Pataki: An Autobiography

George Pataki is the real McCoy. He's a small-town boy from Peekskill, New York, where his family's immigrant background and farming life shaped his down-to-earth politics. A second-generation American with roots in Hungary, Italy, and Ireland, Pataki has retained a common touch that his Yale and Columbia educations haven't changed. He finally followed a lifelong dream of entering public service when he left a corporate law firm to join a Senate task force on the reorganization of the court system. In 1982 Pataki became mayor of his hometown, and in 1994 he stunned New York's political world by defeating Mario Cuomo in the gubernatorial election. Suddenly George who? became a GOP power broker. He'll give readers the inside story of his incredible upset victory and bring us into the governor's mansion to show the day-to-day job of running the diverse state of New York--the issues it raises, the choices he makes, the beliefs that determine how he governs. Told with warmth and wry humor, the governor's story shows that winning politics can still come from a simple source--straight from the heart.

The most engaging part of this lackluster autobiography by the Republican governor of New York, assisted by freelance writer Paisner, deals with Pataki's childhood in Peekskill, N.Y. The son of a mail carrier, he lived with his brother and his parents on a farm owned by his grandfather, who sold produce at a farm stand. The governor credits his grandfather, a Hungarian immigrant, with teaching him the importance of hard work and honesty. He describes the joys of rural life and remembers with obvious pleasure such family gatherings as the yearly bacon barbecue. Interwoven with these reminiscences is a self-promoting narrative of Pataki's career as mayor of Peekskill and as state assemblyman, and details of the 1994 gubernatorial election, when he defeated Democratic incumbent Mario Cuomo. Pataki believes voters favored his conservative stance on crime and welfare, which he restates here as well as sharply attacking Cuomo's liberalism. He also discusses the infamous 1949 Peekskill riots (which occurred when singer Paul Robeson, a leftist black political activist, arrived to give a concert) and his father's participation in the protest against Robeson's appearance.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Writing with Paisner (coauthor of books with former New York mayor Ed Koch and talk-show celebs Geraldo Rivera and Montel Williams), New York governor Pataki reminds New Yorkers why they should vote him in his as-yet-unannounced reelection bid and sends up a trial balloon for politicos wondering if he might become the next Republican wonder boy on the national scene. His is the classic second-generation-American-makes-good story. The Hungarian Patakis were poor farmers in Peekskill, NY; George worked hard on the farm; they didn't have much, but they were rich in other ways, i.e., the important social and moral ways that ultimately enabled him to understand, say, how to reform welfare. The son of a mailman, George went to Yale and then Columbia Law School. He tried the large corporate law-firm scene but didn't really have the stomach for it. Pataki turned to politics, where he served first as Peekskill's mayor and then eventually as a state representative. Finally, after winning races that no one thought he could, he took on Democratic demigod Mario Cuomo and won. The book chronicles a little of that race but mostly focuses on Pataki's roots, which he clumsily uses to enlighten readers about his Republican public policies. His summer stint on the coal cars at the nearby Fleischmanns factory, for instance, enabled him, he says, to have ``enormous respect for people who work in production and manufacturing.'' That led to the theory that ``we need enlightened employers who understand that the employees are part of a team, that they have an obligation to protect workers and an interest in helping them succeed.'' A thinly veiled campaign tool that might be a useful history for political reporters, pundits, and politicians wondering what makes Pataki tick, but as interesting reading for the general public? Fuhgeddaboutit. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

The governor of New York, for now, comes clean on what made him the self-made man he is today, giving nearly all the credit for what he says is a strict work ethic to his parents and Hungarian grandparents, on whose Peekskill, New York, farm he was raised. His detailing of the hard work and simpler times of the Pataki farm is too exhaustive to be either sentimental or touching. He came to power on a platform of reinstituting the death penalty, saving money, and dismantling welfare. Pataki, though, is surprisingly humble in his depiction of himself as the Republican candidate by default and his victory over the seemingly invincible Mario Cuomo, who was even supported by party-defecting New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Pataki seems to take credit for much of Clean and Happy New York City, for which Giuliani is generally held responsible. Pataki's is a simple tale of a simple man who wanted to be a politician, worked hard, and became one. An interesting look at the "Republican Revolution" and who it represented. David Cline

Pataki was virtually unknown outside of his New York senatorial district when he ran for governor and defeated Mario Cuomo in 1994. His book describes how growing up in a gritty Hudson River town supported by a close-knit extended family in the 1950s and 1960s gave him a deeply rooted set of values. The stories about his Hungarian, Irish, and Italian grandparents are fascinating and touching, but the narrative is often interrupted by philosophical rhetoric, detracting from the otherwise gentle nature of the historical account. Nevertheless, the book shows the remarkable path Pataki followed from his subsistence-farming background to Yale and Columbia educations and a calling to politics, which eventually led to his becoming governor of New York. Along the way, he notes, he followed his instincts guided by his deeply instilled values. Recommended for libraries in New York State with strong political science or local government collections.?Jill Ortner, SUNY at Buffalo Libs.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.