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Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. First to Peter Kiernan,
who was Council to the Governor, I was serving as Attorney General. He was a great council
to the governor; he was a great colleague to me as Attorney General. Let's give Peter
a round of applause. To former first lady, Michelle Paige Patterson, thank you for being
here, thank you for your words, thank you for your service. To Alex and Ashley, thank
you very much for taking the time to come up. To Roger Derrick who was the artist and
I'm going to leave the governor for last obviously. We also have a number of colleagues with us
who we served with, former Attorney General Bob Abrams is here, pleasure to be with you
Bob. Former Borough President and now MTA Vice Chairman Fernando Ferrer, pleasure to
be with you Freddie. Assemblyman Denny Farrell, Senators Joe Griffo, Senator Malcolm Smith,
former Senator Joe Bruno, thank you all very much for being here.
For those of you who haven't been to the Capital before, first, welcome to Albany. This is
a strange new world when people come to Albany to get away from the snow, isn't it? For those
of you who haven't been to the Capital before, welcome—It's a magnificent building. It's
one of New York's hidden treasures, not enough people see the Capital, especially from down
south. It was finished in 1899 by Teddy Roosevelt, opened it up after 30 years of construction
and design and more construction. Teddy Roosevelt finally said enough is enough and wanted to
conclude it in 1899. It was a magnificent monument that the founding fathers were building
for the State of New York and to public service. They had hundreds of stone carvers from all
around the world came—all different stones from all across the world. And he really wanted
to build what turned out to be one of the most expensive works in the nation at that
time—because they were proud of what they were doing. They were the great State of New
York. And they were building a temple to public service. So, pleasure to have you here. This
is called the War Room, it celebrates New York's warriors—Theodore Roosevelt, some
of the great generals of all times: General Warren, General Skylar, and the fourth corner
is for the unknown soldiers. We're going to take you to the Hall of Governors shortly.
The Hall of governors was just redone. Hall of Governors was a random collection of some
of the Governors of the State in no particular order. And it's a very long hallway, but schools
from all across the State would come up to show the schoolchildren the Capital and the
Hall of Governors.
And you would see these classes of schoolchildren walking up and down the hall, the teachers
straining to find some kind of logic to what she was showing them...random pictures of
old white men scattered around the hallway. So we actually redid the whole thing and now
and we put it now in a chronological timeline so you can walk around the hall and you're
walking through history and you can see the dates and you see what was going on. And this—today—this
portrait will actually complete the Hall of Governors. It's been underway for three years.
We were missing two portraits; we found all the other portraits for all the other governors
somewhere across the state. And we had two portraits missing that I wanted to hang. One
was David Patterson, and one was my father. I called the easy first, I called David, and
I said "David we're finishing the Hall of Governors, and I would love to make sure your
portrait was in the gallery." And you know how quick and fast David is, he came right
back and said, "Are you sure you don't have to be dead first?" Good question. If you did
it would pose certain practical problems. We did a little quick research and found out
there was no controlling legal authority on whether you have to be dead before they hang
your portrait, so we are going to construe the to allow us to hang the portraits of living
people.
So David agreed to do the portrait and that's what started us on the road to today. I then
called my father, and I said, "Okay, every other portrait is ready, we just need you."
He said, "Well you don't have David Patterson." I said, "No, I do." He can live and we can
hang it at the same time. So, my father, who had refused to do the portrait since he left,
still refused to have the portrait done. We then came to a very alternative, which is
we had his portrait done without his knowledge from a picture, and we gave it to him a birthday
present. And it's one of those few birthday presents that you really can't return, you
know, there's not a lot to do with it. So my father's portrait is up, and today Governor
Patterson's portrait will be up and that will really complete the Hall of Governors. And
it's a special treat for me to be able to do this with Governor Patterson today. We
both grew up at a kitchen table with true giants in this occupation. Basil Patterson
and Mario Cuomo, and there's no secret that we wound up in public service—there's no
secret how we got here. We had phenomenal role models, and people who would speak about
politics, but they were politicians but politicians in the highest order. And they spoke about
politics with a tremendous sense of pride. They believed deeply and passionately in public
service. They believed in the principles of social justice a progressive leadership. And
they believed in government as the vehicle for collective action. And they also believed
that they had a responsibility to do everything they could do to advance that vision. And
they did. And the gift that they gave us by the sheer power of their example was a love
of public service and a belief in its potential.
Now as elected officials we don't get to pick the circumstances in which we must govern
(21:35). David Patterson certainly didn't pick his time to govern. Indeed he was given
two hours notice that he was going to wind up being Governor of the State of New York.
When Governor Patterson took the tiller, the ship of state was headed into a storm. March
16 Bear-Stearns collapsed, March 17 David Patterson became the 55th Governor of the
State of New york, and then as you heard, Peter Kiernan 14 days later, the State budget
was due within months, Lehmann Brothers collapsed; AIG was faltering, Wall Street was shaken
to the core as banks started to fall like dominos. The state's budget deficit went to
six billion dollars—one of the highest deficits ever. Governor Patterson's mission on behalf
of the people of New York was clear. And it was not a journey for the faint of heart.
This was a financial crisis unlike anything we had seen since the Great Depression. The
State would need to make dramatic and immediate shifts in how it operated. Governor Patterson
articulated a new pattern for the state in his inaugural address. He warned New Yorkers
about the new reality we faced, and he took control of the budget process with more authority
than any Governor in the history of the State of New York had done. He innovated a new budget
device known as budget extenders, which dramatically increase the Governor's power in the budget
process and shifted the balance of power so the Governor was no longer subject to the
legislative spending whims. Probably the single-most power symbol of Governor Patters steadfastness
was July first, and second 2010, when he literally vetoed the 6700 bills Peter was speaking about,
literally by his own hand to make that point that this is a different day. Four years later
we can all look back at that moment and say that Governor Patterson was right because
history has shown that his actions were prophetic, but Governor Patterson knew that he was right
at that moment, and that my friends, is called leadership. And that's what Governor Patterson
evidenced, and we all owe him a tremendous debt of gratitude for that service.
I often wonder whether I am maximizing the opportunity given to me by the people of the
State of New York. Time goes by so quickly, and change comes slowly. What mark will last
beyond my tenure? (24:30). Well, for Governor David Patterson that is a very easy question.
On April 24 2009, Governor Patterson signed the Drug-law Reform Act, reforming the Rockefeller
drug laws, a terrible miscarriage of justice that went on for 25 years. Tens of thousands
of New Yorkers were forced to serve mandatory prison terms for nonviolent crimes. Governor
Patterson's reforms cut the number of black New Yorkers going to prison by half. That's
what Governor David Patterson accomplished with that one Act.
Governor Patterson is also the first non-white Governor of New York, and the first Governor
with a visual disability. Like no other portrait in the Hall of Governors, Governor Patterson
offers a portrait of possibility. How many young people of color, how many young people
with disabilities, who may look into a mirror and see limitations will now look at this
portrait and see a new vision of possibility, a portrait that says here in the great State
of New York, the nation's progressive leader, we seek to tear down all barriers and create
a place where one is only limited by the extent of their own imagination? In life, we are
supported by those who come before us, and David Patterson stood on the shoulders of
giants. There is no doubt about that. David Patterson stood on the shoulders of his father
Basil Patterson, a pioneer himself—also Percy Sutton and Charlie Rangel, and David
Dinkins and Carl McCall. But David Patterson stood taller. And he reached even higher,
and he want even further, and in that journey, he lifted us all. Ladies and gentlemen it
is my pleasure to give you the 55th Governor of the State of New York, David Patterson.