Neither of New York's Rudy Giuliani nor George Pataki are going to be the Republican nominee for President. Essentially they are both running for a VP slot, with the political argument being that they would provide moderating balance to whichever right winger heads the ticket. But in fact they are both more than average corrupt, and Giuliani is both a complete fraud and more reactionary than you think.
For those who want to get a head start on opposition research, just search the Village Voice for articles by Wayne Barrett and/or Tom Robbins for their reporting on both Giuliani and Pataki during their time in NY office.
I have set up links with searches for you below, and a whole lot more:
Wayne Barrett's and
Tom Robbins investigative reporting on Giuliani in the Village Voice
Somewhat more quietly, George Pataki has run a scandal-ridden NY State administration for 12 years, according to Tom Robbins and Wayne Barrett
Giuliani is of course the the alleged star... "America's mayor" who ostensibly appeals as socially moderate can-do competence who lowered crime and welfare as mayor and then stood tall on 9-11. Needless to say most of this is false. While what little press questioning of Giuliani has focused on his being "too socially liberal" on abortion and gay rights, in fact there is plenty for any moderate or progressive who care about honesty and competence to worry about. The sordid Kerik story was just the most recent example, played out on the national stage of Giuliani's real history of promoting personal allegiance over competence, cronyism, lobbyist payoffs, play-to-play, etc.
- Multiple marriages and gross infidelities. This should not just a point against him with religious conservatives,
it is part of what makes him tick (badly). He is just a bad guy.
- Nasty narcistic bullying personality, with girlfriends, wives, press, non-partisan technocrats and opponents.
- Taking credit as prosecutor for work of others before and after he left that office.
- Orchestrating racially tinged police riot when he was candidate against incumbent black mayor
- Culture of corruption throughout numerous agencies when mayor.
- Encouragement of police brutality.
- Refusal to meet with any african-american officials.
- pre 9/11 security failures
- pay-to-play with lobbyists, friends, family and businesses
- Increase in police, change in police strategy and decreasing crime rates before he was mayor.
- Falling out with his competent police commissioners before the promotion of his sycophantic limo driver
Kerik to the position.
- Bizarre repeated bullying and back-biting in his serial hiring and firings School Chancellors
(high turnover) while failing totally to improve schools. More interested in using the issue than working on it.
- Profiteering off of 9-11 image when in fact he made every mistake in the book in handling security
issues before 9-11 and has NO actual expertise in the area.
- vast crony political appointments throughout government, worse than one-party city Democrats had
done before.
- Actually ran up City budget worse than any Democrat had.
See for example:
Neufield article in The Nation
Barrett article in The Nation
Barrett in the Village Voice
more Wayne Barrett in the Village Voice
The full length book version of Jack Neufield's article in The Nation, is available:
The Full Rudy: The Man, the Mayor, the Myth, by Jack Newfield. Publisher's blurb:
"Veteran New York journalist Newfield (Somebody's Gotta Tell It, etc.) gets right to the point, his lead sentence declaring Rudy Giuliani "a C-plus mayor... who has become an A-plus myth" since September 11.
Rather than defining the mayor by his last few months in City Hall, Newfield insists "we should see him the way he was on September 10"
"Rudolph Giuliani is "America's Mayor" remembered for cutting crime, taking charge when the Twin Towers fell, and displaying leadership when others were dumbstruck. Named Time's "Person of the Year," and knighted by the Queen, he charges $100,000 a speech, is a stalwart of the Republican fund-raising circuit, and harbors presidential ambitions."
Prize-winning investigative journalist Jack Newfield reminds us of what New Yorkers have long known - that Giuliani was an intolerant and authoritarian leader who showed a deep hostility toward his constituents, especially blacks; who padded the city payroll with 25,000 appointees, precipitating the city's current budget crisis; who violated the first amendment and was successfully sued twenty-seven times for violating freedom of speech and assembly; who refused throughout his tenure to meet with the city's black elected leaders, and who boasted of this strategy; who made an unconstitutional grab for power after 9/11, trying to circumvent both term limits law and The City Charter. Depicts the underside of Giuliani's eight years in power.
Readers outside New York City may recall the more notorious incidents recounted here, such as Giuliani's attempt to shut down the Brooklyn Museum of Art over an allegedly sacrilegious exhibit, but they'll also see Giuliani portrayed as a political opportunist who changed party affiliations twice before becoming mayor, slashed the city's education budget by $2 billion in his first term and blew through budget surpluses to leave the city $15 billion in debt. Newfield emphasizes the former mayor's apparent condescension toward political opposition, such as what some heard as thinly veiled homophobic jabs at schools chancellor Ramon Cortines. Newfield also believes a "worm of rancor" characterized Giuliani's record on race relations, including his near-blanket refusal to meet with elected officials from minority communities.
Although the book is somewhat repetitive despite its brevity and occasionally lapses into an excessively antimessianic fervor, it illustrates facets of Giuliani that many New Yorkers may have forgotten and the rest of America might want to know about. Forecast: It's not likely Americans want their Giuliani bubble burst and will probably prefer Leadership to this, but lots of New Yorkers will welcome Newfield's portrait."
I promise a lot more Rudy bubble bursting tommorrow!