Ronald B. Stafford (June 29, 1935 – June 24, 2005) was an American lawyer and politician from

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

Life

He was born on June 29, 1935, in

Plattsburgh Plattsburgh ( moh, Tsi ietsénhtha) is a city in, and the seat of, Clinton County, New York, United States, situated on the north-western shore of Lake Champlain. The population was 19,841 at the 2020 census. The population of the surrounding ...

, Clinton County, New York, the son of Halsey W. Stafford and Agnes M. Stafford. His father was a correctional officer in Clinton State Prison. He graduated from Columbia Law School in 1962. He began the practice of law in the Plattsburgh office of

Harris Beach Harris Beach is a law firm in the U.S. state of New York, initially founded in 1856, and originally named Ives & Harris. The firm has over 200 lawyers and has offices throughout New York, as well as in Newark, New Jersey and New Haven, Connecti ...

and entered politics as a Republican. Stafford was a member of the

New York State 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 com ...

from 1966 to 2002, sitting in the 176th, 177th, 178th, 179th, 180th, 181st, 182nd, 183rd, 184th, 185th, 186th, 187th, 188th, 189th, 190th, 191st, 192nd, 193rd and

194th New York State Legislature The 194th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 3, 2001, to December 31, 2002, during the seventh and eighth years of George Pataki's governorship A governor is ...

s. In 1974, he was the driving force behind the bid of Lake Placid, New York, to host the

1980 Winter Olympics The 1980 Winter Olympics, officially the XIII Olympic Winter Games and also known as Lake Placid 1980, were an international multi-sport event held from February 13 to 24, 1980, in Lake Placid, New York, United States. Lake Placid was elected ...

. He was Deputy Majority Leader from 1989 to 1992, and Chairman of the Committee on Finance from 1993 to 2002. In 2000, he married Kay McCabe. After retiring from the Senate, he became President of CMA Consulting Services, of Latham, a company owned by his wife, which supplied red light cameras. He died of lung cancer on June 24, 2005, at his home in

Defense of state troopers' actions during Attica Prison Massacre

In 1973, Stafford attacked the efforts of state prosecutors to investigate the killing of 30 inmates and 9 correctional officers and employees by law enforcement shooters during the retaking of

Attica Prison Attica Correctional Facility is a maximum security campus New York State prison in the Town of Attica, New York, operated by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. It was constructed in the 1930s in response to ...

in September 1971. He claimed the impaneling of a second grand jury by prosecutors had followed "'years of intense pressure from radical groups and individuals'" to "'use our law enforcement personnel as scapegoats.'"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stafford, Ronald B. 1936 births 2005 deaths Politicians from Plattsburgh, New York Republican Party New York (state) state senators Columbia Law School alumni Deaths from cancer in New York (state) 20th-century American legislators 20th-century New York (state) politicians