Robert Gary Ortt II (born May 23, 1979) is an American politician who is a member of the
New York State Senate. Ortt represents the
62nd district, which covers
Niagara and
Orleans counties. First elected in 2014, Ortt is a
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
.
Prior to serving in the State Senate, Ortt served as mayor of
North Tonawanda, New York
North Tonawanda is a city in Niagara County, New York, United States. The population was 31,568 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Buffalo–Niagara Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city is named after Tonawanda Creek, its south b ...
from 2010 to 2014 and as city treasurer from 2007 to 2010.
On June 19, 2020, Ortt was named Senate Minority Leader.
Background
Ortt was born on May 23, 1979. He attended
St. Joseph's Collegiate Institute in Buffalo and graduated from
Canisius College,
with a degree in international relations and political science.
Ortt and his wife, Meghan, live in North Tonawanda.
Military service
In October 2001, Ortt enlisted in the
New York Army National Guard in response to the
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...
. From March 2008 until December 2008, he served in the
War in Afghanistan
War in Afghanistan, Afghan war, or Afghan civil war may refer to:
*Conquest of Afghanistan by Alexander the Great (330 BC – 327 BC)
* Muslim conquests of Afghanistan (637–709)
*Conquest of Afghanistan by the Mongol Empire (13th century), see al ...
where his mission was to serve as a combat mentor/advisor to the
Afghan National Police
The Afghan National Police (ANP; ps, د افغانستان ملي پولیس; prs, پلیس ملی افغانستان), is the national police force of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, serving as a single law enforcement agency all across ...
in
Kandahar City
Kandahar (; Kandahār, , Qandahār) is a city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on the Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city after Kabul, with a population of about 614,118. It is the ca ...
, the second-largest city in Afghanistan. In recognition of his service, he was awarded the
Bronze Star Medal,
Army Commendation Medal
The Commendation Medal is a mid-level United States military decoration presented for sustained acts of heroism or meritorious service. Each branch of the United States Armed Forces issues its own version of the Commendation Medal, with a fifth ...
,
Afghanistan Campaign Medal
The Afghanistan Campaign Medal (ACM) is a military award of the United States Armed Forces which was created by Executive Order 13363 of President George W. Bush on November 29, 2004, and became available for general distribution in June 2005. Th ...
, and the
Combat Infantryman's Badge
The Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB) is a United States Army military decoration. The badge is awarded to infantrymen and Special Forces soldiers in the rank of colonel and below, who fought in active ground combat while assigned as members of e ...
.
He achieved the rank of
first lieutenant
First lieutenant is a commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces; in some forces, it is an appointment.
The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations, but in most forces it is sub-divided into a ...
.
Early political career
On April 3, 2007, Ortt was appointed to the post of City Treasurer by the Common Council of
North Tonawanda, New York
North Tonawanda is a city in Niagara County, New York, United States. The population was 31,568 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Buffalo–Niagara Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city is named after Tonawanda Creek, its south b ...
. A few months later on November 6, 2007, he was elected to serve a four-year term, which began on January 1, 2008.
On November 4, 2008, the town voted to eliminate the position of City Clerk and combined the offices of the City Clerk and City Treasurer to form one position of Clerk-Treasurer, making Ortt the first to hold that title.
From January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2014, Ortt served as mayor of North Tonawanda, taking over from Lawrence V. Soos,
a Democrat. He was succeeded as mayor by Arthur G. Pappas.
New York State Senate
In 2014, when
George Maziarz opted not to run for reelection, Ortt ran for his seat, which Maziarz had held since 1995.
The 62nd District covers all of
Niagara and
Orleans counties, as well as the towns of
Sweden and
Ogden in
Monroe County Monroe County may refer to seventeen counties in the United States, all named for James Monroe:
* Monroe County, Alabama
*Monroe County, Arkansas
* Monroe County, Florida
* Monroe County, Georgia
*Monroe County, Illinois
*Monroe County, Indian ...
. Ortt was elected to the
New York State Senate, defeating Johnny G. Destino, a
Democratic attorney from
Niagara Falls
Niagara Falls () is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the border between the province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York in the United States. The largest of the three is Horseshoe Fall ...
.
In the Senate, he was named chairman of the Standing Committee on Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities as well as the co-chair the Senate's Joint Task Force on Heroin and Opioid Addiction.
In May 2015, Ortt, along with
John J. Bonacic and
Rich Funke
Rich Funke (born January 30, 1949) is an American journalist and politician who represented the 55th district of the New York State Senate from 2015 until 2020.
Funke is a Republican who was elected in November 2014 when he defeated Democratic ...
,
called for
Dean Skelos
Dean George Skelos (born February 16, 1948) is an American former politician from Long Island, New York.
A Republican, Skelos served in the New York State Assembly and later represented the Ninth District in the New York State Senate from 1985 t ...
, who was serving as Republican majority leader of the State Senate, to step down. Ortt also expressed support for a motion to replace Skelos as majority leader.
(On May 4, Skelos had been arrested on federal corruption charges.)
In July 2016, Ortt and New York Assemblyman
Raymond Walter asked
New York's comptroller,
Thomas DiNapoli
Thomas Peter DiNapoli II (born February 10, 1954) is an American politician serving as the 54th and current New York State Comptroller since 2007. A member of the Democratic Party, he was previously the New York State Assemblyman for the 16th dis ...
, to objectively investigate the state contracting process. Ortt and Walter requested that DiNapoli pay special attention to the
Buffalo Billion
Buffalo Billion is a New York state government project led by former Governor Andrew Cuomo that aims to invest $1 billion in the Buffalo, New York area economy. The project uses a combination of state grants and tax breaks to spur economic ...
, a large state investment into job creation in and around Buffalo, New York.
Positions
As a candidate for the Senate in 2014, Ortt indicated that he opposes abortion, except in cases of rape or incest.
He stated that he "strongly supports" the other nine pieces of Governor Cuomo's women's equality bills including "tougher equal-pay laws and laws to combat sexual harassment, domestic violence, and human trafficking."
In 2017, Ortt introduced legislation that would cause the 2013 gun control law known as the NY SAFE Act to be repealed in all areas of New York other than New York City.
On the EPL/Environmental Advocate's Environmental Scorecard in 2018, Ortt scored a 68, up from a score of 53 points in 2017. In 2018, Ortt helped pass legislation he sponsored that added geothermal heating systems to the list of financeable heating systems in New York State.
Also in 2019, Ortt voted against the following bills that became law:
* The Reproductive Health Act, an abortion rights bill;
* The New York State Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act;
* The Driver’s License Access and Privacy Act (also known as the Green Light Bill), which made driver licenses available to undocumented immigrants; and
* The Jose Peralta New York State DREAM Act, which gave undocumented students the opportunity to receive state-funded financial aid for college.
Corruption charges
On March 22, 2017, Ortt, along with his predecessor
George Maziarz, was indicted by a grand jury on corruption charges. Ortt was charged with three counts of offering a false instrument for filing; he pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors alleged that Republican officials had approached Ortt about running for mayor of North Tonawanda in 2009. However, taking that position would have reportedly involved a $5,000 pay cut for Ortt. According to prosecutors, Synor Marketing, a public relations firm, created a no-show job for Ortt's wife, Meghan; the Niagara County Republican Committee allegedly paid $21,500 to Synor that was to be paid to Meghan Ortt.
Dismissal
On June 27, 2017, all charges against Ortt were dismissed by Judge Peter A. Lynch. Judge Lynch ruled that there was no evidence that Ortt had known that the Niagara County Republican Committee was the source of the payments made to Meghan Ortt.
Lynch did not rule that then-New York State Attorney General
Eric Schneiderman
Eric Tradd Schneiderman (born December 31, 1954) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 65th Attorney General of New York from 2011 until his resignation in May 2018. Schneiderman, a member of the Democratic Party, spent ten year ...
had prosecuted Ortt in bad faith or presented inaccurate evidence to the court.
Senate Minority Leader
Ortt was named Minority Leader of the
New York Senate
The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature; the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Its members are elected to two-year terms; there are no term limits. There are 63 seats in the Senate.
Partisan compo ...
on June 19, 2020 after incumbent
John J. Flanagan
John J. Flanagan (born May 7, 1961) is an American politician from Long Island, New York. A Republican, Flanagan represented New York's 2nd State Senate district from 2003 to 2020. He also served as senate majority leader from 2015 to 2019, and as ...
announced his resignation.
Other political campaigns
On August 17, 2019, Ortt announced that he would seek the Republican nomination for the
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...
in
New York's 27th congressional district
The 27th congressional district of New York was a congressional district for the United States House of Representatives in western New York. It included all of Orleans, Genesee, Wyoming, and Livingston counties and parts of Erie, Monroe, Ni ...
. The
incumbent
The incumbent is the current holder of an office or position, usually in relation to an election. In an election for president, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the office of president before the election, whether seeking re-ele ...
representative in the district, Republican
Chris Collins, was arrested on federal insider trading charges in 2018. Ortt did not receive the Republican nomination, and he ended his congressional campaign on February 11, 2020.
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ortt, Robert
1979 births
21st-century American politicians
Canisius College alumni
City and town treasurers in the United States
Living people
Mayors of places in New York (state)
Republican Party New York (state) state senators
People from North Tonawanda, New York
St. Joseph's Collegiate Institute alumni