{"id":15790,"date":"2023-01-20T13:50:33","date_gmt":"2023-01-20T18:50:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/?p=15790"},"modified":"2023-01-27T08:14:14","modified_gmt":"2023-01-27T13:14:14","slug":"assemblyman-gottfried","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/assemblyman-gottfried\/","title":{"rendered":"On a Half-Century of Navigating a \u2018Maze Lined with Flypaper\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

First elected at just 23, retired Assemblyman Richard Gottfried \u201968 holds the record for longest-serving New York State legislator<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Beth Saulnier<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Richard Gottfried \u201968 first joined the New York State Assembly, another Richard\u2014Nixon\u2014was in the White House. He\u2019d go on to hold his seat continuously for 52 years, serving under nine governors.<\/em> Retired in December 2022<\/a>, Gottfried now boasts the all-time record for New York State legislative service\u2014and is one of the longest-sitting politicians in U.S. history.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A progressive Democrat who represented several Manhattan neighborhoods including Chelsea, Hell\u2019s Kitchen, and part of the Upper West Side, Gottfried is known for his passionate commitment to affordable healthcare; he was also far ahead of the curve on such issues as same-sex marriage and legalizing marijuana. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Another signature achievement: the creation of the West Side\u2019s Hudson River Park<\/a>, much-beloved greenspace on land once earmarked for a highway.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Gottfried first took his seat in January 1971, Republicans held the governorship as well as the majority in both the Assembly and State Senate.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the ensuing decades\u2014spurred in part by the Democratic surge that followed the Watergate scandal\u2014he\u2019s been in the vanguard of a sea change in New York politics, rising to become a leader in the body\u2019s dominant party.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>

\"Assemblyman
With wife Louise at a block party in the \u201970s.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

A government major on the Hill (where his sister, Judith Gottfried Ruttenberg \u201963, preceded him), Gottfried earned a JD from Columbia\u2014in fact, he was elected to the Assembly while still in law school. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He and his wife, Louise, have been married for more than half a century; they have a son and two grandchildren.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How does it feel to be retired after 52 years?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m certainly enjoying it. It surprises me that every day I start out with a list of things I want to get done\u2014and at the end of the day, it seems I haven\u2019t finished half of them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve gone back to the Chinese painting class that I\u2019ve taken off and on over the years, and I\u2019m continuing my weekly Chinese calligraphy class, a hobby I\u2019ve pursued for 25 years. My wife and I have done some traveling, and we\u2019ve got more planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Assemblyman
Speaking on the Assembly floor.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Will it be hard to watch state politics from the sidelines?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So far I\u2019m comfortable with it. I follow the Albany legislative news, and I\u2019ve been in touch with several former colleagues on various pieces of legislation. Ever since law school, I have loved drafting legislation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s the appeal?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some people do crossword puzzles for fun; I like to draft legislation\u2014to make words line up and do what I want them to do. I\u2019ve got a couple of bill drafting and editing projects that I\u2019m working on\u2014some of which my colleagues will welcome, some of which they may roll their eyes at.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Some people do crossword puzzles for fun; I like to draft legislation.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Were you always interested in politics? Did you run for president of your junior high?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I tried school politics a couple of times, with no success. [He laughs.] But when I was 13, in 1960, John F. Kennedy was running for president, and like millions of others, I was very taken with him. I decided that I wanted to make elective office my career\u2014which I recognize is a bizarre ambition for a 13-year-old. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I got to high school and joined the debating team, I ran into a handful of classmates who felt the same way\u2014one is now my congressman, Jerry Nadler\u2014and we decided to band together and go into politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Richard
The promotional literature for Gottfried\u2019s first Assembly campaign included this shot of him at an antiwar rally.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Is it true that the day you were sworn in to the Assembly, the sergeant-at-arms thought you were someone\u2019s kid?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was 23, but looked half that age; it was before I grew the beard. I said, \u201cI\u2019m Assemblyman Gottfried,\u201d and I guess he thought I\u2019d said, \u201cI\u2019m with<\/em> Assemblyman Gottfried,\u201d because he said, \u201cYou\u2019re gonna have to wait till your father gets here.\u201d But it got straightened out, and I sat in my seat on opening day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reflecting on your time in the Assembly, what was most gratifying?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I was first elected, the Assembly Democratic leader and several of his staff took me under their wing\u2014partly, I think, because they found me amusing, and partly because I was an eager and willing student. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They taught me a lot about how to be effective in the legislature. One of the things that I\u2019m proudest of is that I\u2019ve passed on those lessons to new colleagues, year after year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"NY
With New York Governor Kathy Hochul at a pro-choice rally.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ve described the New York legislative process as a \u201cmaze lined with flypaper.\u201d How so?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The legislature is a complex culture in which there are any number of ways that a good idea can fail to get through. You not only need to know how to move an idea through that process, but that at any point, it could get stuck\u2014sometimes just because someone misunderstands your bill. Unless you know how to pry it loose, your idea will be dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of what single piece of legislation are you most proud?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1990, we enacted a bill of mine creating Child Health Plus, which provides free or low-cost health coverage for children whose households are a little above Medicaid eligibility. We started out small, with the notion that we could get it enacted without enormous cost\u2014and year after year we\u2019d expand it, which is exactly what we did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

The legislature is a complex culture in which there are any number of ways that a good idea can fail to get through.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In \u201997, Congress under President Clinton adopted legislation that basically said any state that enacted something like this would get two-for-one federal matching money. That enabled New York to greatly expand our program\u2014and now, every state in the Union has something similar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few years after the state law was enacted, when we were considering legislation to expand it, a family came to Albany as part of a group lobbying for expansion. With them was their son who was about five or six. They\u2019d never been able to afford to take him to the doctor since birth; he was two or three when Child Health Plus started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Chinese
One of Gottfried\u2019s works of calligraphy bears a quotation from RFK: \u201cThe future is not a gift; it is an achievement.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\n

And when they took him to the doctor\u2014I\u2019m sorry, I still choke up when I talk about this\u2014it turned out he had a brain tumor that would otherwise not have been discovered until it was too late. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because it was discovered early, it was treatable\u2014and here was this healthy, energetic young boy. It doesn\u2019t get much better than that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lastly: calligraphy is an unusual hobby. What do you enjoy about it?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It requires you to be both disciplined and free\u2014which I guess is kind of like \u201cfreedom with responsibility.\u201d Where did I hear that before? [He laughs.]<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I find it beautiful and very satisfying. The characters are amazing feats of graphic design; each style has its own features, how it curves from one stroke to another, and the use of negative space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lot of my calligraphy is sayings from Confucius. As philosophers go, he was focused on the here and now\u2014on what you can achieve in the real world. I\u2019ve always found that very appealing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Top: Gottfried speaking at a rally for transgender rights. (All images provided)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Published January 20, 2023<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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First elected at just 23, retired Assemblyman Richard Gottfried \u201968 holds the record for longest-serving New York State legislator<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":15907,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"alumni_hub_syml_posts":[15269,8527,13099],"footnotes":""},"categories":[229],"tags":[],"cornell_year_post":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-15790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni"],"yoast_head":"\nOn a Half-Century of Navigating a \u2018Maze Lined with Flypaper\u2019 - Cornellians | Cornell University<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"First elected at just 23, retired Assemblyman Richard Gottfried \u201968 holds the record for longest-serving New York State legislator\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/assemblyman-gottfried\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"On a Half-Century of Navigating a \u2018Maze Lined with Flypaper\u2019 - 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