From left are retiring state Assemblyman Andrew Goodell, R-Jamestown, Marion Beckerink, Rotary Club of Jamestown president, and Becky Robbins, club program chairwoman.

Retiring state Assemblyman Andrew Goodell, R-Jamestown, spoke recently to members of the Rotary Club of Jamestown.

Goodell is also a member of the club.

Goodell graduated from Maple Grove High School, obtained an undergraduate degree in political economics and mathematics from Williams College, and a law degree from Cornell Law School. After practicing in a private law firm in Washington, D.C., he returned to Chautauqua County, served in the Chautauqua County Attorney’s office for six years, then served eight years as the Chautauqua County Executive. In 1996, he was appointed by Gov. George Pataki on a task force to restructure New York’s employment, health, and social services.

Goodell returned to private practice in 1998, focusing on business and commercial law. He has served as a board member of the Chautauqua Leadership Network, State University at Fredonia Business Administration and Accounting Advisory Board, Bemus Bay Pops, Jamestown Noon Rotary, Girl Scouts of Southwestern New York, Citizens Opportunity for Development and Equality (CODE), First Covenant Church, and Silver Creek Montessori School. He’s been a Rotarian since 2001, served as the organization’s president in 2008-09 and is a five-time Paul Harris Fellow.

In 2010, he was elected to the state Assembly. For the last seven years, he has served as the minority floor leader, where he reviews all the bills and coordinates all the floor debate. He says he has the dubious distinction of speaking more words on the floor of the Assembly than any other member. He also serves as a Social Services Committee and Government Operations Committee member.

Goodell lives with his wife Lisa, has four adult children, and enjoys hiking, biking, and biking.

Goodell’s perspective of his time in office was that this opportunity was tremendously interesting and challenging, and he was very grateful for the opportunity to serve. He has considered it the opportunity of a lifetime.

For the last seven years Goodell has served as floor leader for the minority. Every Friday he and several others would review all the bills coming to the floor in the next week and decide which bill would go through for a quick vote or which should be debated.

If the bill is called up for debate – Goodell gets about an hour’s notice, which he said could be stressful. For many of those debates, he can reach out to the ranking member of the home committee, who he considers a phenomenal group. Of the remainder of the bills, he takes between a third and a half and develops a bill packet consisting of the bill, a memo of support, all letters received for and against the bill, and a one or two-page summary written by internal staff members – another phenomenal group, in his opinion. It is not unusual for his Democratic colleagues to ask what are the questions about the bill? The questions are shared with them to focus on discussing the policies rather than arguing about facts.

Goodell indicated his emphasis is to seek a balance between government regulations and individual freedoms and the unintended consequences – one of the most difficult things the legislators do, Goodell said.