Company president Margery Lange Keskin is reading the fine print put out by the campaigns of Andrew Cuomo and Carl Paladino to decide who is best equipped to ease the burdens on small-business owners.

She employs 45 people at three DeWitt construction businesses, including J. Andrew Lange Inc., a wastewater-treatment firm started by her father in 1968. She’s looking for a smaller state government that gets out of the way of private businesses, has easier-to-navigate regulations and has less of a “gotcha” attitude.

With only seven days before the Nov. 2 election, she is still undecided. She likes what she hears from both candidates about cutting taxes and state spending. “They both have the right idea,” she said. “My question is: Who is going to do a better job at it? And that remains to be seen.”

Business owners and groups across the state are giving reluctant endorsements or staying quiet in the race for governor. Generally, they like Paladino’s aggressive talk about reducing the cost of doing business. He is CEO of a $500 million real estate business in Buffalo and employs 450 people. But people are wary of his temper and question whether he can really pull off such drastic cuts with a baseball-bat approach to the Legislature.

At the same time, many are not enthusiastic about Cuomo, son of former Gov. Mario Cuomo. Andrew Cuomo has published six books of campaign promises about keeping taxes and spending in check, but his campaign is fueled by public employee unions and other special interests…

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