Pubdate: Tue, 15 Oct 2002
Source: Newsday (NY)
Copyright: 2002 Newsday Inc.
Contact:  http://www.newsday.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/308
Author: Jordan Rau, Albany Bureau Chief
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?140 (Rockefeller Drug Laws)

MCCALL REVEALS PLAN TO CLOSE HUGE BUDGET GAP

State Comptroller H. Carl McCall said yesterday that if elected governor, 
he would appoint Wall Street financier Felix Rohatyn as an advisor to help 
him deal with New York State's extensive fiscal problems, which McCall said 
were caused by "maybe the biggest budget gap in history."

In 1975, Rohatyn was tapped by then Gov. Hugh Carey to help devise a way to 
pull New York City out of its financial crisis. He served as chairman of 
the Municipal Assistance Corp. until 1993 and was an ambassador to France 
during President Bill Clinton's second term.

Before marching in the Columbus Day Parade, McCall held a press conference 
with his former rival in the Democratic primary, Andrew Cuomo, to chide 
Gov. George E. Pataki for failing to lay out a detailed vision for a third 
term. "This is the time that the debate should become serious, and that has 
not happened in this campaign with Gov. George Pataki," Cuomo said. "He 
lives only in the present. There's no past, and no future."

Pataki disputed the attack, citing several economic development ventures 
his administration has launched. "We have dozens of ideas out there that 
are important and that will allow us to continue to move forward," Pataki said.

Also yesterday, Independence Party candidate Tom Golisano announced that he 
favored repealing the state's Rockefeller-era drug laws, which set 
inflexible prison sentences for people based on the quantity of drugs they 
are caught with. Both McCall and Pataki have put forth their own ideas 
about loosening those laws. But Golisano, in proposing scrapping them, was 
appealing for downstate voters, who have yet to embrace his campaign.

McCall said that Sunday's debate, which included all five third-party 
candidates including one from the Marijuana Reform Party, "wasn't very 
useful," although he noted, "I learned more about hemp production than I'd 
ever learned." Pataki, also marching in the parade, called the debate "fine."
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