AP Political Writer

ALBANY, N.Y. -- In search of a third term and possibly a third-party ballot line, Republican George Pataki appears to be reinventing himself as the government reform candidate in the New York governor's race.

While Pataki has long stressed his tax-cutting and crime-fighting credentials, and still does, he is embracing government reform with new vigor.

The strategy came into sharp focus on Tuesday, when Pataki staged a state Capital news conference to renew his effort to have New York adopt a state constitutional amendment that would permit voter initiative and referendum.

Initiative and referendum allows voters, by collecting enough signatures of registered voters, to place proposed laws directly on the ballot. Twenty-four states have some form of it, and it is a popular item with government reform groups.

Standing by Pataki's side at the news conference was Frank MacKay, chairman of the Ross Perot-inspired Independence Party.

"Initiative and referendum is, in many ways, the reason for our being," MacKay declared. "All other reforms can wait for this to come through."

Also on hand for the event and in support of the Pataki initiative were the state chairmen of the Republican and Conservative parties.

The political subtext revolved largely around the three party chairmen. While Pataki has run in the past two elections for governor with Republican and Conservative backing, and appears set to do so again, he has faced opposition on the Independence Party line from state party founder B. Thomas Golisano, a multimillionaire businessman from Rochester.

The Pataki camp has been assiduously courting the Independence Party leadership for months. In April of last year, Pataki agreed to attend the state party's $250-a-person fund-raising reception in Albany.

Last month, a top party leader and its U.S. Senate candidate two years ago, former Watertown Mayor Jeff Graham, wrote fellow party leaders urging them to support Pataki's expected candidacy.

While Golisano said Wednesday that he was leaning toward running again, Graham said he felt Pataki had the nomination pretty much locked up.

Should Pataki win the Independence Party endorsement, that would give him three of the top four ballot lines for the November election. The Democratic Party is expected to pick either former federal Housing Secretary Andrew Cuomo, the elder son of former Gov. Mario Cuomo, or state Comptroller H. Carl McCall as its candidate.

Because New York allows major-party candidates to also count votes on minor-party ballot lines, such endorsements can be crucial in close races.

The notion of Pataki as government reformer draws scorn from the opposition.

"George Pataki has done absolutely nothing to reform the institutional corruption in Albany, and the fish rots from the head," said Cuomo campaign manager Josh Isay. "We have no budget process, our campaign finance system is a joke, there are no ethics rules to speak of, politicians give contracts with one hand and take contributions with the other."

McCall campaign strategist Hank Sheinkopf called the notion of Pataki as government reformer, "absolutely ridiculous. He's had eight years to come up with a comprehensive plan for education, and he failed ... Our budgets have been late. He's no reformer at all."

In fact, Pataki over the years has offered a sweeping proposal to overhaul the state's campaign finance system and to revamp the state's school financing system, but the proposals have bogged down in the Legislature. Pataki has failed to ever deliver an on-time budget.

On the initiative and referendum front, Pataki made much of it during his successful campaign to oust the elder Cuomo in 1994 and touted it during his first State of the State address in 1995. It then went largely to the back burner as Pataki easily won a second term in 1998. But facing his potentially toughest race since 1994, Pataki has dusted off the idea.

"Where's he been for two terms?" Golisano asked.

But Pataki said he is committed to the cause.

"I can't say I'm going to agree with every initiative that is proposed or with every decision the public makes, but it should be the people's choice," he said. "Yes, we have representative democracy, and that is a good thing. But when the political leadership doesn't address an issue or refuses to take it up, then I think the people should have that right."

Asked if Pataki's stand would help him win the Independence Party nomination, MacKay said, "I imagine this doesn't hurt the governor's chances."

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Marc Humbert has been covering New York state politics for The Associated Press for more than 20 years.