Andrew Kurtzman of New York One: Tell us, Ray Harding, your margin of victory exceeded the 50,000 you needed to keep your permanent ballot status. What was your reaction as you heard the news?

RBH: I was happy because the Liberal Party, in its 54th year, is the most enduring third party in the history of the nation...and I look forward to another 54 years.

NY1: Is this the closest you'd come to losing your ballot status?

RBH: That's what people who don't pay attention to history say. But in fact, eight years ago in 1990, with Mario Cuomo as our candidate for Governor, we had some eight thousand fewer votes than we've received this year. So based on that, I had no question that the votes would be in place because we had a candidate very different from and not duplicative of the Democratic Party's candidate.

NY1: You took a lot of heat at the time, or at least enjoyed a lot of skepticism, on your choice of Betsy McCaughey Ross as your standard-bearer. I guess some of those skeptics thought they were born out when her Democratic primary campaign crashed and burned as her husband withdrew all that money and she seemed to be going down the tubes. What were you thinking at that time?

RBH: I was thinking how pathetic those people were in not understanding what was important in this year's election...the opportunity to get rid of Al D'Amato. Early on in the Spring, we were able to figure out that for a combination of reasons, the Governor could not be defeated, but that Senator D'Amato could.

So in early Spring, the formulation of the Liberal Party was to come up with a ticket based on how we could maximize the opportunity to defeat D'Amato. Once we agreed upon Chuck Schumer, during a time when Geraldine Ferraro still had high poll numbers and Mark Green was still in the campaign, we formed the rest of the ticket in such a way that when the general election came about we would be in the position to exploit Senator D'Amato's greatest weakness:across the entire Eastern seaboard, there was not one Republican Governor or Senator supporting 'right-to-life'... with the exception of Al D'Amato!

We structured the entire campaign around our ability to credibly press the issue of abortion rights and freedom of choice. That was the reason we sponsored issue formulation ads -- to the tune of $900,000 in TV time -- directed at Al D'Amato's position on the issue of choice. That was the same reason, within our own Betsy McCaughey Ross campaign - both on radio and TV - that we concentrated on her pro-choice position. We made it a single issue campaign by pointing out the Liberal Party's historic role in filing an amicus brief in the Supreme Court in 1973, when Roe v. Wade was argued, and the fact that our gubernatorial candidate has a one hundred percent position on the issue of choice.

We came at D'Amato on the issue of choice with issue formulation ads as well as straight campaign ads. The notion that we could do something important this year by eliminating Al D'Amato as U.S. Senator was the correct view. Those skeptics and naysayers who made fun of the Liberal Party when we chose Betsy McCaughey Ross last April or early May, were the same people who thought that any of the Democratic Party candidates like Richard Kahan, Joe Hynes, Jim LaRocca or Peter Vallone would stand a chance of defeating George Pataki.

Some of us realized what the situation was, especially when I heard Jim LaRocca say in the middle of the primary campaign "I'm broke and I'm proud of it." Then I realized that none of those candidates knew what it would take to defeat George Pataki.

NY1: Then tell us about that strange week when Ross' husband was pulling out his support and the papers were once again filled with stories about Betsy's erratic behavior and her erratic personality and there were questions about how she could possibly continue. Did you think to yourself, "I've made the worst mistake of my career"?

RBH: Never for a minute. All that occurred during the waning weeks of the Democratic primary. I knew that after Primary Day, September 15th, when the Liberal Party would take over her campaign, we would have no more erratic behavior, no more staff members leaving, no more leaks from the candidate's headquarters...

And so starting on September 16th, we ran a smooth campaign, with the candidate projecting the issues with her "on the ground-in-person" campaigning, while we broadcast radio and TV ads.

NY1: But how did you know that there'd be no more erratic behavior and no more staff fights?

RBH: Because I've been doing this for more than three decades and I know what's required to run a campaign.

NY1: You would take charge ---

RBH: It's not the first time I've ever been involved in running a campaign, Andrew...

NY1: So what is it exactly that you did that clamped down on all of those previous problems?

RBH: You instill fear!

NY1: Among your candidate or her staff?

RBH: I'm joking, Andrew…

You knew something was 'out of focus' when you saw the official campaign poster and brochure.

The 10,000 watt smile that lit up city blocks, had been reduced to look like a smirk. The trim figure in a rainbow of pastel-toned, fitted St. John suits, was pictured in baggy gray. The lady everybody called BETSY, had a campaign brochure emphasizing ROSS.

Was it any wonder that she came to doubt the wisdom of the strategic counsel that was supposed to win the Democratic Primary?

"The Candidate" was a real person named Betsy McCaughey Ross, Lt. Governor of New York State, able to leap political parties in a single bound; 'armed and dangerous'with PhD-in-hand, and the ability to discuss a variety of issues in-depth; a person able to blow off a Governor who'd used her and then ignored her; a person who'd held her own with a group of Democratic opponents who couldn't understand what hit them when they 'debated' with her.

Here's the truth about Betsy: No matter where she started -- as the darling of Republican conservatives, or as George Pataki's Lt. Governor ("What kind of liberal could she be?") -- Betsy McCaughey Ross will forever be linked to the Liberal Party's future and to its esteemed history.

What does Betsy stand for? What kind of candidate was she?

Whether it was freedom of choice, the development of a link between quality child care and the early days of elementary school, the use of technology in schools to make up for early failures, an end to 'managed' healthcare as we know it, welfare reform that brought literacy training and jobs that pay a living wage to former recipients…many of these elements are part of our liberal agenda -- and she was very comfortable with all of them.

Her appearances at minority gatherings - churches and senior centers - were electric.

Wherever we went, women of African-American and Hispanic descent clearly saw this good-looking, well-dressed blonde woman from poor beginnings and troubled family circumstances, as a genuine role model. There was a mutual and enthusiastic showering of affection and admiration.

Although her "famous erratic behavior" was nowhere in sight during the almost two months we worked together, there was an occasional fiery moment when she thought we'd failed to meet some expectation. But the storm would blow over quickly and It was obvious that we knew she'd come through for us and she knew we wouldn't let her down.

In the end, what was most telling about Betsy was that she knew from the outset that the Governor had $20 million for his campaign and was all but unbeatable. And what little hope she had in the Democratic Primary disappeared when the money to help win that election was withdrawn by Mr. Ross.

And yet, as promised, she went on. A few days after the Democratic primary, she came bursting (she always 'bursts') into the Liberal Party headquarters determined to fight for her causes, her constituents, and for the Liberal Party's future.

Thanks, Betsy. You kept your promise… you did the job…and I bet we'll meet again.

Martin S. Begun, a long-time leader in the Democratic Party in New York City and an influential voice in healthcare policy in New York, has enrolled in the Liberal Party and joined the party's leadership effort to effectively develop policy positions that respond to community needs throughout the state. Martin I. Hassner, formerly chairman of the Young Liberals and executive director of the Liberal Party in Queens County during the Rose-Dubinsky-Davidson years, has become the party's State Executive Director.

After 35 years in academia at New York University's School of Medicine and Medical Center, Mr. Begun has formed and leads MSB Strategies, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in public policy, intergovernmental relations, and client services. He maintains an academic post at N.Y.U. as Senior Fellow at the University's Taub Research Center at the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.

Mr. Begun serves, by appointment of the Governor of New York State, as a member of the Board of the Battery Park City Authority; by appointment of the Speaker of the New York City Council, as a member of the N.Y.C. Campaign Finance Board; and was chosen by the Mayor of New York to serve on the Mayoral Task Force on Police/Community Relations. He has published widely specializing in healthcare.

After Brooklyn Law School, Hassner spent five years in radio and TV news and public affairs, and then as Special Counsel to the Mayor of Newburgh, N.Y. He returned to New York City as Executive Director of the Leukemia Society of America and he remained in the non-profit healthcare and education field for the next 25 years with time-out (four years) to be National Director of the Healthcare Marketing Division of Hill & Knowlton, then the world's largest public relations firm. He last did some political speech-writing and fund raising consulting in the early 1980's on the John Anderson Presidential campaign where he first met Ray Harding and that era of the Liberal Party.

For the past eight years he has been developing model programs in education, early childhood development and juvenile justice in Ft. Myers, Florida and Waco, Texas… a process (he says) more political-in-nature than election campaigns.

Through the eyes of Richard Kahan

The first impression was strong. Not a big man but dark, intense, determined. And the eye patch covering some surgery, added an element of mystery...

Most members of the Liberal Party's Policy Committee were not familiar with Richard Kahan. Vice Chair Ray Harding had worked with him in the Carey and Cuomo administrations and said forthrightly that he was smart and innovative.

The resume covering a 25 year career in government and the private sector with a heavy emphasis on economic development, was impressive: Chairman of the Regional Plan Association's Competitive Region Initiative and its Workforce Campaign; CEO of the Battery Park City Authority; President of the Convention Center Development Corporation; President and CEO of the Urban Development Corporation in the years between 1978-84; he had initiated more than $3 billion in economic development projects across New York State. As President of the Urban Assembly, he is leading an extensive community-based effort called the Bronx Center, which has developed plans for revitalizing a severely deteriorated 300 block section of the South Bronx, as well as developing an innovative High School. His thoughts about economic development made a strong impression on our Policy Committee. His projection of what it would take to improve New York's very weak financial and economic position in our nation - we are last among all the states in securing new business, and we have the second worst credit rating in the nation - got right to the heart of the matter and paralleled the Liberal Party's own urban agenda.

Kahan believes that the cost of doing business in the State is critical and that carefully targeted tax cuts could be extremely helpful, but that cutting costs and taxes are only a small portion of the big picture. He said that a real investment in the future would: rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, make our educational systems stronger so that students are genuinely prepared for higher education and the workforce, and unite our communities so that cities, suburbs and rural areas work together to create metropolitan regions that maximize our economic potential.

He concentrated his views on education to the high school and college years and on the fact that the United States is alone among the industrialized nations in having no formal system for moving high school graduates into the workplace…which is particularly tragic since 70% of our students who graduate do not go beyond high school.

He said he is seeking a strategic partnership among private sector executives, labor leaders and educators in the development of educational policies, core curricula and standards based on the underlying premise that education and employment are part of a single lifelong process. And he believes that government leadership is essential if the partnership is to take shape and stay on track.

Recognizing the historical fact that New York's cities, suburbs and rural areas have often worked against each other in a most counterproductive competition, he is seeking an interdependency among communities within the State and between New York and its neighbors. He sees as fact that when inner city incomes rise, suburban incomes rise as well…and when they fall, they fall in the suburbs, too. He looks at the fastest growing 25 suburban areas in metropolitan regions across America and sees that every one of them is in close proximity to a fast-growing central city. He reminded us that businesses make location decisions based on such factors as the quality of an education system, the availability and skill level of the workforce, the supply of affordable housing and the effectiveness of the transportation system and infrastructure.

When companies leave town, it effects an entire region. If education and transportation systems are failing in New York City, jobs are lost in the Westchester and Long Island suburbs. If jobs are lost in New York City, the suburbs lose residents.

Kahan never brought his message to the people of New York. He dropped out of last year’s gubernatorial race after failing to gain any support from the Democratic state convention.

His experience, his knowledge base and his determination to use both to better New York, makes him a genuine and valuable leader who should be right in the middle of efforts to bring economic development to New York. n

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