Amid a growing group of long-shot Republican presidential hopefuls that already includes a neurosurgeon, a deposed Silicon Valley CEO and two failed contenders from presidential primaries past, few official or potential primary candidates have been as quickly dismissed as George Pataki.
The former New York governor, who announced his candidacy in New Hampshire Thursday, started eyeing the first primary state back in January — and the press has been rolling its eyes at him ever since.
Pataki “may be running the saddest campaign for president,”Slate announced. “Does George Pataki seriously think he can be president?” asked the Daily Beast. The Atlantic listed Pataki among the “Longest Long Shots of the 2016 GOP Race,” demanding to know “what on earth” he was thinking. And in a New York Daily News article proclaiming that he has “virtually no shot to win,” one political analyst said of Pataki’s presidential ambitions, “I don’t know how people obtain these delusions. I don’t take those drugs.”
And yet Pataki is an experienced politician, with three gubernatorial terms under his belt and several victories over incumbent Democrats in one of the country’s biggest — and bluest — states. He’s governed in a time of national crisis (Sept. 11 and its aftermath) and befriended one of the wealthiest and most sought-after GOP donors (Sheldon Adelson), and he stands out as part of a small minority of moderates in an increasingly crowded primary field thick with candidates vying to win the most conservative voters. Four former New York governors have become president, though it’s been a while since any were able make the leap. At the same time, Pataki has virtually no name recognition outside New York. He’s barely even registering on the national polls.
Undeterred by what he has acknowledged “will be a very stiff climb up a very steep mountain,” Pataki is pressing forward. As he throws his hat in the ring, it’s worth taking a look at his record to understand exactly who he is — just in case.
A fiscal conservative
Pataki first rode into the governor’s mansion in 1995 on a crusade for tax cuts. More than two decades later, he counts cutting both property and corporate tax rates, as well as boosting New York’s credit rating, among the biggest accomplishments from his three terms in office.
Pataki’s profile on the National Governors Association website boasts that he “enacted over $100 billion in tax cuts,” “reduced welfare rolls by more than one million recipients” and funded the creation of a number of research centers, including the Center of Excellence in Environmental Systems at Syracuse University, as part of an effort “to make New York a powerhouse in high-technology research, job creation, and economic growth.”
Tough on criminals
Pataki won office right as crime in America was peaking and as everyone from President Bill Clinton on down was concerned with getting more cops on the streets and doing something about crime in America’s biggest cities, such as New York. Among the first pieces of legislation Pataki signed into law was a reinstatement of the death penalty, which the state’s highest court deemed unconstitutional nearly a decade later. There were no executions during Pataki’s three terms in office, but he did push through more than 100 bills tightening crime laws and lengthening prison sentences, to which he has attributed the steady decline in crime rates across New York state between 1994 and 2005 (though, of course, much of the decline had to do with changes in policing in New York City and the changing downstate economy). This puts Pataki, a social liberal, to the right ofsuch presidential contenders as Mike Huckabee, who has a track record of pushing for lighter sentences, and out of sync with a growing move on the right toward less-draconian sentences and against the death penalty, which Nebraska’s Republican legislature recently banned.
Pataki’s support for gun control also makes him stand out in the GOP crowd, though it stems from the same anticrime efforts as his support for tougher sentencing. In August 2000, he drew the ire of the National Rifle Association when he signed the strictest gun-control law in the country.
The former New York governor, who announced his candidacy in New Hampshire Thursday, started eyeing the first primary state back in January — and the press has been rolling its eyes at him ever since.
Pataki “may be running the saddest campaign for president,”Slate announced. “Does George Pataki seriously think he can be president?” asked the Daily Beast. The Atlantic listed Pataki among the “Longest Long Shots of the 2016 GOP Race,” demanding to know “what on earth” he was thinking. And in a New York Daily News article proclaiming that he has “virtually no shot to win,” one political analyst said of Pataki’s presidential ambitions, “I don’t know how people obtain these delusions. I don’t take those drugs.”
And yet Pataki is an experienced politician, with three gubernatorial terms under his belt and several victories over incumbent Democrats in one of the country’s biggest — and bluest — states. He’s governed in a time of national crisis (Sept. 11 and its aftermath) and befriended one of the wealthiest and most sought-after GOP donors (Sheldon Adelson), and he stands out as part of a small minority of moderates in an increasingly crowded primary field thick with candidates vying to win the most conservative voters. Four former New York governors have become president, though it’s been a while since any were able make the leap. At the same time, Pataki has virtually no name recognition outside New York. He’s barely even registering on the national polls.
Undeterred by what he has acknowledged “will be a very stiff climb up a very steep mountain,” Pataki is pressing forward. As he throws his hat in the ring, it’s worth taking a look at his record to understand exactly who he is — just in case.
A fiscal conservative
Pataki first rode into the governor’s mansion in 1995 on a crusade for tax cuts. More than two decades later, he counts cutting both property and corporate tax rates, as well as boosting New York’s credit rating, among the biggest accomplishments from his three terms in office.
Pataki’s profile on the National Governors Association website boasts that he “enacted over $100 billion in tax cuts,” “reduced welfare rolls by more than one million recipients” and funded the creation of a number of research centers, including the Center of Excellence in Environmental Systems at Syracuse University, as part of an effort “to make New York a powerhouse in high-technology research, job creation, and economic growth.”
Tough on criminals
Pataki won office right as crime in America was peaking and as everyone from President Bill Clinton on down was concerned with getting more cops on the streets and doing something about crime in America’s biggest cities, such as New York. Among the first pieces of legislation Pataki signed into law was a reinstatement of the death penalty, which the state’s highest court deemed unconstitutional nearly a decade later. There were no executions during Pataki’s three terms in office, but he did push through more than 100 bills tightening crime laws and lengthening prison sentences, to which he has attributed the steady decline in crime rates across New York state between 1994 and 2005 (though, of course, much of the decline had to do with changes in policing in New York City and the changing downstate economy). This puts Pataki, a social liberal, to the right ofsuch presidential contenders as Mike Huckabee, who has a track record of pushing for lighter sentences, and out of sync with a growing move on the right toward less-draconian sentences and against the death penalty, which Nebraska’s Republican legislature recently banned.
Pataki’s support for gun control also makes him stand out in the GOP crowd, though it stems from the same anticrime efforts as his support for tougher sentencing. In August 2000, he drew the ire of the National Rifle Association when he signed the strictest gun-control law in the country.
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