Pubdate: Wed, 16 Oct 2002
Source: Daily Gazette (NY)
Copyright: 2002 The Gazette Newspapers
Contact:  http://www.dailygazette.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/105
Author: Marc Humbert, Associated Press

MCCALL, GOLISANO BACK MEDICAL MARIJUANA USE

ALBANY - Democratic candidate for governor H. Carl McCall and Independence 
Party candidate B. Thomas Golisano came out Tuesday for legalization of 
marijuana for medical purposes.

The two challengers also called on Republican Gov. George Pataki to 
participate in three-way debates instead of debates like the Sunday 
encounter in New York City, which featured the three of them plus four 
other minor-party candidates. Another seven-candidate session is scheduled 
for this coming Sunday in Syracuse.

Spokesmen for Pataki rejected the calls for medical marijuana and for 
three-way debates.

"Experts at the state Health Department are not convinced this is the 
appropriate response," said Pataki spokesman Robert Hinckley. Hinckley said 
department officials felt there were other, legal drugs that "provide the 
same relief."

Questions about marijuana arose after Golisano, the billionaire businessman 
from Rochester, scheduled a news conference for today in Albany to make a 
case for allowing it to be used by sick people. Golisano was also to unveil 
a new campaign TV ad calling for medical marijuana.

Asked about legalizing marijuana for medical use, McCall spokesman Steven 
Greenberg said the state comptroller "supports that as long as it is 
prescribed by a doctor or other health care professional."

Meanwhile, Golisano campaign manager Charles Halloran and Greenberg said 
the two campaigns were seeking venues that would sponsor three-way debates 
between Pataki, McCall and Golisano.

Halloran said he had raised the possibility with McCall campaign aides of 
the two challengers skipping the Syracuse debate, but that idea had been 
rejected by McCall.

Halloran said Golisano felt the seven-candidate format was "worthless and a 
waste of time."

"Carl thinks the debate Sunday was a circus and a disservice to the people 
of the state," Greenberg said. McCall also wants a one-on-one debate 
against Pataki.

Pataki campaign spokesman Michael McKeon said the governor would not agree 
to three-way or two-way debates.

"We had a great debate on Sunday and are looking forward to another one 
this coming Sunday," the Pataki aide said. "Then we take our case directly 
to the people."

Pataki has insisted all minor-party candidates be included in debates, a 
strategy the McCall and Golisano camps claim is designed to shield the 
two-term governor from their attacks.

Also Tuesday, McCall rebuked Pataki for what the state comptroller called 
"a record of neglect, indifference and mismanagement" in delivering health 
care.

And, in an interview with The New York Times, McCall said the Republican 
governor lacked a political ideology.

"Governor Pataki has refused to acknowledge that health care is in trouble 
in New York, and he has offered no plan to improve health care 
administration or services," McCall said. "Decisions about health care are 
being made by and for industry executives and GOP fund-raisers, not 
providers or patients."

McCall said the governor has done too little to address a shortage of nurses.

In response, a coordinator for the 27,000-member Nurse Alliance of New York 
State issued a statement saying Pataki's record in support of nurses was 
"second to none."

Meanwhile, the Republican governor added to his string of endorsements by 
picking up the backing on Tuesday of bodega owners. The support from the 
7,000-member New York City-based Bodega Owners Association of the United 
States marked yet another victory for Pataki in his effort to snare 
Hispanic voters.

Trailing in fund-raising and in the polls, McCall kept up the pressure on 
Pataki, once again charging that the governor was in large part responsible 
for the impending state budget crisis. Estimates of the state's budget gap 
for the fiscal year that begins April 1 have ranged from $5 billion to $10 
billion or more. This year's entire state budget is worth about $89 billion.

In a lengthy interview with the Times for its Tuesday editions, McCall said 
Pataki had not done enough during boom years to prepare the state for such 
a downturn. And McCall accused Pataki of blowing with the political winds 
in search of votes to help win a third term.

"He has no real ideology," the state comptroller told the Times. "He is a 
pragmatist and goes where he thinks people want to see him."

Pataki, having moved to the political center during his second term, has 
had great success in recent months picking off the support of prominent 
Democrats and traditionally Democratic labor unions.
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