Weld said to run for N.Y. governor

NEW YORK -- Former Massachusetts governor William F. Weld told The New York Times that he will run for governor of New York in 2006, the paper reported today.

Weld, 60, had been soliciting advice from powerful figures in Washington, including White House adviser Karl Rove, about running and was expected to announce his decision next month. He told the Times that he was spurred by ''personal motivation."

''I want to return to public service," he told the Times.

Weld seems to have the qualities some Republican leaders have been looking for ever since Governor George Pataki announced he would not seek reelection. Weld, a former US attorney in Massachusetts, was twice elected governor of Massachusetts and crafted an image as a tax-cutting fiscal conservative with liberal social views. He was born and raised on Long Island.

The Times reported that Weld said he would work to cut New York's capital gains and income taxes, overhaul public education, and protect the environment.

Weld moved to New York in 2000, three years after he resigned as Massachusetts governor in July 1997. He is a partner in the New York private equity firm of Leeds Weld & Co.

Weld's biggest liability, some here believe, is not that he doesn't know New York, but that his home state doesn't know him.

Theodore Roosevelt IV, the great-grandson of the former president and a strong supporter of Weld, said the former governor will have to raise his profile among average New Yorkers, but he said that doesn't mean New Yorkers won't respect his experience as a leader in Massachusetts.

''If you are asking does the average Joe in New York state know Bill as well as the average Joe in Massachusetts, I would probably say they do not," said Roosevelt, who is the first cousin of Weld's former wife. ''But if you say Bill Weld is giving a speech tonight at the Sheraton, he would draw more people than most of the politicians in New York. . . . There is a buzz."

Prior to telling the Times that he was a candidate for governor, political leaders in New York and friends close to him say, Weld seriously looked at the pros and cons of running. One top Republican official in New York said Rove recently called Weld about a possible run for the governor's office. Weld is also said to have sought the advice of former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

Michael Long, the chairman of the state Conservative Party, said Weld has set up a meeting with him, a strategic move because officials say no Republican since 1974 has been elected for statewide office without the endorsement of the Conservative Party.

Long said the biggest hurdle for Weld will be getting the support of and an endorsement from Conservative Party members.

''Saying you are thinking about it is one thing, but getting the support of the rank and file is another thing," Long said. ''Clearly he tends to be liberal on social issues. That doesn't go well with the average Republican in New York state, and certainly with the conservatives in New York state that would be a problem," he said.

''Many elected officials are moderate and liberal, but the registered Republicans are very conservative. Consider the fact that [President] Bush got a significant vote here without campaigning here. So that rank-and-file Republican tends to be very conservative both socially and economically," Long said.

Other Republicans say Weld will have a tough time overcoming the carpetbagger image. But if the past is a guide, that obstacle should not be insurmountable: Robert F. Kennedy, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is a native of Medford, were all accused of being carpetbaggers before becoming prominent New York politicians. Besides, many New Yorkers say everyone in New York seems to be from somewhere else.

After being appointed US attorney by President Reagan, Weld was elected governor in 1990, defeating Boston University president John Silber. He was reelected in 1994 by a record margin. In 1996, he ran against John F. Kerry for the US Senate and lost to the incumbent by 7.3 percentage points.

Critics said Weld seemed bored in his second term; friends say he was bitterly disappointed by the defeat. He resigned in 1997 after President Clinton said he would appoint him US ambassador to Mexico. The appointment was blocked by conservatives, led by Jesse Helms of North Carolina, who at the time chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The New York governor's race is wide open on the Republican side. State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is the only announced Democratic candidate, and Weld's background as US attorney would help him in a race against Spitzer, observers said.