I spoke to former three-term NY Gov. George Pataki this morning:

"You cannot run a state of almost 20 million people just from one small, central command post. If you do, there are things that just aren’t going to get done," he said. Other quotes added: https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/How-Andrew-Cuomo-became-maybe-the-most-15553216.php

Pataki: “I thought it was important to continue to show that government is not one person, it is three branches."

"That was my philosophy: it was when you need to, exercise whatever powers and authority that you have, but as a general rule, try to be as inclusive of not just the other branches like the legislature but also other levels of government like local and county government.”

RE: Silver v Pataki:

"There’s a difference between having authority and using authority," the former gov said. He wanted to establish the right for the gov to push policy through budget, but he doesn't feel that it should be the go-to.

“I think the proper way is to engage through the legislative process. It can be frustrating, it can be time consuming, but it is how a government that is truly reflective of the needs of the people as opposed to a personality would function," Pataki said.

“When something is important enough, you do have to play hardball in the sense that you use whatever levers of power you have to give a chance with whatever policies you think are right," he said.

On holding legislator pay raises hostage to pass charter school bill:

“They weren’t tactics I particularly enjoyed, but they were tactics and powers that I legitimately had, and I felt the issue was strong enough that I had no qualms about using them to accomplish the goal.”

And finally, Pataki on naming RBG successor before election: “In normal times I would say yes. No question."

He called for politicians in DC to "look at this in an unhypocritical way" and realize that the historical norm is for party in power to push nominee through

He asked me what I thought Democrats would do if they controlled the presidency and the Senate and a conservative judge died shortly before an election. He declined to give his opinion of that question on the record

#notebookdump because the story is already pushing 4,000 words