ALBANY - Gov. George Pataki released a new proposal Friday to change mandatory sentencing laws for drug possession dating back to the days of former Gov. Nelson Rockefeller.

While Pataki portrayed the plan as a compromise designed to meet legislative objections to his earlier proposals, the initiative was immediately panned by critics who said the Republican governor is still not going far enough to ease the drug laws.

"Yet another press release from the governor," said John Dunne, a former Republican state senator who voted for the original "Rockefeller drug laws" but who now favors reform.

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