As he exits the stage of state government after 12 combative years in Albany, Governor Pataki has a message for his Republican critics who say he has drifted away from conservative principles: Try being in his shoes.

“There are always those who are better philosophically outside criticizing government than actually being responsible for running government,” Mr. Pataki said in a wide-ranging interview in his New York City headquarters on Third Avenue.

Looking back at his tenure and forward to his next steps in his political career, Mr. Pataki, 61, defended a record that he says “transformed” New York, offered advice to Governor-elect Spitzer on toughening legislative ethics laws, and cast himself as a pragmatic Republican who can bridge partisan differences and appeal to middle-class Americans.

It’s the final battle of his administration, defining his legacy. Criticism of his tenure has come from many directions. The incoming governor, Eliot Spitzer, recently described his tenure as “12 long, vapid years.” The Democratic speaker of the Assembly, Sheldon Silver, ranked Mr. Pataki as the worst governor in three decades.

Some of the toughest criticism of his tenure has come from conservatives in the Republican Party, a constituency that once embraced Mr. Pataki and helped orchestrate his come-from-behind victory over Governor Cuomo. They argue that Mr. Pataki chose political expediency over Republican principles and say the pledges that the governor made when he was first elected — particularly to cut back on spending, to contain Medicaid costs, and to ease New York’s tax burden — were broken.

Addressing the criticism, Mr. Pataki says he draws a distinction between what he calls “pure” conservatives and “real” conservatives, who take a more realistic approach to governing. The governor put himself in the “real” conservative camp.

“It’s amazing that some on the right … are critical,” Mr. Pataki said. “I used to be a legislator, where it’s easy to be pure. You cast a vote and it’s yes or no, and the consequences have to be dealt with by the executive. It’s far more important to be effective as an executive in actually solving the problems.”

His staff is armed with statistics: Welfare rolls have shrunk to 600,000 from 1,650,000 between 1995 and 2005. The state government workforce has fallen by 25,000 in the same time frame. The crime rate has fallen at a faster pace than that of the rest of the nation, with violent crime cut by 54% between 1995 and 2005. The growth rate of state spending has been lower than the national average and lower than during the Cuomo years, and the state has the highest Standard and Poor’s credit ranking in more than 25 years.

Mr. Pataki has recited these statistics in his recent public addresses, which sound like a stump speech of a presidential candidate. Mr. Pataki, who initially said he would make a decision about a candidacy this month, has put off the decision for perhaps at least another month. After New Year’s, he said he plans to “decompress” and “lie on the beach” for a few days while mulling the decision over with his wife, Libby Pataki. A source close to the governor told the Sun that Mr. Pataki is “inclined” to run.

In a recent poll of Iowan Republicans, Mr. Pataki placed near the bottom among potential Republican candidates, with 1% saying they would vote for him. In November, three of his top Iowa aides quit his political operation. Another New York moderate Republican who won acclaim for his leadership after the September 11 attacks, Mayor Giuliani, is emerging as a front-runner.

Mr. Pataki says he brings to the table an upbeat vision of politics that could appeal to Republican masses. “When you look at last November’s election, part of the reason we had such a loss for Republicans in Washington and around the country was an absence of a positive vision that allowed middleclass Americans to identity with the Republican Party. We have to come up with additional tax cuts that the middle class can identify with,” he said.

Mr. Pataki, who is considering a job in the private sector, said he intends to be part of the “national political dialogue” one way or another. “I have invaluable experience and some good ideas not just Republicans can unite behind. I intend to be advancing those ideas as simply as an advocate for principles I believe or as a possible candidate,” he said.

Mr. Pataki uses the same positive vision to reflect on his governorship. He said he has few regrets, saying he wishes lawmakers had passed legislation to expand the number of charter schools in the state and a civil confinement bill to lock up violent sexual criminals after the completion of their prison sentences. He acknowledged that taxes in New York are “much higher than I would like them to be.”

He declined to offer public advice to Mr. Spitzer, who takes office on January 1. He, however, encouraged Mr. Spitzer to push to require lawmakers to disclose their outside financial interests, an issue in the spotlight in the wake of news that the Republican majority leader of the state Senate, Joseph Bruno, is the subject of an investigation involving his outside consulting business and real estate deals.

He said he doubted that lawmakers would give their consent to such disclosure. “It’s one thing to support the principle. It’s another thing to support the actual wording of something as it’s laid out there,” he said.