Mr. LASKY. Thank you, sir. The CHAIRMAN. Senator Scott. Senator HUGH SCOTT. Mr. Lasky, did these other books you referred to make money for you? Mr. LASKY. A lot of money, yes, sir. Senator HUGH SCOTT. A lot of money. All right, thank you. Mr. LASKY. That is why I smoke these cigars. [Laughter.] The committee will stand in recess until 10 o'clock Monday morning. [Whereupon, at 5:41 p.m., the committee was recessed, to reconvene at 10 a.m., Monday, November 18, 1974.] NOMINATION OF NELSON A. ROCKEFELLER OF NEW YORK TO BE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 1974 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON RULES AND ADMINISTRATION, Washington, D.C. The committee met, pursuant to recess, at 10:01 a.m., in room 318, Russell Senate Office Building, Hon. Howard W. Cannon (chairman), presiding. Present: Senators Cannon, Pell, Robert C. Byrd, Allen, Williams, Hugh Scott, and Griffin. Staff present: William McWhorter Cochrane, staff director; Chester H. Smith, chief counsel; Hugh Q. Alexander, senior counsel; Joseph E. O'Leary, professional staff member (minority); John P. Coder, professional staff member; Jack L. Sapp, professional staff member; Peggy Parrish, assistant chief clerk; James H. Duffy, chief counsel, Subcommittee on Privileges and Elections; James F. Schoener, minority counsel, Subcommittee on Privileges and Elections; and John J. Swearingen, staff director, Subcommittee on Computer Services. Also present: Richard D. Casad, chief investigator; and Harry Claiborne, special consultant. The CHAIRMAN. The committee will come to order. Dr. Ronan, would you stand and be sworn, sir? Do you solemnly swear that the testimony you are about to give before this committee will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God? Mr. RONAN. I do. The CHAIRMAN. You may be seated, sir. Will you state for the record your name, address, and occupation? STATEMENT OF DR. WILLIAM J. RONAN, SENIOR ADVISER, ROCKEFELLER FAMILY ASSOCIATES, NEW YORK, N.Y. Mr. RONAN. My name is William J. Ronan. I live at 2 Sutton Place in the city of New York. And I am employed as a senior adviser to Rockefeller Family Associates. And I have some other positions as well, member of the New York State Power Authority, and serve as member and chairman of the board of commissioners, the Port of New York Authority. The CHAIRMAN. It is my understanding, sir, that you have a prepared statement, and we would be happy to have you present it now, if vou desire. Mr. RONAN. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee, I appreciate your invitation to appear and to personally testify respecting the nomination of Nelson Rockefeller for the Vice Presidency of the United States. Had I not been invited, I should have requested the opportunity, particularly to set forth the facts respecting my relationship with him. It has been my privilege to be an employee, an associate, and a friend of Nelson Rockefeller for nearly 18 years. In close association over these years, I have seen at first hand his total devotion to this Nation and its democratic institutions. I have witnessed his personal interest in people of all stations in life and his particular concern for the disadvantaged. Certainly, a person of his wealth could have lived a life of ease and noninvolvement in the pressing problems of our times. Had he chosen to do so, he could have sat on the political sidelines, instead of entering the rough and tumble of public life in this country, including the seeking and winning of elective office. Nelson Rockefeller is the hardest working man I know. And the principal driving force that has involved him in public affairs, and indeed in most of his business and philanthropic activities, from my observations, is his deep commitment to American democracy, to individual freedom, and to a peaceful world built on human dignity. Characteristic of the man himself and consistent with this commitment is Nelson Rockefeller's willingness to undergo the in-depth investigations and inquiries into his personal and public life that apparently are concomitant with the 25th amendment confirmation process. In connection with these inquiries, there have been unauthorized and illegal leaks of information furnished to the congressional committees in confidence by the Governor. Such leaks have produced innuendos, misleading statements and partial truths which have been given wide circulation by the media and without a forum in which the facts could be dispassionately set forth. The reconvening of your committee constitutes such a forum. I therefore doubly welcome the opportunity to appear before you and to set straight the record of my association with Governor Rockefeller. I wish to speak particularly to three interrelated matters: 1. The nature of my relationship with Nelson Rockefeller. 2. Loans from Mr. Rockefeller to me. 3. The Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority Bond Convenant amendment. I first met Nelson Rockefeller in connection with the Temporary State Commission to prepare for a Constitutional Convention. At the time, the fall of 1956, I was on leave from New York University where I was the dean of the school of public administration and social serv ice and professor of government. I was, at that time, serving as first deputy city administrator of the city of New York under Mayor Robert F. Wagner, Jr. Mr. Rockefeller had been named chairman. of the commission by Governor Harriman and the leaders of the New York State Senate and Assembly. Mr. Rockefeller asked me to come to his office, which I did, the first time I had ever seen him, and as we sat down, we were offered coffee. I took coffee. The Governor-to-be took coffee, and the young lady serving some goodies along with it came over with a tray which had Danish pastry and one glazed doughnut. It was passed to me and I took the glazed doughnut. When I did, I thought she was going to drop the tray, because that obviously had been intended for Governor Rockefeller. The next day, when I appeared for the second conversation, there were two glazed doughnuts on the tray. This was the beginning of my association with Nelson Rockefeller. He asked me to undertake the post of director of studies for director of the Commission to prepare for the constitutional convention, which I agreed to do on a part-time basis, as I was returning to New York University the following semester. This was to be the beginning of a continuing professional relationship and of a close personal relationship and friendship. The temporary commission on the constitution and the temporary legislative committee that succeeded it produced a solid series of studies and recommendations on New York State's constitution, its government and emergency problems. In the course of this intensive activity, I worked very closely with Nelson Rockefeller and came to appreciate his very substantial abilities. I became convinced that he could provide the kind of leadership New York State required, and I joined others in urging him to seek the governorship. When he was nominated as the Republican candidate for Governor in 1958, I joined his campaign group and undertook responsibility for the substantive issues and program side of the campaign effort. This meant I bore a responsibility for the substantive strategy regarding issues, programs, and proposals and had supervision of research, speeches, press, radio, and television scripts, advertisements, TV and radio commercials, and liaison with the public opinion polling organization that was working on the campaign. Again, in this effort, I worked closely with Mr. Rockefeller. I wish to stress that my role in this campaign and all other gubernatorial campaigns in which I was involved, namely those of 1962 and 1966, was exclusively in the substantive strategy and issues area and had nothing to do with the raising of campaign funds or the rest of campaign organization and administration. This was also true of what modest efforts I made on behalf of the Governor in seeking the Republican nomination for the Presidency. Although he had initially been given scant chance of winning, Nelson Rockefeller won the governship in an upset victory in November 1958 over incumbent Gov. Averell Harriman. After the election, Nelson took a vacation while I pulled together systematically the program commitments portion of his campaign, the pledges he had made, and I wound up the research and substantive issues part of the campaign. Sometime after his return, he asked me to join his administration as secretary to the Governor, and I agreed to accept this post. In New York State, the secretary to the Governor is a statutory position which has really such duties as the Governor assigns it-outside of a few routine ministerial functions. The secretary to the Governor is in practice the "chef du cabinet" and principal staff aide or chief of staff to the Governor. By tradition and long usage, the secretary to the Governor acts on behalf of the Governor and, in his name, deals with the departments and agencies of State government in liaison, also with the legislature in many matters, and in dealing with various individuals and public groups who have business with the chief executive of the State. It is a very sensitive post, a very responsible post, and a very demanding post. For example, in any emergency situation, the secretary to the Governor is called and it falls to him to notify the Governor and to take such interim action as befits the situation. In my own file, work has not only been a vocation, but an avocation. My interest in public affairs transcended any particular job I held and accounts for my involvement, not only in official activities but also in civic professional societies and later transit trade association activities, as well. In fact, my own concept of a vacation, or indeed a weekend, involved work, physical or otherwise, hopefully in such cases out of the daily routine, but purposively oriented. The Governor and I shared this total absorption in working on the solution of public problems. As secretary to the Governor, I served 8 years minus 14 days. These were days, weeks, months, and years of close daily around-the-clock association with the Governor in a very exciting and very active and creative period in the history of New York State government. As secretary, my office was but a few steps from the Governor's, and I was continually in and out of his office. Under Governor Rockefeller, the office of secretary to the Governor became the Governor's arm for assuring that his programs were being carried out and, in addition, the office was given a responsibility for program development. As happens in such a situation, as I described, our already deep friendship deepened. During this period I became increasingly involved in the development of programs ranging from the State university as a major institution, the development of pure water programs, the developmnt of a park and recreation program for this State, a program to improve transportation. I became increasingly involved in the urban transport problems, starting with the financial collapse of the New Haven Railroad, the threatened stoppage of the Long Island Railroad, and the serious problems of subway and bus operations in New York City. As a consequence, I participated actively in development of solutions to these problems and the creation of what ultimately became the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. After the Governor's reelection for a third term in 1966, I resigned on December 16 as secretary to the Governor. For a year and one-half before this, I had carried the chairmanship of the Metropolitan Commuter Transportation Authority on a nonsalaried basis while continuing to serve as secretary to the Governor. By this time, it became clear that the MCTA needed full-time direction and that a broader transit consolidation was needed to meet the needs of the New York metropolitan region. It was during this period that the MCTA purchase of the Long Island Railroad was consummated with State approval, a purchase in which I played a role along with a designee of the legislature, Mr. William Shea. In March of 1968 when the consolidation took place of most of the urban mass transit activities in the New York metropolitan area of a major proportion, under the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, I became the chairman of the board and chief executive officer of this agency. |