SUNY Faced With Naming Hospital After Pataki Foe
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The State University of New York Board of Trustees, appointed by and allied to Governor Pataki, on Wednesday will consider whether to name a SUNY children’s hospital after one of Mr. Pataki’s greatest foes.
Mr. Pataki’s three-time opponent for governor, Thomas Golisano, recently donated $6 million to the children’s hospital of the SUNY Upstate Medical University. The SUNY school in Syracuse wants to name the facility after the Rochester billionaire and philanthropist.
A SUNY committee yesterday lacked a quorum to act on the formal resolution. One of the trustees missing was Randy Daniels, Mr. Pataki’s former Republican secretary of state, who is running for governor.
The resolution will go directly to the full SUNY board on Wednesday. The trustees will have to weigh the local request made according to SUNY practices for naming buildings, and another practice of not naming facilities for political candidates.
Mr. Golisano, however, hasn’t announced his candidacy. The Independence Party founder switched his affiliation to the Republican party in October and said he is “seriously” considering another run.
Mr. Pataki, a Republican, has declined to seek a fourth term.
In the 2002 campaign, Mr. Golisano spent $75 million of his own money, most of it to attack Mr. Pataki. At one point, Mr. Golisano said he agreed with some others that Mr. Pataki should “go to jail” for featuring himself in millions of dollars worth of commercials promoting state tourism and health programs.
One of Mr. Golisano’s advisers, Steven Pigeon, said this isn’t politics, it’s charity.
“The politics of it shouldn’t play into it at all,” he said.