George Elmer Pataki is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 53rd governor of New York from 1995 to 2006.
59 Facts About George Pataki
2.
George Pataki was the third Republican since 1923 to win New York's governorship, after Thomas E Dewey and Nelson Rockefeller.
3.
George Pataki chose not to run for a fourth term in 2006; he was succeeded by Democrat Eliot Spitzer.
4.
George Pataki announced his candidacy for the Republican Party presidential nomination on May 28,2015.
5.
George Pataki withdrew from the race shortly before the primaries began on December 29,2015.
6.
George Pataki was born on June 24,1945 in Peekskill, New York.
7.
George Pataki speaks some Hungarian as well as Spanish, French, and German.
8.
George Pataki received his JD from Columbia Law School in 1970.
9.
George Pataki was an assemblyman in the 186th, 187th, 188th and 189th New York State Legislatures.
10.
George Pataki served in the Senate during the 190th New York State Legislature and ran for governor at the next election.
11.
George Pataki was a first-term state senator from Westchester County when he launched his bid for the Republican nomination for governor in 1994.
12.
George Pataki said he launched the campaign because of his frustration in the Senate regarding how Albany worked and on tax issues.
13.
George Pataki's campaign received a boost when he was endorsed by US Sen.
14.
George Pataki was considered an underdog from the start since he was running against three-term Gov.
15.
Mario Cuomo and because George Pataki had little name recognition statewide.
16.
George Pataki made an issue of Cuomo seeking a fourth term as governor and pledged to serve only two terms in office.
17.
Many, including George Pataki himself, believed Howard Stern's endorsement of George Pataki was a major reason for his win.
18.
George Pataki made up for a soft performance in New York City by running up a decisive margin outside of it, especially among upstaters disenchanted with Cuomo.
19.
George Pataki won all but one county outside the Five Boroughs.
20.
George Pataki became New York's first elected Republican governor since Nelson Rockefeller.
21.
George Pataki was considered the front-runner from the start of the 1998 campaign for governor.
22.
George Pataki was unopposed for the Republican nomination and paired with a new running mate, Judge Mary Donohue.
23.
George Pataki was easily reelected to a second term in office.
24.
George Pataki was considered a strong contender for a third term, despite having pledged in 1994 to serve only two terms.
25.
George Pataki emphasized his previous work and the need to have continuity following Sept 11.
26.
George Pataki sought the nomination of the Independence Party of New York in his bid for a third term as well.
27.
George Pataki faced the party's founder and 1994 and 1998 nominee, Thomas Golisano, in his bid for the nomination.
28.
George Pataki ran an active primary campaign and lost to Golisano.
29.
George Pataki advocated for Native American casinos in upstate New York.
30.
George Pataki made the issue a top priority of his, and when the bill reached his desk in 1995, he signed it into law.
31.
In 2011, the administration touted statistics that illustrated that crime had steadily reduced during the 12 years George Pataki had been governor, bringing New York from the 6th most dangerous state in the nation to the 7th safest.
32.
In 2000, George Pataki helped lead the legislature in passing some of the then-strictest gun control laws in the country.
33.
George Pataki's administration launched programs such as SAF-T and the 100 Most Wanted.
34.
In 1999, Governor George 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.
35.
George Pataki increased the affordability and availability of medication for seniors under New York's EPIC program by lowering fees and expanding eligibility.
36.
George Pataki worked to protect the drinking water of millions of New Yorkers through the Catskill Watershed Agreement.
37.
George Pataki heeded mounting desire to allow New York to join numerous other states in the growing movement for charter schools.
38.
In 1998, George Pataki prevailed upon the Legislature to pass a charter school law by threatening to veto a legislative pay raise if the bill was not passed.
39.
George Pataki's 1994 running mate for lieutenant governor was Betsy McCaughey, an academic best known for her critique of the Clinton health care plan.
40.
George Pataki choose McCaughey over sofa bed heiress Bernadette Castro; Castro was nominated for the US Senate in 1994.
41.
George Pataki was on the 1998 general election ballot as the nominee of the Liberal Party for governor.
42.
In December 2006, George Pataki appointed Donohue to be a Judge of the New York Court of Claims.
43.
George Pataki had strongly campaigned for Bush, making an unsuccessful effort to keep John McCain off the New York primary ballot.
44.
Benjamin publicly accused Treadwell and George Pataki of trying to muscle him out of the Senate race and undermine the democratic process.
45.
George Pataki was instrumental in bringing the 2004 Republican National Convention to Madison Square Garden in Manhattan.
46.
George Pataki continued to flirt with a possible bid for president.
47.
George Pataki announced in April 2010 that he was creating a nonprofit organization, Revere America, that would advocate repeal of the recently enacted United States Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which he said was a "horrific" and costly bungle.
48.
In early 2015, George Pataki started exploring a candidacy for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination; On May 28,2015, George Pataki formally announced his campaign for the 2016 Republican nomination.
49.
George Pataki had previously considered running in 2008 and in 2012, but had decided against it.
50.
George Pataki's candidacy was considered a long-shot because of his age, because he had not run for office since 2002, and because of his liberal stances on abortion, gun control and environmental protection.
51.
George Pataki received the endorsements of two New Hampshire State Senators: John Reagan and Nancy Stiles.
52.
George Pataki failed to make the main stage in the candidate debates, being relegated to the undercard debates or being excluded altogether.
53.
George Pataki did not file to be on the primary ballot in multiple states and missed the filing deadlines for Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, and Virginia.
54.
On December 29,2015, George Pataki ended his campaign before the Republican presidential primaries had begun.
55.
George Pataki endorsed Florida Senator Marco Rubio on January 26,2016 and went on to endorse Ohio Governor John Kasich after Rubio suspended his campaign.
56.
George Pataki stopped short of endorsing Joe Biden, citing disagreements with foreign policy relating to US-China relations.
57.
George Pataki opposed efforts to decertify the election results, denouncing senator Tom Cotton.
58.
George Pataki suffered a burst appendix and had an emergency appendectomy on February 16,2006, at Hudson Valley Hospital Center.
59.
George Pataki has been an intense critic of the Cuomo and Hochul administrations.