So Sen. Joe Bruno is calling it a career. It may be just as well, since each year it becomes more and more likely that the Republicans will lose their majority in the state Senate, which they hold by only a two-vote margin, and once the majority is lost, Sen. Bruno would slide into the obscurity of the minority party, with no more multimillion-dollar favors to dispense. Better to go out on top, as munificent Uncle Joe, as he is wryly known in his home county of Rensselaer.

By my lights the high point of his career and his great achievement came just last year, when it was disclosed that he had been using state aircraft and state police drivers to travel to Republican fundraising events in New York City and he managed to turn that seemingly embarrassing revelation into a political triumph, portraying himself as the victim of a plot by Gov. Eliot Spitzer to spy on him, of all things.

For political chutzpah and political wiliness, it was hard to beat. That Gov. Spitzer then proceeded to implode as “Client 9” of a $4,000-an-hour call girl, didn’t hurt. In fact it further made Sen. Bruno look like a righteous public servant by comparison with his sleazy adversary.

Never mind his business dealings tied in with his public service. I will get to that in my column Thursday in the print edition of the Daily Gazette, which I urge you to buy. Tell your friends, too.