The Empire Center for Public Policy will honor the late former Governor Hugh L. Carey with a policy forum series devoted to issues in New York State government.

“As a non-partisan research organization dedicated to educating New Yorkers on their public policy choices, we can’t conceive of a better model than Governor Carey,” said E.J. McMahon, founder and research director of the Empire Center.

Nancy Carey Cassidy, a daughter of the late governor, said:

“The Carey family is honored that the Empire Center recognizes the importance of our father’s legacy and dedication to New York State’s public policies. He believed that by working with others ‘we find the deepest satisfactions not in the goods we have but in the good we can do together.’  We hope that this and other forums can help educate future leaders to collaborate for the good of all.”

April 11 was the 100^th anniversary of Hugh Carey’s birth.  He died in August 2011.

Carey, a Democrat and former seven-term congressman who served as governor from 1975 to 1983, is widely remembered as “the man who saved New York” for his leadership during the city and state fiscal crisis. Amid the unprecedented economic “stagflation” of the 1970s, Carey stabilized and restructured a state government that had expanded far beyond its means.

Across two terms, Carey brought state spending under control and reduced income tax rates, describing his approach as “supply side economics blended with concern and compassion that worked.” Notable elements of Carey’s legacy also included the capital financing package that rebuilt the New York City transit system in the 1980s.

The Empire Center’s first Governor Hugh L. Carey Policy Forum will be held in Albany on Thursday, May 30. “New York’s Budget Process: Time for a Rebalance?” will focus on questions surrounding the state Constitution’s Executive Budget provisions and the governor’s power in the budget-making process.

In addition to McMahon, who will present a paper on the forum topic, speakers will include Robert S. Smith, retired associate judge of the state Court of Appeals; Peter J. Kiernan, former counsel to Governor David Paterson; and Richard L. Brodsky, former state Assembly member. Senator Liz Krueger (D-Manhattan), chair of the Senate Finance Committee, will give closing remarks.

The forum will be held at the Capital Center on Eagle Street in Albany starting at 8:30 am. Attendance is by invitation and seating will be limited.

The Empire Center, based in Albany, is an independent, not-for-profit, non-partisan think tank dedicated to promoting policies that can make New York a better place to live, work and raise a family.