Paterson becomes latest governor to turn to Ravitch in time of need
Published: July 19, 2009, 12:30 am
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The state’s Democratic governors have turned to Richard Ravitch before.
Gov. Hugh L. Carey picked him to lead Urban Development Corp. as it neared a financial collapse, and then to head the struggling Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
Gov. Mario M. Cuomo named him to an economic advisory council.
So did David A. Paterson, who also asked him to head a commission figuring out how to rescue the again-struggling MTA. The main suggestion: More frequent fare and toll increases.
Then Paterson called Ravitch about two weeks ago to say, “I need your help.”
The governor wanted Ravitch, at age 76, to serve as lieutenant governor. He would succeed Paterson if for some reason the governor no longer could serve. He also would cast tie-breaking votes in the State Senate on some matters.
Republicans have filed suit, arguing Paterson acted outside his authority. A State Supreme Court judge heard arguments Wednesday but postponed a decision.
Ravitch, according to those who know him, is refreshingly frank. While running the MTA, he admitted he would not allow his son, 14 at the time, to ride the subway at night because of his concerns about crime.
Reporters in Albany asked him if he had second thoughts about becoming lieutenant governor at this stage of his life — and at this stage of Albany dysfunction.
“Yes,” he replied.
“He’s incredibly blunt about things and may put some people off, but on the other hand you can depend on what Richard is saying as being what he really believes,” Robert D. Yaro, president of the Regional Plan Association, which attempts to improve the quality of life in the three-state area around the Big Apple, told the the New York Observer for a profile of Ravitch in 2008. “He is a remarkable man.”
Ravitch, a lawyer, developer and investor, was chairman of the HRH Construction Corp. when Carey selected him for the financially struggling Urban Development Corp. He took no salary, his custom for those public-sector posts.
He doesn’t intend to draw the lieutenant governor’s $151,000-plus salary, nor does he intend to run for the office with Paterson in 2010, Paterson assured the public.
The lieutenant governor’s office has been vacant since Paterson succeeded Eliot L. Spitzer, who resigned as governor in March 2008.
“Ravitch comes out of the construction and building business,” Irving R. Fischer, a longtime friend and business partner, recently told the New York Times. “If you’re faint of heart, you don’t belong in that business. So he is a stand-up guy who will not take pushing around; but on the other hand, he also knows how to reach agreement with people.”
Ravitch resigned from the Urban Development Corp. in 1977 because he was considering running for New York City mayor. Carey selected him as MTA chairman in 1979. The following year, Ravitch helped to resolve a strike by the authority’s employees.
He often clashed with then-New York City Mayor Edward I. Koch, who wanted to become more involved in running the mass-transit system. Carey renewed Ravitch’s appointment in 1981 but he resigned in 1983, telling Cuomo, Carey’s successor as governor, that he wanted to lead a more normal life. He ran for mayor in 1989, finishing behind Koch and winner David N. Dinkins in the Democratic primary.
Koch has issued a statement calling the Ravitch appointment “the best thing the governor has done since he has been in office,” according to WCBSTV in New York City.
Printed summaries of the Ravitch career so far credit him with restoring financial credibility to the MTA and rescuing the UDC, now known as the Empire State Development Corp. The New York Daily News recently called him the “lion of New York civic leaders and the state’s go-to guy in a crisis.”
When Rudy Giuliani was New York City mayor, he attempted to draft Ravitch as chancellor of the New York City public school system. Ravitch turned it down in 1995, explaining that the chancellor lacks the power to make a difference.
When the fateful call came from Paterson, Ravitch was chairman of the investment group Ravitch, Rice & Co. He was having dinner with his wife, his third, in a Brooklyn steak house when the meal was interrupted so he could swiftly take the oath of office.
Paterson wanted him sworn in before the lawsuits were filed.
mspina@buffnews.com
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