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." - --- MAP posted-by: Beth