Could Governor David Paterson’s plummeting poll numbers tempt George Pataki to try to win back his old job? Pataki, who was reportedly considering a 2010 Senate run, is also mulling a Republican gubernatorial effort, according to a New York City lawmaker.
“I heard he’s looking at it. He hasn’t made any determination,” says State Senator Marty Golden, a Republican from Brooklyn, who is friendly with the former governor. “Pataki in this vacuum setting would be good.”
A spokesman for Pataki, David Catalfamo, discounted the idea of Pataki Part Two. “I’ve never had a conversation with him about it,” he said. “I don’t think it’s on his list of options.” The 63-year-old Pataki left office in January 2007 after declining to seek a fourth term. He would have had to challenge Eliot Spitzer, who was at the peak of his popularity.
Pataki, who started a New York City consulting firm with his former top aide, John Cahill, has kept a low profile, occasionally speaking out on environmental issues. Still, voters seem to like him better than Paterson. Fewer than a third of New York voters say they have a favorable opinion of Paterson, according to a recent Siena poll. About half of New York voters have a positive view of the former governor.
Pataki, according to the poll, is less popular than fellow Republican Rudy Giuliani, who is also said to be thinking about a run for governor. Golden said Cahill, a lawyer who served as Pataki’s chief of staff, might enter the race as well.
(Source: NBC New York)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
5 Responses
It’s amazing how screwing up brings opposition politicians out of the woodwork!
If New York manages to default on its bonds maybe even the legislature could switch.
I liked Pataki but I prefer Rudy. Run, Rudy, run! RUN, RUN, RUN!!!!!!!!! Yay Rudy!!!!!
the problem with Pataki is that he is a RINO and did not help yeshivas despite having the state senate in his party, over 12 years he did nothing
#3 – Why would you want the state to “help” yeshivos – such help comes with control, with strings attached, etc. Be happy to be left alone by a friendly government.
“RINO” – just because someone isn’t to the right of Atila the Hun (who probably was a liberal, but we won’t get into that), doesn’t mean they aren’t a Republican. The Republican tradition includes many people who were closer to the center than Rush (Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Benjamin Cardozo, Nelson Rockefeller, Jacob Javits).
Pataki is an oheiv yisroel and was always (even before being Gov) a friend of Yidden.