8.19.2005
Weld Tries Again to Be Governor, but in New York (NYTimes.com)
By PATRICK D. HEALY
Published: August 19, 2005
William F. Weld, the colorful former Republican governor of Massachusetts, said yesterday that he planned to run for the same job in New York next year, hoping his platform of tax cuts and social liberalism will make him the first two-state leader since Sam Houston.
Mr. Weld, a native New Yorker who is now an investment adviser in Manhattan, said he had been encouraged to run by former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, an old friend, among others. Karl Rove, the White House political adviser, who worked for Mr. Weld in the 1990's, had also told him to consider running against Eliot Spitzer, the likely Democratic nominee, and the two men agreed that Mr. Spitzer was beatable, according to New York Republicans told about the exchange.
Yet Mr. Weld, who is barely known in New York outside of fund-raising, society and political circles, said his desire to run came strictly from "personal motivation" and a belief that New Yorkers had come to like moderate, tax-cutting Republican leaders.
"My juices are really flowing for this race, and I want to return to public service," Mr. Weld said in a telephone interview from Kentucky, where he was on business with his firm, Leeds Weld & Company.
(More ... Weld Tries Again to Be Governor, but in New York - New York Times) ¶ 19:22
Published: August 19, 2005
William F. Weld, the colorful former Republican governor of Massachusetts, said yesterday that he planned to run for the same job in New York next year, hoping his platform of tax cuts and social liberalism will make him the first two-state leader since Sam Houston.
Mr. Weld, a native New Yorker who is now an investment adviser in Manhattan, said he had been encouraged to run by former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, an old friend, among others. Karl Rove, the White House political adviser, who worked for Mr. Weld in the 1990's, had also told him to consider running against Eliot Spitzer, the likely Democratic nominee, and the two men agreed that Mr. Spitzer was beatable, according to New York Republicans told about the exchange.
Yet Mr. Weld, who is barely known in New York outside of fund-raising, society and political circles, said his desire to run came strictly from "personal motivation" and a belief that New Yorkers had come to like moderate, tax-cutting Republican leaders.
"My juices are really flowing for this race, and I want to return to public service," Mr. Weld said in a telephone interview from Kentucky, where he was on business with his firm, Leeds Weld & Company.
(More ... Weld Tries Again to Be Governor, but in New York - New York Times) ¶ 19:22
