' laws and policies) refers to a set of policies and practices within a government or organization seeking ...

, and

gay marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same legal sex. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of 1.5 billion people (20% ...

, and

labor unions A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

. He opposes the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...

. In his 2012 run for Governor's Council, Albano campaigned on the platform that there should be a "litmus test" for judges within Massachusetts on these issues.

2016 Candidacy for Sheriff

On January 29, 2016, Albano announced his candidacy for the Democratic Nomination for Sheriff of Hampden County. On September 8, 2016, Albano was defeated by Nick Cocchi for the Democratic nomination. Cocchi then went on become county sheriff.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Albano, Michael Members of the Massachusetts Governor's Council Living people Mayors of Springfield, Massachusetts Massachusetts Democrats 1950 births People from Longmeadow, Massachusetts 20th-century Massachusetts politicians 20th-century mayors of places in Massachusetts 21st-century Massachusetts politicians 21st-century mayors of places in Massachusetts