POLITICS ON THE HUDSON

He's back: Pataki mulls presidential bid

Joseph Spector
Westchester

No, it's not 2008.

And it's not 2012.

But former Gov. George Pataki -- who has toyed with running for president in the past -- is again reportedly considering running for president in 2016. The New York Post's Page Six reported today that the three-term GOP governor recently met with Republican mega-donor David Koch at the Four Seasons in Manhattan.

Pataki spokesman David Catalfamo downplayed Pataki's meeting with Koch, saying, "It was just lunch."

But he added that Pataki, who served from 1995 through 2006, is disappointed in President Obama's policies and the direction of the country. He said it's not surprising there would be speculation about Pataki's political future amid heightened concerns about terrorism; Pataki was governor on 9/11.

"He never says never," Catalfamo told Gannett's Albany Bureau. "He’s deeply concerned about the direction of the country, and he’s terribly disappointed in the president’s policies."

Pataki, who lives in Garrison, Putnam County, is the last Republican to win statewide office, in 2002. He has been considered a potential U.S. Senate candidate, too, but is now in private law practice.

He had formed Revere America to support Republican congressional candidates in 2010, and now his former top aide John Cahill is running for New York attorney general.