Gordon MacInnes, president of the New Jersey Policy Perspective, write a tribute to the former state treasurer.
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By Gordon MacInnes
Cliff Goldman, one of New Jersey's greatest assets, died Sunday morning.
He was unknown to most New Jerseyans who are unaware of the great contributions he made to them and to this great state.
He shunned the spotlight, but not the mission.
Over a span of 50 years -- both inside state government and as a citizen financial advisor to nearly every governor since Richard Hughes -- he tackled the state's most pressing issues and served as the midwife to some of our most celebrated public projects.
At the age of 25, Cliff became the special assistant to the Commissioner of Community Affairs and was deeply involved in the planning and execution of the Hackensack Meadowlands Commission, serving as its first executive director.
The HMDC orchestrated the preservation of thousands of acres and, ultimately , the stadium to attract the New York Giants. Cliff assisted both governors William Cahill and Brendan Byrne in creating the Sports and Exposition Authority and the construction of Giants Stadium and the Meadowlands Race Track.
He was crackling bright, creative, disciplined, well-spoken and a clear, strong writer. Plus, he was poised and funny. A strategic thinker, he was mindful of the higher purpose of government: the common good. He was a calming voice in the howl of angry debate.
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Cliff was soft-spoken, but stood up to power for what he believed to be right, sensible and effective.
He was a member of the state board responsible for funding the state's pension funds.
When the Whitman administration opted to stop funding pensions in 1994 to pay for its tax cuts, Cliff voted "no" predicting that the state would rue the day it adopted this short-sighted, financially-unsound policy. It passed. Cliff was not reappointed and was shunned by the architects of our current financial disaster.
He was right. Gov. Phil Murphy, Senate President Steve Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin are desperately dealing with the consequences 24 years later.
Born in the Bronx -- an accent he never lost -- his family moved to Teaneck. He graduated high school and Rutgers. At age 20, he was accepted at Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School, finishing near the top of his class with a master's of public affairs. He returned to the Wilson School to be one of its first recipients of a Ph.D. and as a visiting professor teaching course in public finance.
Byrne named Cliff the state's deputy treasurer in 1974. Two years later, at the age of 33, he was confirmed as rreasurer, a position he held until early 1982.
New Jersey's treasurer is the most influential unelected person in state government with the responsibility for producing and managing its $37 billion budget, $75 billion in pension assets, controlling state purchasing and facilities, issuance and management of $45 billion in debt and managing risk and insurance.
Cliff Goldman was a central player at a critical time in New Jersey.
The most obvious example was the New Jersey Supreme Court's orders in the school finance case and the mandate that the state find the additional funds to enact a more progressive school aid formula for schools in poor urban areas. Even with strong Democratic majorities in both legislative chambers, enacting the income tax was no simple task. Frustrated by legislative inaction, the Court ordered that state government shut down effective July 1, 1976.
In the pre-computer era, Cliff calculated the consequences of a myriad of competing proposals and worked closely with legislators of both parties for the passage of the state's income tax to fund local schools. State government re-opened and New Jersey took a big step in easing the most common complaint of Jerseyans -- high property taxes.
Cliff Goldman was a wizard at tackling complex problems, working with mayors, Wall Street and legislators to come up with solutions.
One quick example: the state's old cities were suffering from the effects of 1960s riots and business and middle-class exodus to the point where their capacity to issue bonds was endangered. Cliff came up with the idea of "qualified bonds" where the interest and principal owed on bonds would be managed by the state diverting state aid to bondholders as a guarantee. A simple, creative, effective and essential idea.
Cliff believed in the inherent greatness of New Jersey despite his discouragement over its imprudent finances and political shenanigans . He spent his life, mostly behind the scenes, devoted to that quest.
Gordon MacInnes is president of the New Jersey Policy Perspective.
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Mazikeen Curtis 
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