Are we seeing the beginning of the end of Giuliani's candidacy?

Absolute Zero · November 29th, 2007, 01:24 PM

Giuliani's Mistress Used N.Y. Police as Taxi Service

November 29, 2007 3:18 PM
Richard Esposito Reports:

Well before it was publicly known he was seeing her, then-married New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani provided a police driver and city car for his mistress Judith Nathan, former senior city officials tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com.

"She used the PD as her personal taxi service," said one former city official who worked for Giuliani.

New York papers reported in 2000 that the city had provided a security detail for Nathan, who became Giuliani's third wife after his divorce from Donna Hanover, who also had her own police security detail at the same time.

The former city officials said Giuliani expanded the budget for his security detail at the time. Politico.com reported yesterday that many of the security expenses were initially billed to obscure city agencies, effectively hiding them from oversight.

The former officials told ABCNews.com the extra costs involved overtime and per diem costs for officers traveling with Giuliani to secret weekend rendezvous with Nathan in the fashionable Hamptons resort area on Long Island.
When the New York City comptroller began to question the accounting, Mayor Giuliani's office declined to provide details to city security, officials told ABCNews.com today.

"The Comptroller's Office made repeated requests for the information in 2001 and 2002 but was informed that due to security concerns the information could not be provided," a spokesperson for the comptroller's office said.

Appearing in public for the first time today, Giuliani told ABC News the accusations he assigned a police security detail to his mistress and helped to hide the expenses in the mammoth New York City budget "a pre-debate hit job."

"I'm sorry, but I still don't understand why they filed these expenses the way they did," he said.

Former officials close to Giuliani say he had "zero" to do with how the police security expenses for Judith Nathan, who he since married, were accounted in the city budget.

The Giuliani campaign said it would also provide a former deputy mayor, Randy Mastro, to respond to the allegations later today.
Giuliani is expected to appear on CNBC at 6 p.m. today to answer questions about the accounting procedures.
____________

I'm starting to wonder as reminding voters of a mistress is not a good thing, and the whole misuse of government resources thing is not a good thing. Seems like too many bad things, and he's already way behind in Iowa.

KloD · November 29th, 2007, 07:11 PM

Quote:

Are we seeing the beginning of the end of Giuliani's candidacy?

I hope so, with his made up facts and BS abuse of 9/11 I cannot understand how anyone could support him, let alone take his running serious... even with the low caliber of candidates on either side.

Absolute Zero · November 29th, 2007, 08:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KloD

I hope so, with his made up facts and BS abuse of 9/11 I cannot understand how anyone could support him, let alone take his running serious... even with the low caliber of candidates on either side.

The appeal of his candidacy is rooted in the fact a good share of our country is living in fear of "islamo fascists" and terrorism. Rudy is perceived by many as a "strong leader" who can "protect" us. In other words, he is a political opportunist playing on fear. I am not buying in to this guy.

Chaz · November 30th, 2007, 05:33 AM

We can hope.

This guy scares me.

PortlandCardFan · November 30th, 2007, 07:36 AM

Yeah, I'm not a big fan of Guiliani.

Divide Et Impera · November 30th, 2007, 11:32 AM

I wish this stuff would have come out AFTER he got the GOP nomination. That would have been too perfect....

DWKB · November 30th, 2007, 12:17 PM

Let me just point out that this is the exact kind of scheme Clinton supposedly had with the Arkansas State Troopers as Governor with people such as Paula Jones.

Absolute Zero · December 1st, 2007, 11:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DWKB

Let me just point out that this is the exact kind of scheme Clinton supposedly had with the Arkansas State Troopers as Governor with people such as Paula Jones.

That may be the case, but this news is breaking right before the primaries start. It can knock the wind right out of his sails.

Pariah · December 1st, 2007, 02:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Absolute Zero

That may be the case, but this news is breaking right before the primaries start. It can knock the wind right out of his sails.

Exactly. Whereas around this time in the election process Clinton was getting his sails blown.

LoyaltyisaCurse · December 2nd, 2007, 07:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pariah

Exactly. Whereas around this time in the election process Clinton was getting his sails blown.

among other things...

Heucrazy · December 2nd, 2007, 10:14 AM

I hope this end's it. It will save us all from a year of 9/11 based political ads.

AzCards21 · December 2nd, 2007, 04:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Heucrazy

I hope this end's it. It will save us all from a year of 9/11 based political ads.

I hope it does too. Lets concentrate on someone we really give a crap about.

KloD · December 3rd, 2007, 05:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Heucrazy

I hope this end's it. It will save us all from a year of 9/11 based political ads.

Amen to that!

arthurracoon · December 3rd, 2007, 07:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Heucrazy

I hope this end's it. It will save us all from a year of 9/11 based political ads.

Southpaw · December 14th, 2007, 07:16 AM

What can one add.

Quote:

How Giuliani Made $30 Million Without Even Trying

Posted by Steve Benen, The Carpetbagger Report at 5:23 AM on December 14, 2007.

This is exactly why Giuliani has tried to keep his business work secret and free of public scrutiny.

Rudy Giuliani has quite a few questionable relationships with a motley crew of dubious characters, but Hank Asher, a former drug-runner, business partner, and "close friend" of Giuliani's, bears special attention right now.

Giuliani and Asher met in 2002 when Asher demonstrated his Matrix database software for the former mayor, who was reportedly impressed enough to strike a business deal: Giuliani Partners would represent Asher's company, Seisint, as part of a very lucrative arrangement. GP got $2 million per year, a commission on Seisint's government sales, plus stock options that were worth a bundle after LexisNexis bought Seisint in 2004.

Giuliani's association with Asher became somewhat controversial lately, after Asher's name popped up in a California public corruption indictment. But the business partnership looks even more interesting today, in light of this report in Time.

GP pulled in more than $30 million for just one year's work on Seisint's behalf, company records show.... But the Seisint deal wasn't as perfect as it seemed. One problem: the payment of percentages or commissions to "solicit or secure" government contracts is prohibited by federal law and laws of some states. Tom Susman, ethics chairman of the American League of Lobbyists, says the bar on commissions is intended to eliminate incentives for middlemen to bend the rules to land a contract. A GP official who refused to be named insists that the firm never received "commissions" from Seisint -- despite what Brauser and Latham remember and despite the fact that payments to GP are labeled "commissions" in both the minutes of a Seisint board meeting and a key financial statement.

Instead, says the official, GP earned "special bonuses" based on the achievement of corporate "milestones."

Please. Giuliani's firm lobbied to help Seisint secure lucrative government contracts. Seisint, in turn, paid the firm "commissions." But now Giuliani's team want to redefine the word, in order to make it legal -- they weren't "commissions," they were "special bonuses." Even by Giuliani standards, this kind of lying is just insulting.

Wait, it gets worse.

Seisint was using Giuliani's name to open doors and secure contracts, but Giuliani insists he was never a lobbyist, and never registered as a lobbyist.

But this doesn't add up. Giuliani's firm pulled in $30 million thanks to Seisint. How, exactly, does Giuliani justify all of this money? If it wasn't money earned by commission, and it wasn't generated by lobbyist fees, what was Seisint paying $30 million for?

Rudy never registered as a lobbyist because even though he and his clients were using his name to advance their interests with the federal and state governments, he claimed he never actually lobbied. And now the commissions he got for securing government contracts through his savvy "not lobbying" aren't really commissions but "special bonuses."

Nice work if you can get it. Unless it all turns out to be illegal.

Which, in this case, given all the lobbying Giuliani did, it might very well be.

This is exactly why Giuliani has tried to keep his business work secret and free of public scrutiny. His client list, that we know of, includes the makers of OxyContin (Giuliani personally met with the DEA chief when the agency launched a criminal investigation of the company), an official in Qatar with known ties to Osama bin Laden and other terrorists, and a cocaine smuggler with a database company that apparently paid Giuliani $30 million for work he claims not to have done.

How Giuliani even has the chutzpah to run for public office (worse yet, the presidency) with this record is amazing. And how any thinking person could even consider voting for him is a mystery.