Richard Ravitch

Richard Ravitch
75th Lieutenant Governor of New York
Incumbent
Assumed office  July 8, 2009
Governor	David Paterson
Preceded by	Pedro Espada Jr. (Acting)
Born	July 7, 1933 (1933-07-07) (age 76) New York City
Political party	Democratic

Richard "Dick" Ravitch (born July 7, 1933 in New York City)^[1] is the current Lieutenant Governor of New York and also a lawyer, businessman and a civic leader from New York City. In a legally disputed move,^[2] he was appointed Lieutenant Governor of New York by Governor David Paterson on July 8, 2009, in an effort to solve the 2009 New York State Senate leadership crisis.^[3] A legal fight ensued, with supporters saying Paterson has the right to appoint statewide officials and opponents saying that right does not include the lieutenant governor.^[4][5] There have been several rulings on the matter. On August 20, 2009, the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division rejected the appointment, but on September 22 that decision was reversed by the New York Court of Appeals, and the appointment was held to be constitutional.^[6]

Early life

Richard Ravitch (no middle name)^[7] was born July 7, 1933 in New York City, the son of Saul (d. 1952)^[8] and Sylvia (née Lerner, d. 1974)^[9][10] Ravitch.^[11] His family had begun building in Manhattan in the late nineteenth century, and was one of two families that co-founded a construction business, HRH Construction Corporation, in 1925. Ravitch is a member of the third generation of the family to run the company.^[12][13]

Ravitch was educated at Columbia College, earning an undergraduate degree and Phi Beta Kappa honors in 1955,^[14] and Yale Law School, earning a JD in 1958.^[1] He served in the army for a short time after graduation.^[13]

Career

1960s

After earning his law degree, Ravitch worked for the House Government Operations Committee in Washington, D.C. and the New York State Commission on Governmental Operations for the City of New York.^[14]

He joined his family's business, HRH Construction, in 1960.^[13] His focus was low- and middle-income housing projects, and some notable developments he was responsible for were Waterside Plaza, Riverbend, and Manhattan Plaza, all in Manhattan. Some of the projects he worked on were built under the Mitchell-Lama Housing Program. He also built the first integrated housing projects in Washington, D.C., with James H. Scheuer. He sold HRH Construction in 1977.^[13]

President Lyndon Johnson appointed Ravitch to the United States Commission on Urban Problems in 1966, and he was elected president of the Citizens Housing and Planning Council (CHPC) in 1968.^[15]

1970s

In 1975 Ravitch was appointed by New York State governor Hugh Carey as chairman of the New York State Urban Development Corporation.^[11][13] Ravitch was responsible for salvaging the finances of the organization, which Carey had found was nearly insolvent. After succeeding at the reorganization, Ravitch brought in another president, while retaining the position of unpaid chairman himself.^[13]

Carey again chose Ravitch for a major appointment in 1979, as head of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Carey had expressed the desire to keep the annual salary at $15,000, effectively requiring whoever took the job to be "independently wealthy or have a business that did not require his full attention".^[16] Ravitch was approved for the job, and did not accept a salary for his work.^[13][17] He was described as throwing himself "into the job unsparingly", recapitalizing the system, building the Metro-North Railroad from other existing lines, and improving labor relations.^[13] He was the chairman of the M.T.A. during the 11-day 1980 New York City transit strike, and led the agency until 1983.^[13] After receiving death threats and having armed intrusions at his office, Ravitch began wearing a bulletproof vest at some public events, and security was provided for his family.^[18][19][20]

1980s

After almost a year of effort, Ravitch became chairman of the Bowery Savings Bank of New York in 1985. The bank had been losing money for several years, and Ravitch formed an investment group that included Laurence Tisch, Lionel Pincus, and Warren Buffett to take over the bank as an alternative to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation liquidating it.^[18][21] After the bank returned to profitability, it was sold to H. F. Ahmanson & Co. in 1987; the investment group doubled its $100 million purchase price, and Ravitch earned $5 million on the deal.^[13][22] While chairman of Bowery, Ravitch was named to the board of governors of the American Stock Exchange.^[23]

After briefly considering a run for mayor of New York City in 1977^[7] that met with a "lukewarm response", he made a serious run for the Democratic nomination in 1989. He ran as an "outsider" against incumbent mayor Ed Koch, Manhattan Borough President David Dinkins, and city comptroller Harrison J. Goldin.^[13][24] He was endorsed by one of the city's major newspapers, the Daily News, just before the primary,^[25] but placed third in the primary, which Dinkins won. Ravitch's candidacy was described after the primary as being run in the face of "predictable defeat".^[26] Dinkins went on to win the general election against Rudy Giuliani.^[24]

1990s

Ravitch was hired in November 1991 by the Major League Baseball owners as head of their Player Relations Committee, the chief labor negotiator for the owners, at an annual salary of $750,000.^[27][28][29] Although some critics claimed he was hired as a "union buster" against the Major League Baseball Players Association, he rejected that characterization. Koch, who had been mayor of New York while Ravitch ran the M.T.A., called that description "foolish" and described Ravitch as a "Renaissance man".^[30] During 1994 negotiations between the owners and the players, a primary negotiating point was the owners' desire for a salary cap, which the union resisted. The negotiations were not successful in avoiding the 1994 Major League Baseball strike, which ended the 1994 baseball season and resulted in cancellation of the 1994 World Series.^[28] The players' union held Ravitch partly responsible for causing the strike, which others thought was an unfair accusation.^[31] After the strike started, owners began relying less on Ravitch as a negotiator, and he resigned from the position in December 1994.^[31] He was replaced by Randy Levine as the owners' representative in 1995.^[32]

In 1995, New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani picked Ravitch to become the new chancellor of the city's school system, but Ravitch withdrew his name from consideration because he said he believed the school system needed major structural reform.^[28]

2000s

Ravitch and Susan Molinari were appointed co-chairs of the 22-member Millennial Housing Commission, when it was established by the United States Congress in 2000. The commission was charged with making recommendations to Congress regarding ways to increase affordable housing.^[33] In 2003, he and Molinari were awarded with the "Housing Person of the Year" award by the National Housing Conference.^[34]

As of 2004^[update], Ravitch is a partner in Ravitch, Rice & Company, and is the chairman of both the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust's Board of Trustees, and the AFL-CIO Building Investment Trust's Advisory Board.^[35]

Ravitch was appointed by Paterson in 2008 to assist in fixing the finances of the MTA.^[24] He was a delegate for Barack Obama in the 2008 election.^[24][35]

Lieutenant Governor

On July 8, 2009, Governor David Paterson appointed Ravitch to the position of Lieutenant Governor to resolve a month-long political stalemate in the New York State Senate.^[36] Attorney General Andrew Cuomo had previously stated that the Governor does not have the authority to appoint a lieutenant governor,^[36] and State Senator Pedro Espada, Jr. announced he would sue to prevent the appointment.^[4] Ravitch was sworn in as Lieutenant Governor at 8 pm while eating dinner at Peter Luger's steakhouse in Brooklyn. A legal dispute followed the appointment, and on 21 July 2009, New York Supreme Court Justice William R. LaMarca issued a preliminary injunction against Ravitch performing any duties of the office. That injunction was stayed by Appellate Division Justice L. Priscilla Hall. On August 20, the Appellate Division's Second Dept. ruled unanimously that "the Governor’s purported appointment of Mr. Ravitch was unlawful because no provision of the Constitution or of any statute provides for the filling of a vacancy in the office of lieutenant governor other than by election.^[37] On September 22, 2009, New York State's highest Court, the Court of Appeals, ruled that the governor may appoint a lieutenant governor in the event of a vacancy.^[6]

Personal

He married Diane Ravitch (née Silvers) in 1960;^[14] they have two sons, Joseph and Michael. They divorced in 1986.^[1] He later married Betsy F. Perry, in 1994.^[1] The marriage ended in divorce. On August 27, 2005, he married Kathleen M. Doyle, the Chairman and CEO of Doyle New York, an auction and appraisal company. They have 12 grandchildren.^[38]

See also

• 2009 New York State Senate leadership crisis

References

v • d • e Current elected and appointed statewide political officials of New York U.S. Senate Chuck Schumer · Kirsten Gillibrand State government David Paterson, Governor · Richard Ravitch, Lieutenant Governor · Andrew Cuomo, Attorney General · Thomas DiNapoli, Comptroller Senate Malcolm Smith, Temporary President · Pedro Espada Jr.,Majority Leader · Dean Skelos, Minority Leader Assembly Sheldon Silver, Speaker · Ronald Canestrari, Majority Leader · Brian Kolb, Minority Leader Court of Appeals (appointed) Jonathan Lippman, Chief Justice · Carmen Beauchamp Ciparick · Robert Smith · Victoria Graffeo · Susan Phillips Read · Eugene Pigott, Jr. · Theodore Jones

v • d • e Lieutenant Governors of New York Van Cortlandt • S Van Rensselaer • J Van Rensselaer • Broome • Tayler* • Clinton • Tayler • Swift* • Tayler • Root • Tallmadge • Pitcher • P Livingston* • Dayan* • Throop • Stebbins* • Oliver* • E Livingston • Tracy • Bradish • Dickinson • Gardiner • Lester* • Fish • Patterson • Church • Raymond • Selden • Campbell • Floyd-Jones • Alvord • Woodford • Beach • Robinson • Dorsheimer • Hoskins • Hill • McCarthy* • Jones • Sheehan • Saxton • Woodruff • Higgins • Bruce • Raines* • Chanler • White • Cobb* • Conway • Glynn • Wagner* • Schoeneck • Walker • Wood • Lusk* • Lunn • Lowman • Corning • Lehman • Bray • Poletti • Hanley* • Wallace • Hanley • Moore • Wicks* • Mahoney* • DeLuca • Wilson • Anderson* • Krupsak • Cuomo • DelBello • Anderson* • Lundine • McCaughey • Donohue • Paterson • Bruno* • Skelos* • Smith* • Espada* • Ravitch** • Smith* • Ravitch (*) denotes Acting; (**) denotes Contested