Ray Harding, long-time boss of the state’s now-defunct Liberal Party, was one of the last of the old-style New York kingpins.
In the process, he took a party that was born in ideological debate and turned it into a vehicle for personal patronage.
And in the end, Harding — who died yesterday at 77 — ended his career in disgrace, convicted of corruption but let off with a sweetheart plea deal.
Harding’s power came from the Liberal Party’s ballot line, which allowed him to handpick candidates during the quarter-century in which he ruled the party. Yet in that time, even the party’s own brand of liberalism became less relevant, as he handed plum ballot spots to his favorites.
Harding’s decision to back Republican Rudy Giuliani and form a classic “fusion” ticket sent the ex-prosecutor to City Hall.
But Harding used his influence to obtain high-profile government jobs for friends and family, including two sons — one of whom was convicted of embezzlement.
Harding himself pled guilty in 2010 to having accepted $800,000 in illegal fees from then-State Comptroller Alan Hevesi.
He pled to a single misdemeanor and got a pass: No jail time, no fines — he didn’t even have to repay his ill-gotten cash.
It was a cynical resolution to a shameful betrayal of the public trust.
But by then, Harding had already lost his power, after the Liberal Party was stripped of its ballot line in 2002.
All in all, a needless political tragedy.