Pataki says 'uphill fight' can be won

BY RICK BRAND | Newsday Staff Writer

June 1, 2006

William Weld poses for a photo after speaking to members of the Rochester Rotary Club in Rochester, N.Y. (AP Photo / February 7, 2006)

Gov. George Pataki, trying to rev up a subdued Republican convention crowd, said the GOP can still win a "great victory" in November if they remind voters of the "failed Democratic policies" on taxes, welfare and crime that first brought him to power 12 years ago.

"I've seen the polls and they show we have an uphill fight," he said yesterday. "You know what they remind me of is the polls of 1994 that showed the same thing ... People don't remember what it was like 12 years ago, so we have to remind them a little bit."

Pataki maintained voters need a "refresher course" because back then, New York City parents were afraid to let their kids play in parks or send them to school, and one of every 11 city residents was on welfare.

"They had all these government programs to support everything," Pataki said. "And this state would tax and spend more than any other state in America."

Pataki's speech at the Hofstra University convention site comes a day after Democrats' designated gubernatorial candidate, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, was highly critical of state leadership, claiming it is "only Albany that has stood remarkably still" while the world economy has changed.

The governor came at the end of the first day of the convention to a crowd that was diminished following a lengthy floor fight between two U.S. Senate candidates, former Yonkers Mayor John Spencer and former Reagan administration Pentagon aide KT McFarland. Pataki's remarks in many ways mirrored those of Joseph Bruno, State Senate majority leader, who led off the convention by accusing Democrats of "coddling criminals."

Later, Bruno wondered who Spitzer was referring to when he criticized Albany. "Who's he talking about? Himself? Because he has spent his last eight years of his career in Albany."