Hungarian-Americans Ask Trump To Name Westchester Native Pataki Ambassador

An unnamed lobbying group has been deluging President Donald J. Trump with letters urging him to tap Garrison resident George Pataki as the next U.S. ambassador to Hungary, according to multiple media reports.

George Pataki's name is being floated as an ambassador to Hungary by an unnamed Hungarian lobbying group, media reports say. The Peekskill native and former governor now lives in Garrison.
Photo Credit: *File*

Carol Reif

03/06/2017 3:23 p.m.

The group first asked the Peekskill native’s daughter, Allison, a best-selling author and journalist, but she demurred, suggesting instead that it ask her dad, according to a report by Hungary Today.

Pataki is reportedly open to the idea, but there have been no formal offers from Trump’s camp, Hungary Today said.

Pataki’s father, the late Louis P. Pataki, was the son of a Hungarian immigrant, and his mom, Margaret (Peggy), is of Italian-Irish heritage.

His paternal grandfather, John, came to the United States from Aranyosapáti, Austria-Hungary, in 1980.

He worked in a hat factory in Peekskill and married another native of Hungary, Elizabeth. Their son, Louis, was a mailman and a fire chief and also ran a small farm.

George Pataki, now 71, grew up working on that farm and eventually went to Yale University and Columbia Law School.

After serving as Peekskill’s mayor, he became a state assemblyman and senator and then served three terms as governor.

The younger Pataki still speaks a little Hungarian, as well as Spanish, French and German.

Pataki, who first entered the presidential sweepstakes in 2008 when he was better known, got back into the fray in 2016, but dropped out of contention for the GOP nod after failing to gain enough traction.

Although tensions between the former Peekskill mayor and three-term governor and Trump seemed to have lessened, it wasn’t that long ago that the two Republicans were duking it out in the Twitterverse.

Just prior to the 2015 candidate debate, Pataki tweeted that he did not plan to vote for Trump, who owns an estate in Bedford, if the real estate mogul won the nomination.

Trump shot back, via Twitter, that Pataki had done such a terrible job as governor and had registered “ZERO” in the polls, that he shouldn’t be on the debate stage.

Pataki’s response was just as swift – and heated.

"Why is a serially bankrupt @RealDonaldTrump who insults Mexicans, Women, Blacks, Jews & POW's on #2016 debate stage?" Pataki posted.

Last year, after a tape was released that captured Trump making vulgar remarks about women, Pataki tweeted that he thought Trump should step down.

However, last Tuesday, Pataki praised Trump’s first speech to a joint session of Congress, adding, “for the first time in 8 years we have a strong positive voice for America.”

According to a report in the Daily News that cited a story in the Hungarian Free Press, Pataki even made nice at an event celebrating Trump’s triumph that was held at the Hungarian Embassy in Washington, D.C.