Rick Lazio Governor Run In New York Planned, AP Says

ALBANY, N.Y. — Republican Rick Lazio, who ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate against Hillary Rodham Clinton in 2000, is planning to run for governor of New York next year, his spokesman said Thursday.

"He fully intends to," said Barney Keller when asked if Lazio was running.

Lazio has made no public announcement and Keller said the former congressman from Long Island is still deciding when to make the decision formal. Lazio has formed a campaign committee and his Web site is soliciting contributions.

"This campaign will be about the future of New York and what kind of New York we want our children and grandchildren to inherit," Lazio says on the Web site.

Lazio lost to Clinton in the historic race that made her the only first lady to ever be elected to the Senate. Lazio entered the race late, a last-minute substitute for then-New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who bowed out because of prostate cancer and a messy public divorce.

Lazio could face Giuliani in a primary. Many Republicans are pushing the former presidential candidate to consider a run, but Giuliani hasn't committed.

David Paterson, a Democrat who became governor when Eliot Spitzer resigned in disgrace, has said he intends to seek re-election. Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is another possible Democratic candidate.

A spokesman for the state Republican committee said a number of candidates for governor are under consideration.

"He's certainly one of them," Matt Walter said of Lazio.

Identifying himself not as a candidate but as a former congressman, Lazio put out a statement Thursday echoing Giuliani's call for a constitutional convention to reform state government, recently in turmoil because of a partisan power struggle in the state Senate. Lazio also recommended abolishing the Senate and Assembly and replacing them with one body.

Lazio, 51, currently works in asset management at JP Morgan Chase.

___

On the Net:

http://lazio.com/