Roosevelt Island’s State assemblymember for more than three decades took over as the State’s top environmental official Thursday, but the road to Alexander "Pete" Grannis’s new job was a bumpy one.

A "Watergate Baby" first elected to represent the Island and Manhattan’s East Side in 1974, Grannis became an instant lightning rod when Gov. Eliot Spitzer nominated him in late January to become commissioner of the State Department of Environmental Conservation.

Gun-rights groups came out in opposition to Grannis, an unabashed liberal Democrat who staunchly favored gun control during his time as a legislator.

Sportsmen’s groups, while remaining neutral on the nomination, voiced concerns about the Chicago native’s sensitivity to their concerns.

Business groups also stayed on the sidelines, but expressed some worry about a potential "gotcha" environmental enforcement policy that could unfairly hurt legitimate New York companies.

But environmentalists practically jumped for joy, citing Grannis’ long record in the Assembly of championing their causes.

In a blue state like New York, a consumer-rights Democrat like Grannis might expect few roadblocks. But the only remaining bastion of Republican power in New York, the State Senate, was the one place Grannis needed approval.

And Senate Republicans, echoing the concerns of gun groups and sportsmen, turned up the scrutiny of Grannis to a level unusual for gubernatorial nominees.

So intense was the interest in Grannis from all sides that the Senate took the rare move of holding his confirmation hearings in the biggest hearing room in the State Capitol complex.

And when the Senate Environmental Conservation Committee finally took up the nomination March 20, the contentious session ended without a vote – another rarity.

That session featured lengthy debate over Grannis’s legislative efforts to regulate the trapping of animals, initiatives that had helped win Grannis awards from animal-rights groups distrusted by sportsmen. Grannis voiced concerns about all-terrain vehicles chewing up precious land in the Adirondack Park.

Committee chair Carl Marcellino’s decision to schedule a continuation of the hearing prompted a news conference outside the senator’s Long Island district office by environmental groups demanding Grannis’s confirmation. Marcellino’s committee finally finished its hearing on March 27, but not without environmental groups hoisting "Free Pete" posters featuring a picture of Grannis and, again, demanding his confirmation.

Grannis was ultimately confirmed last weekend – not without official votes of opposition at both the committee and full Senate level – as lawmakers were racing to get a new State budget in place by the April 1 start of New York’s fiscal year .

"It was unlike any other confirmation process I’ve seen in my short time in Albany," said Robert Moore, executive director of the strongly pro-Grannis group Environmental Advocates. "People who’ve been around a lot longer than me agree."

Grannis spent most of his Assembly tenure chairing the Insurance and Housing committees but, before he joined the Legislature, he worked as compliance counsel for the environmental agency he now heads.

Environmental groups praised Grannis for what they called a stellar legislative record.

"He has sponsored, co-sponsored, and otherwise played a key role in legislation that includes New York’s Clean Indoor Air Act, measures to address the threats of acid rain and fluorocarbons, as well as bills to protect clean air and water, and to encourage recycling and conservation," according to a letter to senators signed by three dozen environmental groups.

"Assemblyman Grannis chaired the Assembly’s first Subcommittee on Toxic Wastes, sponsored legislation ensuring a worker’s right to know about hazardous materials, and worked to regulate the transport, storage and disposal of toxic wastes. His other environmental interests include preserving New York’s natural heritage, reducing packaging waste, bringing the State into compliance with the federal Clean Air Act, and preserving the Adirondack Park.

"Assemblyman Grannis is also an avid outdoorsman and sportsman," the letter continued. "As a fly fisherman, he has spent much of his free time exploring New York’s waterways—gaining personal first-hand knowledge of the rivers, lakes and streams, the stewardship of which he will be responsible for as DEC Commissioner."

Moore said that even as chairman of the Insurance Committee, Grannis "tried to highlight the risk of global warming. He’s been out front in support of every major environmental piece of legislation that’s passed since he’s been there.

"His experience in the Legislature makes him understand DEC’s resource and staffing needs, its policy direction," Moore added. "He’s in the process of rebuilding the agency, including 109 new staff that Environmental Advocates pushed for."

A leader of New York’s largest sportsmen’s group said he hopes Grannis will include sportsmen among his new staff hires.

"The importance of developing a Statewide perspective is key to the evolution of a person from being a local politician to having a Statewide point of view," said the leader, Wally John, legislative vice president of the New York State Conservation Council, which is largely made up of New Yorkers who hunt, fish and trap.

The Council had questioned the wisdom of Grannis’s various bills to regulate trapping and, John said, "his contacts with various anti-hunting groups," including People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and the Humane Society.

"Throughout the course of the hearings, we saw significant movement on his part to improve his positions in regard to our issues," John said, citing among other things Grannis’s support for youth hunting licenses. Grannis also noted that the State environmental conservation commissioner doesn’t have the power to limit people’s right to carry arms.

"The role of a commissioner is a Statewide role," John added. "The role of an assemblyman is to represent a small group of people. We’re just pleased that Pete has shown he’s willing to move to that larger perspective."

The jury is still out on Grannis in the State’s business community.

"His record in the Assembly has not exactly been pro-business," said Michael Elmendorf, who worked as an aide to former Governor George Pataki before becoming executive director of the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), which lobbies on behalf of smaller companies.

But Elmendorf did credit Grannis for supporting a commission to review health insurance mandates that small businesses call unaffordable.

As for Grannis’s new job, "I would hope DEC wouldn’t revert to a ‘gotcha’ enforcement mentality," Elmendorf said. "I didn’t really hear anything specifically from NFIB members other than, ‘I hope they’re not going to go after people for minor things,’ especially in cases where business didn’t know what the State expected."