GOVERNOR PATAKI'S LEAN TO THE LEFT

When Gov. George Pataki gave his annual State of the State address this
week, he sent as many political signals as he offered legislative
proposals. In effect, the governor acknowledged the shifting electoral
landscape in New York State, especially after Hillary Rodham Clinton, a
Democrat, overwhelmed Rick Lazio, Mr. Pataki's hand-picked Republican
candidate, in the Senate race last year.

Mr. Pataki, who wants to run for re-election in 2002, has clearly digested
the lesson: he is a moderate Republican in a very Democratic state. Thus
the governor sounds like a politician who has just adjusted his politics a
few notches to the left.

One solid bit of evidence was the frustrated howling from Mr. Pataki's
Democratic opposition in Albany. A few opponents argued, probably with some
validity, that the governor had been taking his political cues from
President Clinton. Just as Mr. Clinton, a Democrat, had a way of co-opting
Republican ideas, Mr. Pataki appears to be artfully robbing the Democrats
of some of their best and loudest thunder.

Both Comptroller Carl McCall, who wants to run against Mr. Pataki, and
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver reacted with unexpected stridency to the
governor's speech, given their agreement in principle with many of the
ideas he espoused. Both Democrats warned that the real danger was that Mr.
Pataki was hiding a conservative Republican agenda under moderately
progressive labeling.

Such bait-and-switch politics is not unknown in Albany, of course, and Mr.
Pataki's budget document will have to be scrutinized for any backtracking
from his seductive rhetoric. But the governor's program sounded promising,
and would establish a good grounding for his campaign should he run in next
year's contest.

He proposed reform of the Rockefeller drug laws, long on the agenda of
Democratic and judicial reformers who see prisons crowded with nonviolent
drug users. His excellent proposals for teacher recruitment, including
using retired teachers without docking their pensions, poaches on
Democratic territory by appealing to teachers and their union. Mrs.
Clinton's success outside New York City undoubtedly helped persuade the
governor to expand the number of "Empire Zones," an idea Democratic
legislators pushed last year to help economically depressed areas, mostly
upstate.

The governor also proposed expansion of health care for women, another
Democratic favorite, and to fortify his already strong environmental
credentials he promised new money to clean up toxic waste sites around the
state, an effort that failed in the last legislative session. Last year
environmentalists protested Mr. Pataki's funding formula and standards for
cleaning up sites, flaws the governor should improve with this year's
proposals.

If his collection of promises seems premature for an election almost two
years away, it is not. The 2002 election will give voters their first
chance to react to the Republican takeover in Washington, and Democrats are
expected to be out in full fury. Mr. Pataki's friends recall that for all
his popularity, his re-election in 1998 was closer than most experts
predicted. Then there is the warning sent by Mrs. Clinton's big win in
November. A savvy Republican politician like Governor Pataki would be wise
to be concerned.

But whatever the politics behind it may be, the governor's moderate tone
sounds promising, provided the fine print in his budget supports the
headlines. This is the year for Mr. Pataki to nail down a solid,
progressive record that he can advertise in 2002.