Rudy Giuliani - Examining the record

As Rudy Giuliani will most likely be the Republican party's nominee for the 2008 General Election, it is only fair to examine his record as Mayor of New York. Giuliani harps on his role on 9/11 and touts his international experience, but upon closer examination this rhetoric seems largely exaggerated and flawed.

Perhaps what most critics find disturbing is the simple fact that his kids don't like him. Families often have disagreements but to have your children actively oppose your candidacy is disconcerting. That Giuliani's two ex-wives detest him is telling. Critics of Giuliani point out that the New York firefighters don't like him, the Ground Zero workers don't like him and most New Yorkers seem to have an unfavorable opinion of him. Perhaps New Yorkers recall how Rudy treated the homeless and minorities. Maybe they disliked his unwillingness to address corruption, police brutality, or the selling out of New York City to corporate interests.

Rudy Giuliani seems to have a legacy of consistently poor judgment, from his appointment of the mafia-connected New York Police Commissioner Bernie Kerik to his profound lack of understanding of national security issues (Giuliani missed all the Iraq Study Group meetings to give paid speeches). Giuliani certainly has name recognition but what he doesn't have is the sound judgment and practical experience needed to be the President of the United States.

Giuliani is running on his 9/11 record and his 9/11 record is laced with failures in preparedness and response. Putting the New York City Emergency Management Center in the World Trade Center complex was probably his biggest mistake. Terrorists bombed the World Trade Center in 1993 and vowed to return and destroy it. Giuliani was seen walking around New York City on 9/11 presumably because he didn't have a control center to go to. Giuliani has been criticized for ignoring the ongoing threat to New York City from Islamist terrorists in the years between the first and second attacks on the World Trade Center. Prior to 9/11, Giuliani reportedly never referred to the 1993 WTC bombing publicly except for a single reference in his inaugural address not referring to terrorism.

The 9/11 Commission noted in its report that lack of preparedness could have led to the deaths of first responders at the scene of the attacks. The Commission noted that the radios in use by the fire department were the same radios which had not worked following the 1993 World Trade Center bombings. Giuliani failed to provide the FDNY with radios that worked, which led to the deaths of 343 fire fighters inside the Twin Towers because they were unable to hear orders to evacuate. They remained in the towers as the towers collapsed. When Giuliani testified before the 9/11 Commission he said that the firefighters ignored the evacuation order.

Giuliani has been subject to increased criticism for downplaying the health effects of the air in lower Manhattan. He said, in the first month after the attacks, "The air quality is safe and acceptable." However, in the weeks after the attacks, the United States Geological Survey identified hundreds of asbestos hot spots of debris dust that remained on buildings. By the end of the month the USGS reported that the toxicity of the debris was akin to that of drain cleaner. Firefighters, police and their unions, have criticized Giuliani over the issue of protective equipment and illnesses after the attacks.

On August 9, 2007 Giuliani claimed "I was at Ground Zero as often, if not more, than most workers.... I was there working with them. I was exposed to exactly the same things they were exposed to. So in that sense, I'm one of them." This angered New York Fire and Police personnel. A New York Times study a week later found that he spent a total of 29 hours over three months at the site. This contrasted with recovery workers at the site who spent this much time at the site in two to three days.

Giuliani and his campaign staff have said that he has been a student of Islamic terrorism for 30 years. Amanda Ripley, writing for Time Magazine said, "This is an exaggeration." During his 1980s work as a federal prosecutor, he addressed white collar crime and the Mafia. He led no significant terrorism prosecutions that resulted in convictions. Ripley contrasted Giuliani's claim that "I have the most foreign policy experience" with the observation that Senator John McCain, the ranking member of the member of the Senate Armed Services Committee served 22 years as a Navy pilot and visited Iraq six times, and that Senator Joe Biden, current chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has served 32 years on that committee and has visited Iraq on seven occasions. Ripley noted that among the major presidential contenders, Giuliani, John Edwards and Fred Thompson, have not visited Iraq. Giuliani had published no academic paper, delivered any policy address, written any journal article, nor written any book on Islamic terrorism prior to September 11, 2001.

After being appointed to the Iraq Study Group in early 2006, Giuliani did not attend any meetings. Attendance of the May 2006 meeting would have given him a "master class on Iraq." Presenters at this meeting included General David Petraeus, former Secretary of State Colin Powell and former Army Chief of Staff Eric Shinseki. At this time, Giuliani was giving paid speeches.  When asked by Group leader James Baker to make a choice—between attending meetings and resigning from the Group—Giuliani chose to quit in May, 2006, citing "previous time commitments." In June 2007, Newsday reported that the commitments consisted largely of speaking engagements that were part of a tour in which Giuliani earned $11.4 million in 14 months. The article noted, "By giving up his seat on the panel, Giuliani has opened himself up to charges that he chose private-sector paydays and politics over unpaid service on a critical issue facing the nation."

Giuliani showed consistently poor judgment in promoting the career of Bernard Kerik, who started out as a New York Police Department detective driving for his campaign, then became the city's police commissioner and a founder of Giuliani Partners. Giuliani then pushed President Bush to nominate Kerik to be secretary of Homeland Security, at which point multiple scandals derailed the nomination and Kerik's career. In March of 2007, The New York Times reported that Kerik was to be indicted for tax fraud, illegal eavesdropping and his mafia connections.

Forbes reported in November 2006 that Giuliani Partners also accepted fees from penny stock firms, made alliances that have gone nowhere and formed pacts with businesses and individuals that have come under scrutiny by regulators and law enforcement officers. For instance, Giuliani Capital Advisors accepted 1.6 million warrants from Lighting Science Group at 60 cents, a fee of $150,000 and a promise to raise cash. The company went bankrupt, losing $412,000 on sales of $137,000 in the first part of 2006. Another venture CamelBak, started out under Giuliani's consulting arrangement with $31 million in sales, but was run into the ground with various missteps, including having the disgraced Bernard Kerik sit on its board. Forbes said Giuliani's most controversial deal was throwing in with a 2004 project with Applied DNA Sciences. Its backer, Richard Langley Jr. had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and commercial bribery in another penny stock scam. Giuliani was accused of money laundering with Paul Singer.

Republican Party activists have voiced concern that Mayor Rudy Guiliani has engaged in crossdressing at various gala's and press related functions. A concern among conservatives about the propriety of this activity, especially for the party's standard-bearer.


Rudy Giuliani appearing at 'Inner Circle' dinner in 2000.