seth
10-24-2002, 07:46 AM
Golisano:
Pataki 'belongs in jail'
By CELESTE KATZ
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Tom Golisano doesn't know what a
ride on the subway costs. He sleeps
with a 12-gauge shotgun under his
bed. It's unloaded - but the shells
are in the house.
He thinks he'd click with fellow
billionaire Mayor Bloomberg. As for
Gov. Pataki?
"Pataki belongs in jail" for starring in taxpayer-funded ads for
state programs, he said.
In a freewheeling appearance at the Daily News Editorial
Board yesterday, Golisano appeared to go to great lengths to
show how he's not beholden to traditional political interests,
offering a range of solutions to what he said ails New York.
Although some of his ideas - he favors allowing New Yorkers
to keep "modest weapons" in their homes and guessed that a
subway ride cost $1.25 - seem out-of-touch with city voters,
the Pataki campaign is taking him more seriously. In recent
polls, the Rochester entrepreneur drew 18%, creeping up to
Pataki, who had 47%, and Democrat Carl McCall, who had
31%.
Yesterday, Team Pataki launched a six-city strike against
Golisano upstate and crashed two of his events in Brooklyn
and Westchester. Holding signs proclaiming, "Golisano is a
liar," Pataki volunteers surrounded the Independence Party
candidate. Pataki spokesman Michael McKeon said voters
simply "want to know why Tom Golisano is going around
lying" about the Republican governor and said they may
target him in TV ads.
Golisano said Pataki "is obviously reading the same polling
numbers we are seeing. I would never have my people follow
him around, nor would I ever stalk him."
He told The News he favors tort reform and proposed
reducing the looming state deficit by cutting the state's
workforce and reforming Medicaid.
While he called the minimum wage a "feel-good thing" and
believes "corporations should have the ability and the right to
pay anything they want," Golisano said he probably wouldn't
fight a 50-cent or $1 increase.
On education, Golisano attacked teacher unions, saying he
expects them to "lead us in creativity, innovation and change -
and they are the worst."
Maurice Carroll, a Quinnipiac University pollster, said Pataki
may be afraid of Golisano hurting him upstate.
"Does it mean that Pataki is afraid that Golisano's going to
beat him? If he is, he's nuts," Carroll said. "Golisano's not going
to win."
Pataki 'belongs in jail'
By CELESTE KATZ
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Tom Golisano doesn't know what a
ride on the subway costs. He sleeps
with a 12-gauge shotgun under his
bed. It's unloaded - but the shells
are in the house.
He thinks he'd click with fellow
billionaire Mayor Bloomberg. As for
Gov. Pataki?
"Pataki belongs in jail" for starring in taxpayer-funded ads for
state programs, he said.
In a freewheeling appearance at the Daily News Editorial
Board yesterday, Golisano appeared to go to great lengths to
show how he's not beholden to traditional political interests,
offering a range of solutions to what he said ails New York.
Although some of his ideas - he favors allowing New Yorkers
to keep "modest weapons" in their homes and guessed that a
subway ride cost $1.25 - seem out-of-touch with city voters,
the Pataki campaign is taking him more seriously. In recent
polls, the Rochester entrepreneur drew 18%, creeping up to
Pataki, who had 47%, and Democrat Carl McCall, who had
31%.
Yesterday, Team Pataki launched a six-city strike against
Golisano upstate and crashed two of his events in Brooklyn
and Westchester. Holding signs proclaiming, "Golisano is a
liar," Pataki volunteers surrounded the Independence Party
candidate. Pataki spokesman Michael McKeon said voters
simply "want to know why Tom Golisano is going around
lying" about the Republican governor and said they may
target him in TV ads.
Golisano said Pataki "is obviously reading the same polling
numbers we are seeing. I would never have my people follow
him around, nor would I ever stalk him."
He told The News he favors tort reform and proposed
reducing the looming state deficit by cutting the state's
workforce and reforming Medicaid.
While he called the minimum wage a "feel-good thing" and
believes "corporations should have the ability and the right to
pay anything they want," Golisano said he probably wouldn't
fight a 50-cent or $1 increase.
On education, Golisano attacked teacher unions, saying he
expects them to "lead us in creativity, innovation and change -
and they are the worst."
Maurice Carroll, a Quinnipiac University pollster, said Pataki
may be afraid of Golisano hurting him upstate.
"Does it mean that Pataki is afraid that Golisano's going to
beat him? If he is, he's nuts," Carroll said. "Golisano's not going
to win."