Dick Gottfried, Champion of Liberal Causes, to Retire After 52 Years – The New York Times

In 1970, as the nation was embroiled in protests over civil rights and the Vietnam War, a boyish-looking, progressive-minded, antiwar law student was elected to represent Manhattans West Side in the New York State Assembly.

The 23-year-old student, Richard Gottfried, became one of the youngest lawmakers elected in the state, and it did not take long for him to develop a reputation as a champion of liberal policies that were nobly idealistic but also often politically infeasible even if the concepts would later become popular within the party.

He spoke out in favor of legalizing prostitution in the 70s, shepherded legislation to decriminalize marijuana in 1977 and was the first lawmaker to introduce a same-sex marriage bill in 2003.

A half-century and 26 elections later, Mr. Gottfried, now 74, holds the record as the longest-serving legislator in New Yorks history.

His career will soon receive its bookend: Mr. Gottfried will not seek re-election next year and will retire when his term ends next December, 18,993 days after he was first sworn in.

It was a difficult decision because I so love what I do, Mr. Gottfried, a Democrat, said on Sunday from his 22nd-floor Manhattan office, which overlooks City Hall and the East River. Its really a privilege to have spent your life doing work that you really love and to be able to retire when you still love doing it.

In 1987, he became chairman of the Assemblys health committee, a perch he has used to craft consequential health care policies, such as the legalization of medical marijuana in 2014 and a program to provide children from low- and moderate-income families with free insurance.

Mr. Gottfried, his once red-tinged beard now mostly white, has become a fixture in Albany, bearing witness as the state slowly lurched to the left and embraced many of the policies he had long supported.

He evolved into a constant presence in a state capital defined by political tumult and big personalities. He witnessed nine governors take up office in Albany, including two Cuomos and the states first Black and female governors. He saw two of them resign in disgrace and legislated through fiscal crises, political coups and the arrest of a string of his colleagues in corruption cases that tainted the State Capitols reputation.

Mr. Gottfried, known to most as Dick, is considered a legislators legislator by his colleagues a policy nerd who often drafts his own legislative language. Carl E. Heastie, the speaker of the Assembly, said in a statement that Dick is a living encyclopedia when it comes to health care, adding that he has set the standard for what it means to be a true citizen legislator.

Mr. Gottfried, a graduate of Columbia Law School, ran for an open seat in the State Assembly as part of a wave of young, reform-focused Democrats who challenged the partys establishment and opposed the Vietnam War. He emerged victorious in a contested primary to represent a district that includes Chelsea and Hells Kitchen and has been easily re-elected ever since.

Kids, was what everyone called us, he said. I was 23 years old and very full of myself, and it never occurred to me to be intimidated by anybody else.

Indeed, Mr. Gottfried, whom The Times described in 1971 as looking more like a page than a politician, was denied entry to the Assembly chamber on his first day as an incoming lawmaker. He recalled how a confused sergeant-at-arms told him, Well, youll have to wait until your father gets here.

Democrats were in the minority in the Assembly, but, fueled by the fallout from the Watergate scandal, the party regained control of the chamber in 1974, a majority they have held ever since. Democratic control, Mr. Gottfried said, led to a host of lasting changes, including funding to create district offices and hire legislative staff and rule changes to democratize the body and shift power away from party bosses.

Representative Jerrold Nadler, a longtime friend who studied with Mr. Gottfried at Stuyvesant High School and recalled sleeping in the same hotel rooms when he was Mr. Gottfrieds assistant early on, said his former colleague would be remembered as a tireless worker.

People take for granted that Assembly members mail out newsletters, said Mr. Nadler, who was elected to the Assembly in 1976. Nobody did so before Dick. He invented the concept. He wrote them and then he had them printed and sent out, and I dont think the Assembly paid for that until later.

Mr. Gottfried, who entered office during the last years of Gov. Nelson Rockefellers 14-year tenure, recalled the urgency of taking a series of high-stakes votes when Gov. Hugh Carey was trying to save New York City from the brink of bankruptcy in the 1970s.

Everyone had a sense of the importance of what we were doing and the potential that at any given point things could really fall apart, he said.

He wont forget a 45-minute phone call he received in the late 1980s from Gov. Mario M. Cuomo, who was upset because Mr. Gottfried had told an administration official that he believed Mr. Cuomo was at war with the Legislature. I looked at my clock and I thought, My God, this is the budget season in Albany, doesnt the governor have more important things to do than be on the phone with me?

Then there were his dealings with Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who resigned in August following sexual harassment allegations. Mr. Gottfried, who engaged in grueling negotiations with Mr. Cuomo over his medical marijuana bill, took a 20-second pause to choose his words.

I certainly had, as many people did, a lot more friction with Andrew Cuomo because that was often his style, he said. I think Ill leave it at that.

The most impressive governor? Mr. Gottfried said Eliot Spitzer, who resigned after it emerged in 2008 that he had been a client of a high-end prostitution ring. If he had not self-destructed, we would have had eight years of very impressive progress, Im convinced, he said.

Mr. Gottfried served most of his tenure while Republicans controlled the State Senate, but he estimated that about 500 of his bills were enacted into law.

He said one of his proudest achievements was the passage of the Hudson River Park Act in 1998 under Gov. George E. Pataki, a three-term Republican, to protect a stretch of riverfront in Manhattan as a park, overcoming opposition from residents who believed it would lead to commercial development.

He also recalled an embarrassing blunder during an attempt to pass his bill to remove criminal penalties for the possession of small amounts of marijuana. The bill was brought to the Assembly floor in May 1977 after an agreement had been reached following weeks of negotiations, but it all unraveled very publicly after a roll call showed the bill was six votes shy.

I thought I had the votes and it turned out I didnt, he said. I think that was probably, by far, my biggest screw-up.

In recent years, Mr. Gottfried has become a revered mentor to a cohort of younger, more diverse left-wing lawmakers who helped Democrats reclaim full control of the State Legislature in 2018. Brad Hoylman, a Democrat elected in 2012 to represent parts of Mr. Gottfrieds district in the State Senate, said Mr. Gottfried had left an indelible imprint on our laws.

In his last year in office, Mr. Gottfried said he hoped to channel his efforts into one of his longtime policy aspirations: trying to pass the New York Health Act, a bill he first introduced in 1992 to create universal single-payer health coverage in the state.

In retirement, he hopes to spend more time with his granddaughters and travel with his wife of over 50 years, Louise Gottfried, to Amsterdam and Taiwan. Mr. Gottfried, who lives on the Upper West Side, also plans to dedicate himself to his decades-long passion for Chinese calligraphy, which he described as an addiction.

Im going to miss my colleagues and being able to translate my thoughts into law, Mr. Gottfried said. Thats what I dreamed of doing when I was 13, and Ive been able to do that for half a century.

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Dick Gottfried, Champion of Liberal Causes, to Retire After 52 Years - The New York Times