George Elmer Pataki (born June 24, 1945) is the current governor of the U.S. state of New York (since 1995). He is a member of the Republican Party and has Hungarian, Irish, and Italian ancestry.
George Pataki was born in Peekskill, New York. He is a
1967 graduate of Yale
University and a 1970 graduate of Columbia Law School. Before being elected Governor, George Pataki served 10 years in the New York state
Legislature and was the Mayor of Peekskill between 1981 and 1984. He was first elected Governor of New York in 1994, by defeating the Democratic
incumbent, Mario Cuomo. His running mate for lieutenant governor in the
1994 election was Betsy
McCaughey Ross, who proved to be controversial once in office. Pataki, now running with Mary Donohue, was reelected in 1998, defeating the Democratic candidate Peter
Vallone 54%-33% and in 2002, receiving 49% of the vote while Democrat Carl McCall received 33% and independent candidate Tom Golisano received 14%.
Pataki and his wife, Elizabeth, have four children.
During the first years of Pataki's administration, he began to institute the major spending cuts which he has advocated for
most of his career. In 1999 Governor Pataki signed into law comprehensive health care
legislation that provided health insurance coverage, under Family Health Plus, to lower income adults who do not have health
insurance through their employers.
In 2003 Pataki made a controversial budget proposal in which he proposed several tax
cuts, despite the state's rising deficits. He also made cuts in education and
health care funding which, some say, may close emergency rooms and turn
non-profit hospitals into for-profit. Pataki argued that new taxes would drive
businesses out of state, reducing jobs, further compounding the deficit problem.
In August 2004 Pataki introduced President George W. Bush at the Republican National Convention. A year prior, Pataki had boasted Bush would carry the
state in the 2004 elections. Later in 2004, on November 22, he named the
living former presidents honorary members of the board rebuilding the World Trade Center.
Pataki has always been moderate on social issues but by his third term many social conservatives simmered over his continued
support of abortion rights as well as his heavy lobbying in favor of a gay
rights bill which had languished in the state senate for many years due to the opposition of Senate Leader Joseph Bruno. In 2003 Bruno finally gave
in and the bill passed the senate and was signed into law by Pataki. In the 2004 elections, not only did Republicans' hope of
Bush carrying the state fail to materialize, but Democratic US Senator Chuck
Schumer won over 70% in his reelection bid, Democrats picked up a Congressional seat, gained seats in the state legislature,
and in many local races. Many Republicans such as Congressman Peter King blamed
Pataki and what they viewed as his aimlessness as causing the rout. Pataki replaced some advisors and the state party replaced
their chairman with a much more socially conservative man, suggesting Pataki and the party will lurch heavily to the right for
the 2006 elections.
Pataki's likely challenger for the governorship in the gubernatorial election of 2006 is New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who leads Pataki in early polling.
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