Thursday, January 11, 2007
NYS Governors always speak well
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
On January 1, while waiting to hear Elliot Spitzer’s weather-delayed Gubernatorial acceptance speech I had a chance to hark back to the good old Nelson Rockefeller Governorship days (1959-67). A crew of savants on the daily WNYC Brian Lehrer Show compared the wisdom of contemporary Governors’ words and their actions, and Nelson, his democratic predecessor Harriman and successor Carey came off well ahead..
It seems that Nelson Rockefeller (1908-79) made the most impressive speech, in 1963, asking for a reconciliation of the best elements of Progressivism, Liberalism and Conservativism, referencing a future expectation of perfectibility of human nature, a bit of old-fashioned social engineering (reminiscent of Isaiah Berlin?) that lost its currency in the 1960s, when Liberalism dropped its shine. The speech was statesmanlike, and positive, making one wish for a return of the pre-negative campaigning days (one may quibble that he did not write it, using hired help to fashion the noble words, to carry the message of his Presidential ambitions).But Rockefeller, an early political outsider using his wealth to gain elected office, an amateur not beholden to any machine, the shining example for Corzine and Bloomberg, also made good on a number of his promises, succeeding with education reform , construction, legalized abortion, and the construction of the Albany Mall, rich in art. A contrary character - both the harsh Rockefeller Drug Laws and the liberal Rockefeller Republicans took their names after him – he nevertheless made positive contributions in his unique four elected terms, 1959-73, resigning to become the Vice President by appointment (Herbert Lehman, 1932-42, also had four, but the first three were two-year).
Hugh L. Carey (1974-82), a much undervalued governor, not an orator, with a gravelly voice (I spoke with him in 2005, at a fundraiser) was the one who had to pull NYC out of its critical 1975 fiscal crisis, brought on by the governance of Mayor Lindsey permitting the city to use bond issues to pay for current expenses, make rash Transit strike settlements and commit fiscal irregularities.. After President Ford refused to provide bailout funds (“Ford tells New York to Drop Dead”) Carey brought together bankers, civic officials and economists to work out the crisis. With a Financial Control Board gathering resources, good planning, and a far-ranging Financial Emergency Act, the group established a mandatory balanced annual budget and four-year plans to stabilize the city’s progress, and eventually secured federal backing.
Carey’s successor Mario Cuomo (1982-94), widely acclaimed orator, was known mostly for his opposition to the death penalty, the keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention in 1984, and building of prisons. As an industry for poor upstate NY counties. In his speech he quoted both Pope John and the 3rd Century Rabbi Hillel (“if I am not for myself, who is for me; and when I am for myself, who am I; and if not now, when?”) and called the country to be pragmatic (“if you have a hammer, find a nail”); it should have no more government than it needs and no less government than it requires (how’s that again?)
NYS had been in a depression since 1975 and continuing, when Cuomo was defeated by George Pataki in 1994, as part of the Gingrich Contract with America landslide. In his inaugural, Pataki railed against punitive taxes and excessive government programs and quoted the American revolutionaries fighting the Redcoats as seeking a government that would be their servant and not their master. When government accepts the responsibilities for people, people no longer accept responsibilities for themselves, Petaki claimed, and did go ahead and got rid of “counterproductive programs,” and lowered taxes, consequently shifting the burdens for schools and infrastructure on local real estate taxes, a shameful dodge hallowed by its widespread use by unscrupulous politicians country-wide. Meanwhile the NYS budget, which had been $62B in 1994, rose to $112B in 2006 (where did the money go?), with fights over $2b to $3B deficits every years, and huge delays because the three rulers of Albany could never agree and the legislators had no power to outvote them, matters that gave the business-as-usual NYS Legislature its well deserved world-wide repute for lameness and laxness.
When Elliot Spitzer was finally sworn in, he did not disappoint us, words-wise. Quoting the New York writer (and a former neighbor) Washington Irving’s Rip van Winkle: he said that New York has slept through much of the past decade, and promised to undertake reforms “substantial in size and historic in scope.”, and, further, to make the government ethical and wise, and to rebuild the state economy . He signed five executive orders before the swearing in, notably to establish new ethics guidelines for state workers . Godspeed, Elliot!
Wally Dobelis also thanks Peter Eisenstadt, Esther Fuchs, the Hon. Henry Stern and the Paper of Record, and wishes a Happy and Healthy New Year for all.
On January 1, while waiting to hear Elliot Spitzer’s weather-delayed Gubernatorial acceptance speech I had a chance to hark back to the good old Nelson Rockefeller Governorship days (1959-67). A crew of savants on the daily WNYC Brian Lehrer Show compared the wisdom of contemporary Governors’ words and their actions, and Nelson, his democratic predecessor Harriman and successor Carey came off well ahead..
It seems that Nelson Rockefeller (1908-79) made the most impressive speech, in 1963, asking for a reconciliation of the best elements of Progressivism, Liberalism and Conservativism, referencing a future expectation of perfectibility of human nature, a bit of old-fashioned social engineering (reminiscent of Isaiah Berlin?) that lost its currency in the 1960s, when Liberalism dropped its shine. The speech was statesmanlike, and positive, making one wish for a return of the pre-negative campaigning days (one may quibble that he did not write it, using hired help to fashion the noble words, to carry the message of his Presidential ambitions).But Rockefeller, an early political outsider using his wealth to gain elected office, an amateur not beholden to any machine, the shining example for Corzine and Bloomberg, also made good on a number of his promises, succeeding with education reform , construction, legalized abortion, and the construction of the Albany Mall, rich in art. A contrary character - both the harsh Rockefeller Drug Laws and the liberal Rockefeller Republicans took their names after him – he nevertheless made positive contributions in his unique four elected terms, 1959-73, resigning to become the Vice President by appointment (Herbert Lehman, 1932-42, also had four, but the first three were two-year).
Hugh L. Carey (1974-82), a much undervalued governor, not an orator, with a gravelly voice (I spoke with him in 2005, at a fundraiser) was the one who had to pull NYC out of its critical 1975 fiscal crisis, brought on by the governance of Mayor Lindsey permitting the city to use bond issues to pay for current expenses, make rash Transit strike settlements and commit fiscal irregularities.. After President Ford refused to provide bailout funds (“Ford tells New York to Drop Dead”) Carey brought together bankers, civic officials and economists to work out the crisis. With a Financial Control Board gathering resources, good planning, and a far-ranging Financial Emergency Act, the group established a mandatory balanced annual budget and four-year plans to stabilize the city’s progress, and eventually secured federal backing.
Carey’s successor Mario Cuomo (1982-94), widely acclaimed orator, was known mostly for his opposition to the death penalty, the keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention in 1984, and building of prisons. As an industry for poor upstate NY counties. In his speech he quoted both Pope John and the 3rd Century Rabbi Hillel (“if I am not for myself, who is for me; and when I am for myself, who am I; and if not now, when?”) and called the country to be pragmatic (“if you have a hammer, find a nail”); it should have no more government than it needs and no less government than it requires (how’s that again?)
NYS had been in a depression since 1975 and continuing, when Cuomo was defeated by George Pataki in 1994, as part of the Gingrich Contract with America landslide. In his inaugural, Pataki railed against punitive taxes and excessive government programs and quoted the American revolutionaries fighting the Redcoats as seeking a government that would be their servant and not their master. When government accepts the responsibilities for people, people no longer accept responsibilities for themselves, Petaki claimed, and did go ahead and got rid of “counterproductive programs,” and lowered taxes, consequently shifting the burdens for schools and infrastructure on local real estate taxes, a shameful dodge hallowed by its widespread use by unscrupulous politicians country-wide. Meanwhile the NYS budget, which had been $62B in 1994, rose to $112B in 2006 (where did the money go?), with fights over $2b to $3B deficits every years, and huge delays because the three rulers of Albany could never agree and the legislators had no power to outvote them, matters that gave the business-as-usual NYS Legislature its well deserved world-wide repute for lameness and laxness.
When Elliot Spitzer was finally sworn in, he did not disappoint us, words-wise. Quoting the New York writer (and a former neighbor) Washington Irving’s Rip van Winkle: he said that New York has slept through much of the past decade, and promised to undertake reforms “substantial in size and historic in scope.”, and, further, to make the government ethical and wise, and to rebuild the state economy . He signed five executive orders before the swearing in, notably to establish new ethics guidelines for state workers . Godspeed, Elliot!
Wally Dobelis also thanks Peter Eisenstadt, Esther Fuchs, the Hon. Henry Stern and the Paper of Record, and wishes a Happy and Healthy New Year for all.
# posted by Wally Dobelis @ 11:10 PM 
