ALBANY — Governor-elect Spitzer urged Governor Pataki to stop pushing through long-term appointments to state boards, saying the lame-duck executive’s insistence on filling key agency slots in his final days of office runs contrary to “good governance.”

In one of his last acts as governor, Mr. Pataki is likely to move ahead with hundreds of appointments, some minor and others that carry significance when it comes to state policy and regulatory and budgetary matters, including two seats on the board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, two seats on the board of City University of New York, and spots on the Public Service Commission and the Public Employment Relations Board. Those particular vacancies carry terms ranging from two years to more than six years, lasting well into Mr. Spitzer’s first term and even a second.

The Senate has at least one more opportunity to approve Pataki appointments when it returns to Albany for a special session on Wednesday.

“He’s going to act pursuant to his prerogative as governor,” a spokesman for Mr. Pataki, David Catalfamo, said. The governor said he has no plans to nominate either Raymond Meier or Nicholas Spano, both of whom are state senators leaving office, for a spot on the Public Service Commission. The New York Times reported that both politicians were under consideration.

Speaking to reporters from his temporary Albany headquarters, Mr. Spitzer said he has “tried to respect the one governor rule” by giving Mr. Pataki leeway to use his powers until his last day, but warned the governor about testing the limits of his cooperation.

“As much as I have tried to respect the incumbent’s legal capacity to make decisions, I think wise policy would dictate against putting in place individuals in agencies where their terms in office will extend deeply into my term,” Mr. Spitzer said.

For Mr. Spitzer, the focus of his day in Albany was to announce details of his inaugural ceremony and key Cabinet appointments. Mr. Spitzer will be officially sworn in at 12 a.m. in a private ceremony in the Executive Mansion near the Capitol building.

His first scheduled event as New York’s new governor is an early-morning jog with reporters around Washington Park. The inaugural ceremony is set for 12 p.m. and will be held outside for the first time in more than 100 years, taking place in the grassy space outside the Capitol in West Capitol Park. Up to 15,000 people are expected to attend. Mr. Spitzer said he did not know if the state’s embattled comptroller, Alan Hevesi, would be present.

Afterward, Mr. Spitzer will host a receiving line in the Executive Mansion while separate festivities, including dance exhibits, art shows, and musical numbers from the Broadway show “Wicked” go on in the underground Empire State Plaza Concourse. In the afternoon, singers James Taylor, whose wife is a graduate of the Albany Academy for Girls, and Natalie Merchant, a native of Jamestown, will perform in the Albany Pepsi Arena.

Mr. Spitzer also announced several staff appointments: Richard Baum, a former legislator from Orange County and graduate of Cornell University, will be the governor’s secretary, assuming the same chief of staff role he played in the attorney general’s office under Mr. Spitzer.

Paul Francis, the founding CFO of Priceline.com who developed Mr. Spitzer’s middle-class property tax plan, will replace John Cape as state budget director and will also serve as senior adviser to the governor. David Nocenti, who was Mr. Spitzer’s in-house counsel, will take the same job in the governor’s office. Francine James, another veteran from the attorney general’s office, will be Mr. Spitzer’s appointments secretary, overseeing a vast array of hiring. Mr. Spitzer also appointed his longtime spokesman, Darren Dopp, as communications director and Christine Anderson as press secretary.