After
33 years in office, State Senator Roy M. Goodman
has agreed to step down and take a position in
the Bloomberg administration as the president and
CEO of the United Nations Development Corporation
(UNDC). Senator Goodman, heir to a pharmaceutical
fortune, is widely seen as the leader of the moderate
wing of the Republican Party. The last of the Empire
State's Rockefeller Republicans, Goodman is the
quintessential fiscal conservative with a social
conscience. In his first term, he took an active
role in legalizing abortion. He went on to sponsor
more than 1,200 pieces of legislation, including
last year's hate-crimes bill that makes it illegal
to discriminate against gays.
Senator
Goodman graduated from Harvard. He is a tireless supporter
of the arts, and he has ensured the flow of millions
of dollars in grants each year from Albany into New
York City's museums, theaters and concert halls. His
skills as a raconteur are famous, as is his refreshingly
self-deprecating sense of humor. When he barely won
reelection last year by 200 votes, he began referring
to himself as "Landslide Goodman."
The Earth Times caught up with Goodman in
his office on Third Avenue as he was preparing
to move into his new office by the UN. Excerpts
from the interview:
Q: How did your appointment come about?
A: The appointment came about when I was least
expecting it. Mayor Bloomberg phoned me to
ask me to become a member of his kitchen cabinet,
which I said I would be pleased to do. Then
he said that the one condition he'd like to
hold up was that if I ever felt that he was
doing anything inappropriate I'd tell him,
and I said I would do that. He likes people
to be very candid and direct with him. Then
I was very happily ensconced doing my Senate
work and he called me and said unexpectedly
that he would like me to become the president
and CEO of the UNDC, which came as a total
surprise. My expectation had been that if I
ever change positions I would probably go into
the field of the arts in which I had played
an active role in the state and was under consideration
for the National Endowment for the Arts. The
mayor said he wanted someone with sufficient
seniority and experience to head the UNDC,
I think he mentioned the word gravitas, to
take on a position that would involve contacts
with the diplomatic community. He pointed out
that he was anxious to have the UN brought
closer to the family of New York City, which
was of great interest to me.
So I thought about the mayor's proposal for
about 24 hours and told him I would be delighted
to take on the position. Basically it fits
in with my feeling about the UN. I see the
UN as enormously significant in that it provides
the only viable opportunity in the world today
for people to exchange antagonistic views with
words rather than guns and bombs and hopefully
to create an understanding for enduring peace
in the world.
Q: Did your decision to accept the job have
anything to do with the fact that you barely
won re-election in 2000 against Liz Krueger?
A: Not at all. The analysis of the election
revealed that Krueger won to a large degree
because of the presence of Hillary Clinton
and Al Gore in the ticket, who got almost 80
percent of the vote. Krueger was carried in
on their shirt tails so to speak. In fact I
was very tempted to run again to see if we
could beat her more decisively, but of course
you never know.
The reason why I decided to accept the position
of president of the UNDC was that, after a
third of a century being a senator, I thought
that trying to do something different in the
foreign policy arena would be very stimulating
and so far I think it was a good decision.
Q: What do you think you bring to this job
from your previous experience in politics?
A: Hopefully the understanding of people's
needs and motivations in an attempt to cut
the cloth in a tailor-made fashion to fit the
requirements of the UN in terms of its needs
for capital spending. The part of the job that
I think is most stimulating is creating a spirit
of closeness between the UN and the city of
New York. We had a period in which there was
very little contact between the city and the
UN, but I think that Mayor Bloomberg regards
this relationship as very important. I think
that at this point the UN is very much a part
of the consortium of nations fighting terrorism,
and that makes it more important than ever.
Q: You are well-known for being a champion
of the arts, do you see a way to bring the
UN and NYC together through artistic programs?
A: At the farewell
banquet that the Governor of New York gave
for me at the executive mansion
in Albany he said: "Roy, we wish you all
the best and I'm sure that before long you
will have art objects hanging from every window
at the UN."
I think that there is a lot to be said about
bringing art to the UN, that is not a new concept
and there are many artistic things in the building.
I can envision the possibility of making a
venue for concerts and art exhibits within
the Secretariat building that would add to
the theme of world peace. I believe that art
has a cleansing effect at a time when the human
psyche has been badly scarred by the September
11 events, it can elevate men's attitude toward
their fellow human beings.
Q: What will be the first order of business
once you assume office?
A: The first thing is to establish various
friendships and connections. I expect to be
meeting with the Secretary General. He has
a very significant capital plan in mind which
involves the refurbishing of the Secretariat
building and the General Assembly building.
They are both over a half century old and greatly
in need of repairs. The estimated cost of that
is one billion dollars, and then they also
need a swing building into which employees
can be put while they refurbish, which will
cost approximately 300-400 million dollars.
In addition to that, they want to build a visitors
center which is very exciting and a wonderful
way to educate more people in the role of the
UN. The UNDC needs to understand exactly what
is involved in these projects and be as helpful
as possible.
Q: What do you foresee will be the major challenges
facing you as president of the UN Development
Corporation and how do you propose to handle
them?
A: I think that the first challenge will be
the one inherent in the raising of capital
for the UN. The fact that the UN is regarded
by many as a prime target for terrorism might
make it difficult to sell its bonds, but this
can be overcome. We need to have the federal
government provide federal tax exemption to
the UN bonds, which was done in the past but
was removed in 1986. We want to go to Washington
and get that decision reversed. We also need
a recognizable stream of future income which
can be used to pay interest and amortization
on the bonds and that can be done through leasing
arrangements of the UN buildings in UN Plaza.
I'm optimistic that the financing can be carried
out, and my own investment banking background--the
fact that I was the finance commissioner of
New York City handling several billions of
dollars during the first Lindsay administration--has
given me valuable experience in handling this
type of transaction.
| 
