LG Richard Ravitch made what is likely his last appearance in Albany as lieutenant governor for a free-wheeling speech and Q-and-A session with reporters during which he addressed his frustrations since he was appointed to the job by Gov. David Paterson almost 18 months ago.

Ravitch also joined me for a CapTon interview that will air tonight at 8 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. In the meantime, here are some outtakes from his stint at the Rockefeller Institute…

On feeling that he didn’t get enough done when he was LG:

“I understand the disincentives. I shared vicariously the pain that a lot of the good people in government feel when their ideas are ignored.”

On whether Paterson was a strong governor:

“I think he wanted to. I think it was difficult set of circumstances to succeed the way he did, and he had not had experience as an executive. But I think he tried to do the right things, absolutely.”

On why his budget reform proposal got tanked by the governor:

“That’s a difficult question to answer. I told you, I made a set of recommendations. I assume he didn’t agree with them because he didn’t push that legislation.”

“But in fairness to David, he wanted to see what the reaction was generally, and two things happened. One: The attorney general conveyed to the distinguished gentleman from the Associated Press that he was opposed to it, and that was well known very quickly.”

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