Mike Lane, longest-tenured T.C. Legislator, to retire
by Robert Lynch; February 18, 2025
If the Tompkins County Legislature can be said to have one statesman—more than just a mere politician—that man of elevated stature is Mike Lane. And at the end of this year, Mike Lane will be gone.
Mike Lane’s served in the Legislature longer than has anyone else now there.
Saving his announcement for the ornate venue of legislative chambers, where he sits at the end-most seat of the oval, nearest the chairperson’s podium, Mike Lane invoked a Biblical passage from Ecclesiastes Tuesday night as the centrist Democrat revealed his plans not to seek reelection this fall representing Dryden in the seat he’s held off-and-on since 1993.
“It’s the Bible that teaches us that for everything there is a season; a season to reap and a season to sow. And that’s true of public service and elective office,” Lane began his somber, measured, three-minute announcement.
“But everything has a season,” Lane continued, “and at this point I think the season is for me to say tonight that I don’t intend to seek reelection to the Legislature this fall.”
“There’s a time for these things,” a reflective Mike Lane reckoned.
After he delivered his message to a hushed legislative chamber, lawmakers, administrators, and guests provided Mike Lane a standing ovation.
“All the institutional memory is leaving,” texted one seasoned hand of Tompkins County government upon being informed of Lane’s agonizing verdict. “Sorry, but not surprised,” was that retiree’s reaction.
As incumbent Tompkins County legislators have, one-by-one—sometimes in groups—announced their reelection or retirement plans in recent weeks, a process dating back to before Christmas, Mike Lane remained mum. He’s served in the Legislature for seven, four-year terms. It marks continuous service for more than 30 years, excepting one election cycle when a Republican ousted Lane from office.
Mike Lane is now in his mid-70’s. We’ve been told he’s winding down his law practice. Some have suspected this might be the moment he’d choose to step aside. They were right.
“I’ve had the distinct honor and privilege to serve the people of the Village of Freeville, the Village of Dryden, and the area surrounding them in the Town of Dryden,” Lane took note in Tuesday’s remarks. “I’ve done my very best for them,” he asserted.
“I’ve never shied from taking stands that I thought were appropriate and in their best interest,” the retiring incumbent continued. “I listened to them. I learned from them. Sometimes I went against what I personally thought because I felt that being a representative meant that I should try to represent the views of my constituents, and of Tompkins County as a whole,” Lane observed.
And as he spoke—at times choking back emotion—Lane attempted a lighthearted departure. He quipped that “if all things were equal,” he’d serve, voters willing, “until they carried me out feet first.” A keen observer could understand how that might, indeed, have been the case. Mike Lane always made clear he loved his job, his legislative service.
Mike Lane is the second-to-last of the 14 current Tompkins County legislators to reveal his or her reelection intentions. Only first-term Republican Lee Shurtleff of Groton has not announced his plans. And Shurtleff declined to tip his hand Tuesday during his own speaking privileges on the Legislature’s floor.
Only this week did news widely circulate that another long-time legislative Democrat, Rich John of Ithaca, would, like Lane, decline to compete this election cycle. In a broadcast interview January 31st, which got little coverage beyond its Friday morning airing, John told WHCU, “I really think it’s time for me to go on to another opportunity, and frankly for somebody else to come in with new ideas and energy and give it a shot.”
Because of redistricting, which will only begin to alter legislative lines this fall, John, had he run, would have found himself in a primary contest against first-term progressive Democrat Veronica Pillar. With Pillar planning to run—and now, Rich John not running—prospects of a primary in that Ithaca City district diminish.
By recent experience, incumbent legislators in relatively “safe” party-favored districts have run, and then won, unopposed.
Mike Lane’s district, eastern Dryden, however, has proven different; much more evenly drawn between the two major parties. In his last election, in 2021, Lane beat Republican Thomas Corey by a mere eight votes. The final tally was a cliff-hanger.
And with veteran Lane’s planned departure, one can envision another competitive match-up this year. Lack of a popular incumbent could even bring a GOP pickup.
Currently, Republicans hold only three of Tompkins County’s 14 legislative seats. A redistricting plan adopted by the County Legislature in 2022 will raise next year’s number of legislators to 16.
Next year’s crop of fresh faces will be among the largest in recent memory. Not only will two new seats crowd the oval. Lane’s announcement means that at least seven incumbents will be stepping off. Nine new legislators would make nearly three-fifths of Tompkins County’s lawmakers’ newcomers. There’ll be a steep learning curve.
One of the imminent retirees, Rich John, recalled at Tuesday’s meeting how when he first planned to seek county office, he drove out to Dryden and spoke with Mike Lane.
“He was really generous with his time to just explain the Legislature to me and give me some idea of what I was getting into,” John remembered. “And that was not an anomaly,” John added. Lane’s shared advice many times since, John said. “And in terms of an institutional source of knowledge; the history that he carries around with him, that’s really going to be sorely missed,” John forewarned colleagues.
If Mike Lane has a passion, it may best be stated in terms of his defense of democracy, a passion often reaching far beyond Tompkins County’s borders.
Of any legislator, Lane has been the strongest defender of Ukraine’s fight to remain a free nation. Lane’s spoken of it often on the legislative floor. And the long-time display of that embattled nation’s flag in legislative chambers was Lane’s doing more than anyone else’s.
Democracy lights a fire in Mike Lane’s heart. And as he disclosed his political plans Tuesday night, it did so once again.
“For the next ten-and-a-half months… I will continue to do my utmost to represent (constituents) to the best of my ability and to keep my oath of office, which is to preserve, defend and protect the Constitution of the United States,” Lane promised.
At that point, as his statement drew to its close, the “big-D” Democrat in Mike Lane’s political conscience showed itself.
“Yes, I’m a lower-level elected official,” Lane acknowledged. “But representing our people under our Constitution is so terribly important to me.”
“And in these dark days”—his closest reference to the Trump Administration—“when the Constitution sometimes seems extremely in jeopardy, each of us has to step forward and make that commitment.”
Mike Lane, of course, will be stepping back. Others, no doubt, will step forward in the days ahead to inherit his legislative seat—maybe to push it to the Left or the Right.. Party petitioning begins at month’s end.
[In its business Tuesday, the Tompkins County Legislature unanimously endorsed an Enfield-encouraged measure toward expanding the Tompkins County Industrial Development Agency through state legislation. The Legislature also supported a long-shot state initiative to force manufacturers to pay to recycle the plastic they produce. More on these stories will be posted here later. / RL]
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