Mr. Insider-Outsider Richard Ravitch Chronicles Life in Government

Mr. Insider-Outsider Richard Ravitch chronicles life in government Richard Ravitch was major player during decades of joined Republicans in an attempt to take the turmoil majority in the chamber — an action that, if suc- By Casey Seiler cessful, could have placed the ethically chal- lenged Espada a heartbeat away from the April 17, 2014 governor’s office. Paterson, whose elevation to governor after Eliot Spitzer‘s exit in March 2008 Albany — At age 80, Richard Ravitch holds on to had left the lieutenant governor’s seat vacant, what he describes as “an Emersonian faith in rushed Ravitch into office with such speed that politics.” his oath of office was signed “amid the steak, tomatoes, and creamed spinach” during dinner “It’s the only way to change things,” he at Peter Luger said in a telephone interview Wednesday. , the venerable Brooklyn restau- rant. How Ravitch managed to preserve that belief after decades of work on some of New Ravitch writes about the brief period in York state’s thorniest fiscal problems is the February 2010 when it appeared possible that a subject of his new memoir “So Much To Do” string of scandals might force Paterson to re- (PublicAffairs, $26.99), which surveys his sin- sign, prompting a friend to draft a transition gular career shuttling between the private and speech that Ravitch could deliver as needed. public sectors. The author is slated to visit Al- Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver suggested bany’s Rockefeller Institute of Government Ravitch have coffee with then-Attorney Gen- on Wednesday, a day after the book arrives in eral Andrew Cuomo, who was already the pre- stores. sumptive Democratic gubernatorial candidate after Paterson gave up his own ambitions for a In engaging and lucid prose — especially second term. beneficial considering the subject at hand — At that meeting, Cuomo asked who Ravitch describes his work with Gov. Hugh Ravitch, were he to become governor, might se- Carey to avert the near-bankruptcy of New lect as his lieutenant. “I assured him that as he York City in the mid-1970s, his four years as was clearly going to be the next governor, I chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation wouldn’t make any appointment without con- Authority (exhausting but “the most exhilarat- sulting him,” Ravitch writes. ing of my life”), his and the 18 tumultuous months he spent as Gov. David Paterson‘s ap- Elsewhere in the book, Ravitch describes pointed lieutenant governor — the state’s first himself as “the quintessential participant-ob- unelected No. 2. server,” a fair description of an insider who has managed to hold onto an outsider’s perspec- Ravitch’s selection for the job helped end tive. the state Senate’s five-week coup crisis, in which renegade Democrat Pedro Espada Jr. That duality is most pronounced in Ravitch’s account of the cold reception given to 1 his March 2010 budget reform plan, which It’s not a pathology specific to New York would have shifted the start of the state’s fiscal state, as Ravitch has learned in his recent work year, transformed its accounting methods and with former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul created a review board to assess the long-term Volcker on a task force examining the chal- viability of budget agreements. Ravitch also lenges facing state and municipal govern- proposed short-term borrowing — up to $6 bil- ments. lion over a three-year period — to help the state Ravitch offers praise for Cuomo’s stands crawl out from the wreckage of the 2008 reces- on social issues and his ability to fight New sion. York’s reputation for dysfunction, but bemoans Despite good reviews from many editorial what he sees as a continued reliance on boards, Ravitch’s blueprint went nowhere. can-kicking strategies such as the amortization “Without the governor’s strong support, my of local pension contributions. plan never had a chance,” he writes, also noting As an advocate of public financing of cam- the plan was not well received by Cuomo or paigns, he scoffs at the comptroller-only com- Paterson’s Secretary Larry Schwartz, who now promise that emerged from the recent budget serves Cuomo in the same post. negotiation. Speaking from his New York City office, “I think that’s silly,” said Ravitch, who ap- Ravitch summed up “the fundamental prob- plauded Democratic Comptroller Tom lem” in state finance: “Every incentive in the DiNapoli for refusing to take part in the plan. world exists to kick the can down the road.” 2.

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