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.
