The Buffalo News

PATAKI TALKS TOUGH

Published on October 27, 1999
Author:    ROBERT J. McCARTHY

News Political Reporter
© The Buffalo News Inc.

The feud between the Rath Building and the State Capitol continues. On a day when Gov. Pataki came to christen a University at Buffalo supercomputer and portray Albany as a partner in local economic development, he found himself fending off County Executive Gorski's escalating charges that election-year torpedoes are aimed at every similar initiative launched by Erie County.

And though he tried to maintain an above-the-fray attitude befitting a governor, he slammed back at Gorski's new and stronger claims with equal intensity.

"I flew in here today and saw the Westinghouse building (next to Buffalo Niagara International Airport) coming down. Just last month we did the Inner Harbor with the county executive. We did the jobs for Oneida (Buffalo China) with the county executive. We did the Buffalo Bills with the county executive," he said in an interview with The Buffalo News. "You compare what this administration has done with what any prior administration has done in Western New York, and I think we can hold our heads very high."

Relations between the two government centers at either end of the Thruway have never proved warm and fuzzy, but Pataki and Gorski have grown increasingly estranged in recent days after Gorski's ill-fated attempt to announce a major expansion of General Motors' Powertrain plant in the Town of Tonawanda. As Gorski -- down in the polls and fighting for his political life against Republican challenger Joel A. Giambra -- proclaimed the $500 million project a done deal, GM officials cautioned that plans were still preliminary and that other sites remain under consideration.

Since that Thursday episode, Gorski has accused Pataki of creating GM's reticence by threatening to withhold state assistance for the project. It is a calculated effort, he said, to embarrass him on the eve of his tough contest against Giambra.

"My only conclusion is that the governor is determined not to give me any credit or to portray me as inefficient," Gorski said Tuesday. "That is my contention."

Gorski aides echo that charge.

"The money was held back for the convention center, and all the money for the Buffalo Bills railroad disappeared," said Richard M. Tobe, county commissioner of environment and planning. "As the election got hotter, the money was held."

"The basic deal is done," added Gorski spokesman Michael P. Hughes, referring to the GM plant. "The problem is, if the state takes the money off the table, GM has to step off. They don't want Dennis to take credit for it, but it will happen, and Pataki will come to cut the ribbon."

Hughes emphasized that Pataki and Lt. Gov. Donohue both spent a good deal of their Tuesday campaigning for Giambra in Erie County. He also claimed a connection between Charles A. Gargano, chairman of the Empire State Development Corp., and Andrew H. Card Jr., the GM vice president, both of whom weighed in on the controversy last week.

Gargano is scheduled to become the chief New York fund-raiser for Texas Gov. George W. Bush's presidential campaign. Card served as transportation secretary in the administration of the governor's father, former President George Bush.

"There's a relationship there that may be a little bit more than business as usual," he said.

But Pataki said Gorski has created a situation "that certainly doesn't help" the prospects of the GM plant coming to Tonawanda.

"One, it makes the company a little suspect, and two, it makes the other states with whom we're in competition more aggressive," he said.

"One of the things you want to present to the global corporation -- whether it be GE, IBM or GM -- is that cooperative spirit of all of us pulling together on the same page," he added. "I can't recall one (economic development deal) ever being caught up in a political thing like this."

The governor said that Gorski violated "protocol" associated with such announcements in which all interested parties appear together.

"The protocol first requires that you have a completed agreement," he said.

He also rejected Gorski's convention center claim, indicating that local leaders such as Sen. Dale M. Volker, R-Depew, are seeking a comprehensive business plan that includes goals and financing plans.

On the railroad spur crafted as part of the renovation of Ralph Wilson Stadium, he said the state is prepared to go forward once engineering plans are ready. County officials say those plans should have been ready this year and were held for post-election announcements.

"That's very unfortunate," he replied. "Let's focus on the tremendous efforts we've had."

Earlier in the day, Pataki highlighted his first-ever visit to the University at Buffalo with grand-opening ceremonies for the new Center for Computational Research.

The research facility, with more than $7 million in computer equipment, is expected to facilitate "computationally intensive research" at UB. He used the occasion to highlight state assistance for a facility expected to benefit local companies.

From there, he went to the Clarence Senior Center on Thompson Road, where he was joined by Giambra, Donohue and an array of local Republican officials. He made a strong pitch there for Giambra's election, praising the Buffalo comptroller's plan to reduce county taxes by 30 percent over the next four yers.

And he made a veiled reference to the prospect of working with a new Erie County executive.

"We need a great partnership between Erie County and the State of New York," he said.

BILL WIPPERT/Buffalo News With Election Day less than a week away, Gov. Pataki, third from left, is campaigning hard for Republican county executive candidate Joel A. Giambra. They greeted Ruth Dunbar, left, and Jeanne D. Smith at the Clarence Senior Center on tuesday.

University at Buffalo security officers guarding the entrance to Norton Hall on the North Campus in Amherst get an earful as students protest what they view as Gov. Pataki's anti-SUNY policies.

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