No. 2 Makes Good

"I'm free!" chortled Nelson Rockefeller as he resigned last week after 15 years as the generally exciting, expansive and expensive Governor of New York. The job passed automatically to Rocky's loyal if colorless Lieutenant Governor Malcolm Wilson, 59. It was Wilson who initially pushed Rockefeller toward the executive mansion in 1958 when, as an influential state assemblyman, he took Rocky around to various Republican leaders and trumpeted him as the man who could unseat Democrat Averell Harriman. Now it was finally Wilson's turn to step into the limelight.

As Governor, Wilson faces some daunting tasks. He will have to live up to his promise, made during last week's inaugural, that "this is not going to be a caretaker administration." If he is to win nomination for a full four-year term as Governor, he will have to overcome his image as a perpetual No. 2 man. At the same time, Wilson will have to provide strong leadership for a state party that has been badly damaged by Watergate, by the departure of Rocky, its chief vote getter, and by the indictment of Assembly Speaker Perry Duryea Jr. on charges of vote fraud.

In the eyes of many Republican leaders, Wilson is well qualified. In 20 years in the state assembly and 15 as Lieutenant Governor, he acquired a knowledge of the state bureaucracy and local party organizations that few other New York pols can match. "Rockefeller had a fleeting idea of who all the county chairmen were," says one Wilson associate, "but Malcolm is on a first-name basis with most of the county leaders and the state committeemen, and many of the party workers." Wilson's superb party connections, combined with the generous amounts of political patronage that he can dispense as Governor, give him an inside track for the gubernatorial nomination, especially now that Duryea, his chief potential opponent, is in legal trouble. But the bland Wilson, who has had little visibility, may face an uphill struggle in the general election if opposed by a strong Democrat.

The son of a patent attorney, Wilson was born in Manhattan but has lived most of his life in suburban Yonkers. A devout Roman Catholic who attends Mass every day, he graduated from Fordham Law School. At 24, Wilson won a seat in the state assembly. He acquired a reputation as a meticulous, sometimes plodding legislator who epitomized conservatism in both politics and private life.

Wilson may attempt to change some of the trends of the Rockefeller years, notably the fast-rising rate of state spending. Likely areas for economizing: welfare expenses, which in fiscal 1973 amounted to $1.4 billion, and the state bureaucracy, which under Rocky doubled to more than 200,000 employees.

Wilson has in the past criticized the low-tuition policies of the extensive state university system, which was built up by Rocky and stands as one of his proudest achievements. "I believe," said Wilson in an inauguration encomium to old-fashioned values, "that there is as much dignity in the labor of skilled hands as in the work of highly educated minds."

Wilson's accession frees Rockefeller to direct his new National Commission on Critical Choices for Americans. The commission's 33 members--plus seven ex officio members, including Vice President Gerald Ford and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger--all chosen personally by Rockefeller, have met once; regular task-force meetings will begin early in 1974. The commission aims to delve into such large world questions as energy, political stability and population growth, and to make practical policy recommendations over the next two years--in time for the next presidential campaign.

Rockefeller unconvincingly denies trying to use the commission as a springboard to the presidency. Two weeks ago, the Senate Appropriations Committee shelved a White House request for a $1,000,000 federal grant to the commission, on the ground that it is a potential vehicle for Rockefeller's political ambitions. Questions have also been raised about the $1,000,000 gifts that Rocky and Brother Laurence each gave the commission; the gifts could be construed as violations of federal law, which now places a $50,000 ceiling on the amount that any presidential hopeful, or his family, can spend on his candidacy.

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