Hugh Carey -- they don’t make politicians like that anymore
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‘Hugh Carey was not a self-promoter.’
When is the last time anyone described a politician that way?
Carey’s admirers -- and they are legion -- mourned the former New York governor’s death this weekend, saying that he was leaving just when many of the qualities he exemplified were needed most in government.
The quote is from Richard Ravitch, a veteran public servant and Carey friend who said in an interview that the ex-governor was everything that politicians in Washington are not: ‘He exercised leadership. He took positions. He used his bully pulpit -- and he wasn’t polarizing.’
Carey, who died Sunday at age 92, was governor from 1975 to 1982, during which time he cut taxes, raised fees, shrunk government by 100,000 jobs and ushered New York City through the worst financial crisis in its modern history.
By current standards, it seems inconceivable that a Democrat who also served in U.S. House for seven terms could accomplish so much with minimal partisan bickering and then leave politics with his reputation, for the most part, intact. Toward the end of his term as governor, the worst that people generally said about the widower and father of 11 surviving children was that he had made some odd choices in women and that he dyed his hair orangish.
To many, that was irrelevant compared with the scale of his achievements.
‘Hugh was a man who understood the importance of fiscal probity,’ said Ravitch, ‘and he was as comfortable talking to an important banker as he was to a Brooklyn politician.’
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg similarly held up Carey as a role model for American leaders today, saying in a statement: ‘As I often say about our work in New York City, success is not inevitable -- it takes hard work, difficult choices, and a willingness to put aside ideological differences. That’s how Hugh Carey governed our state and saved our city -- and, given the national events of the past week, his loss is a poignant reminder of how badly we need more elected leaders with the character and courage of Hugh Carey.’
Felix Rohatyn, the investment banker whom Carey put in charge of leading the rescue mission for New York City, told the Daily News on Sunday that Carey never faltered in his determination to save the city: ‘It inspired everyone. He kept on saying, ‘Don’t worry about my politics, just worry about our financers. We’ll win this one.’’
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-- Geraldine Baum in New York