Pataki

George E. Pataki is the real McCoy. He's a small-town boy from Peekskill, New York, thirty-five miles up the Hudson River from New York City. There are wonderful characters from the Peekskill days - the headstrong Grandpa Pataki, determined to raise the best vegetables on the hardscrabble farm his own way; the governor's father, a mailman and devoted volunteer fireman; and cousins galore available for expeditions, games, and general mischief when the day's work was done. In 1994 Pataki stunned the political world by defeating Mario Cuomo in the gubernatorial election. He tells the inside…