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Pataki: I'll fight for Independence Party line
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By MARC HUMBERT
AP Political Writer

April 23, 2002, 2:51 PM EDT

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Republican Gov. George Pataki said Tuesday he is
prepared to wage a primary, if necessary, to win the November ballot line of
the Ross Perot-inspired Independence Party.

"It is my hope, my honor and my intention to have the support of the
Independence Party this fall. It is an honor I will fight for," wrote
Pataki in a letter to Independence Party leaders.

Lisa Dewald Stoll, Pataki's deputy campaign manager, said that was
meant to let leaders of the minor party know the governor, who has yet to
formally announce his candidacy for a third term, was ready to wage a
primary battle for the Independence Party line.

Meanwhile, billionaire Rochester businessman B. Thomas Golisano, who
ran unsuccessfully for governor in 1994 and 1998 as the candidate of the
Independence Party, said he would probably announce next week if he
will run for a third time. In a radio interview, he sounded like a
candidate ready to make life difficult for Pataki.

Pataki, much to Golisano's displeasure, has been heavily and seemingly
successfully courting the Independence Party leadership for months.
Frank MacKay, state chairman of the Independence Party, said recently that
Pataki appeared to have the support of more than 90 percent of the
party's leadership.

Unlike other states, New York allows major party candidates to count
votes they also receive on minor party ballot lines. In 1994, GOP
challenger Pataki beat incumbent Democrat Mario Cuomo on the strength of votes
received on the Conservative Party line.

This time around, Pataki is hoping to have the Republican, Conservative
and Independence ballot lines.

Former federal Housing Secretary Andrew Cuomo and state Comptroller H.
Carl McCall are vying for the Democratic nomination. Independent polls
show Pataki well ahead of both Democrats.

Golisano, who spent $13 million on the 1998 race and got 8 percent of
the vote, told Albany's WROW-AM radio Tuesday that he may try to force
an Independence Party primary, is considering challenging Pataki for the
Conservative Party line and likely will create a separate ballot line
just for a Golisano candidacy.

While there is little likelihood Golisano could wrest the Conservative
Party line from the governor _ party chairman Michael Long is a close
Pataki ally _ the businessman's fortune could make it relatively easy to
create a new ballot line. To do that, Golisano would need the
signatures of at least 15,000 registered voters statewide, 100 of them from each
of at least half the state's congressional districts.

"In order to make sure I'm a candidate in the November election, one of
my options, and it looks like I'll probably proceed with it, is to go
ahead and get another party line," Golisano said.

Democrats believe heavy television advertising by Golisano, with
attacks on Pataki's economic stewardship, could hurt the Republican incumbent
in the crucial upstate battleground. The Pataki camp believes that
would be offset, at least to some extent, by Golisano's ability to take
anti-Pataki votes away from the Democrats.



Copyright (c) 2002, The Associated Press