Pataki says McCain will be on ballot in New York
February 3, 2000
Web posted at: 9:14 PM EST (0214 GMT)
From Correspondent Frank Buckley and Producer Phil Hirschkorn
NEW YORK (CNN) -- Republicans appear ready to bury the hatchet in New York over the state's March 7 primary.
Gov. George Pataki -- the state's top Republican and a supporter of Texas Gov. George W. Bush -- says he "will take the appropriate steps to ensure" that Sen. John McCain will appear on presidential primary ballots throughout the state, a spokesman for the governor told CNN.
Bush told CNN, "It is the right decision. I welcome it."
The move is a victory for McCain, who is currently blocked from appearing as a Republican candidate in 12 of New York's 31 congressional districts after petition challenges by New York GOP officials.
Pataki spokesman Mike McKeon told CNN: "Governor Pataki believes Senator McCain should be on the ballot. He believes this should be a campaign of issues and ideas, not technicalities. And he's confident Governor Bush will win that campaign."
The decision comes the same day McCain sent letters to Pataki and state GOP Chairman William Powers, urging them to "do the right thing for New York Republicans and for the democratic process: open up your state's primary ballot," calling it "an embarrassment to a wonderful state."
There are 102 nominating delegates at stake in the New York Republican primary, the third-largest prize for the Republican convention.
State laws require a presidential candidate to gather 5,000 signatures of registered party voters statewide, including 0.5 percent of registered party voters in each of the state's 31 congressional districts.
Bush submitted 150,000 signatures, Forbes submitted 85,000, and McCain submitted 27,000, according to the state election board.
But McCain and Forbes each faced questions about their petitions from party officials -- McCain for insufficient signatures in half the state, and Forbes, for technical violations in a few Long Island districts.
McCain has a lawsuit pending before a federal judge that seeks to overturn New York's complex ballot access rules.
A clerk for U.S. District Court Judge Edward R. Korman told CNN a ruling is not expected until at least Monday.
Although the state GOP was acting on Bush's behalf, the Texas governor maintained for weeks that he had no plans to intervene.
Bush also signaled that he would not appeal the judge's decision, should it be in McCain's favor.
"If a judge decides he should be on the ballot, let him be on the ballot," Bush said.
Ironically, Bush will not appear on the ballot in at least one Bronx congressional district, where volunteers admitted forging some signatures.
Forbes will appear on the ballot in all 31. McCain's fate remains to be seen.
Judge Korman is the same judge who liberalized New York's rules in 1996, when Forbes fought the party-backed Bob Dole campaign for ballot access.
In 1996, the state originally required candidates to obtain signatures from 5 percent of registered party voters in each district. Korman ordered the requirement lowered to 0.5 percent, and the state legislature later changed the law in advance of the year 2000 election period.
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