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New York State’s No. 2 Is Stewing on the Sidelines

By DANNY HAKIM, Published: May 7, 2010

ALBANY — While Gov. David A. Paterson met inside his office with aides to prepare for a recent news conference, his lieutenant governor, Richard Ravitch, was milling around outside, waiting for the appearance to begin.

“I don’t know what he is going to say,” Mr. Ravitch told a reporter.

A few minutes later, an aide beckoned Mr. Ravitch to join the governor in the office. But the door turned out to be locked, leaving the lieutenant governor of New York fumbling with the knob as cameras rolled. A week later, Mr. Ravitch referred to the episode as “the day that I couldn’t get through the door.”

Ten months after he was brought aboard the administration to bring it new seriousness and depth, Mr. Ravitch, 76, has been relegated to the sidelines, an awkward position for a man accustomed to being at the center of the action.

He has been unable to spur progress on the key assignment Mr. Paterson handed him: a long-term restructuring of how the state spends its money. The fiscal year ended a month ago, and it is unclear whether lawmakers will enact his plan.

Mr. Ravitch played a key role in the rescue of New York City from the brink of bankruptcy in the 1970s and hoped to offer similar assistance in the state’s hour of need. But an interview found him frustrated, impatient and at times almost astonished by how little alarm there was in the Capitol about the state’s grim financial outlook.

“This is like slow strangulation,” Mr. Ravitch said this week.

“Sure, I’m frustrated,” he added, “because, as of today at least, we’re not very close to solving this problem, and the problem compounds itself day to day, week to week, and there’s no way of avoiding pain.

“I don’t like to be the Cassandra all the time. It’s not fun.”

The lieutenant governor spends his days talking to lawmakers, budget staff members, labor leaders — corralling them in his lofty office abutting the Senate chamber or in the halls of the Capitol.

In March, Mr. Ravitch released his five-year financial rescue plan for the state, a broad proposal that called for a number for changes, including requiring the state to balance the budget under tougher accounting rules.

But to Mr. Ravitch’s consternation, much of the attention accorded the plan has focused on one aspect of it — a provision that would allow the state to borrow up to $2 billion this year to deal with its short-term financial distress. He says the plan is not simply a green light to borrow.

Though Mr. Paterson asked him to develop the plan, the governor never fully embraced it, setting off speculation in the Capitol that the relationship between the men was strained.

Mr. Ravitch and Mr. Paterson, who not so long ago was himself the lieutenant governor, say they have maintained a cordial personal relationship and socialize, often having dinner or drinks together at the Executive Mansion.

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This fractured leadership team is all too obvious to the NY-ers.  Frankly, it was a bit of a hurried appointment of Lt.Governor last time when Gov.Patterson needed an extra vote for tie-breaker on his budget move. As to whether he is serious taking into consideration what is on the table from the good Lt.Governor for improving our expenditure patterns, we have absolutely no clue.. All I see is that local school budget is slashed so much that it is the equivalent of their ENTIRE physical education/sports department -- now that is county tax contributions being withdraw. Of course they inherit their headaches from the state tightening the screws. So, guess the impact on property taxes.  It is atrocious!