Pataki: Where I Come From

George Pataki is the real McCoy. He’s a small-town boy from Peekskill, New York, where his family’s immigrant background and farming life shaped his down-to-earth politics. A second-generation American with roots in Hungary, Italy, and Ireland, Pataki has retained a common touch that his Yale and Columbia educations haven’t changed. He finally followed a lifelong dream of entering public service when he left a corporate law firm to join a Senate task force on the reorganization of the court system.

In 1982 Pataki became mayor of his hometown, and in 1994 he stunned New York’s political world by defeating Mario Cuomo in the gubernatorial election. Suddenly George who? became a GOP power broker. He’ll give readers the inside story of his incredible upset victory and bring us into the governor’s mansion to show the day-to-day job of running the diverse state of New York–the issues it raises, the choices he makes, the beliefs that determine how he governs. Told with warmth and wry humor, the governor’s story shows that winning politics can still come from a simple source–straight from the heart.

Tags: Autobiography, George Pataki, Where I Come From