Rudy Giuliani: Right Man. Right Time (editorial)

Red State ^ | May 3, 2007 | Steve Forbes

[Clintonfatigued]

I think Rudy Giuliani will be a superb president. There are many reasons I support Mayor Giuliani's candidacy – his leadership after September 11th, his turning around of New York City and his fight against crime – but what I most admire is his record of fiscal conservatism.

As Mayor, Rudy Giuliani cut taxes 23 times while turning a $2.3 billion dollar deficit into a $2.9 billion surplus. He saved taxpayers more than $11 billion by controlling the projected growth of city-funded spending, and he created a smaller, more efficient government by cutting the number of full-time city-funded jobs by nearly 20%, excluding cops on the street and teachers in the classroom.

When Americans choose their next president they need a proven leader who can get things done. Rudy Giuliani is that leader. Like I mentioned in a recent op-ed I wrote, Rudy Giuliani is not afraid of trying to do big things. He successfully tackled the welfare mess in New York City, even before the Welfare Reform Act of 1996. By the time he was through, welfare rolls had been cut nearly 60%. It's clear Rudy Giuliani is not afraid to pursue major structural changes, even in the face of the conventional wisdom and an entrenched status quo political establishment.

Moreover, Rudy Giuliani realizes no issue is more important to our nation's security than winning the terrorists war on us. He is the man to keep our country on offense, not defense.

[Ultra Sonic 007]

Conservative = Fascist?

Huh. I must have been missing out. Since when?

[CatHerder]

Sure, go ahead, nominate him. It'll only undo most of what we've been working for during the last 30 years. Hell, if his staunchest critics are right and he really is a "Hitler on the Hudson," it'll undo most of what we've done for the last 230 years.

[K-oneTexas]

This statement is true. About a Mayor of a large American city. Rudy is a fiscal conservative. Let's not discuss his social liberal side. Lets concentrate on being fiscally conservative.

As a fiscal conservative he did accomplish many things (tax reduction, etc) as Mayor of New York. But a Mayor really can control a city, depending on how it's charter is set up.

I don't think the question, per se, is his fiscal conservatism. The question is can he effect the transfer of his fiscal conservatism to the much larger realm of the Federal Government if he is elected President of the United States. Remember, the Federal Government is a 'world' where other elected politicians exercise more control in the fiscal arena. The Congress has the power here.

Yes the President has his Executive Orders but they normally do not (unless I've missed them) reduce taxes. They can have a limited effect on spending but not total control. Congress controls the money and they can over ride Executive Order by passing a bill into law.

So, lets see ... can Rudy control or influence Congress to be fiscally conservative? Can Rudy do any better than any other Republican? We're not even looking at who has the majority in Congress (Repub or Dem). Does he have the personal ability to influence others to be as fiscally conservative as himself?

Even if the answer is yes which I doubt, his social liberal philosophy creates trouble.

[50mm]

Rudy has probably already promised Forbes the VP job.

[dirtboy]

Rudy is a fiscal conservative.

Which mayor Rudy? The first term Rudy? Or second term Rudy?

[CatHerder]

I saw this on another site. Fans of Giuliani here, take note: He's pro-choice. He's for same-sex civil unions. He's for gun control, although now he claims he was only for gun control in NYC because of all the crime. He's for embryonic stem cell research. He's lenient towards illegal immigrants. He claims to be a strict constructionist who would appoint judges like Scalia, Alito, and Roberts. But when he was Mayor, he appointed eight times more liberal judges than conservatives. He's twice-divorced. He dressed in drag several times for fun. His first wife was his second cousin (legal, but taboo). He possibly cheated on his second wife with his press secretary. He announced his separation from his second wife in a press conference before telling his second wife. He cheated on his second wife with his third wife before seeking a divorce. He tried to bring his future third wife into Gracie Mansion in an attempt to get his second wife to leave; when courts said no, he moved in with a few gay friends until his second wife and their children moved out. He fired Police Commissioner Bill Bratton, probably the man most responsible for NYC's massive drop in crime, because he was getting more attention than Giuliani -- he appeared on the cover of Time and whatnot. Later, he installed Bernard Kerik in the Police Commissioner's role. Kerik's biggest qualification was previously serving as Giuliani's bodyguard. And Kerik ended up being incredibly corrupt. He forced city buses to take down ads that made fun of him. He tried to change term limit laws in 1999 so that he could run for a third term. He tried to get a three-month extension of his term after 9/11, and threatened to challenge term limit laws if he was not allowed to do so.

[50mm]

When you do your opus, aren’t you supposed to start a new thread? By the way, your opus was pretty pitiful.

[dirtboy]

The FR air quality just keeps getting better with each passing day.

[dirtboy]

By the way, your opus was pretty pitiful.

It was in line with his posting history.

[50mm]

It was in line with his posting history.

Didn't have a chance to see his history, he was ejected so fast. Was he just a bot or a dummy troll?

[Kevmo]

I disagree. It doesn’t look like you’ll be around to discuss it anyways.

OldFriend

This account has been banned or suspended.

---

Okay

[dirtboy]

He had been around for a few years. He was always quick to jump in with a personal attack but slow to add anything of actual substance to a discussion.

[50mm]

Now I remember! I saw your name besmirched a few days back in Al Simmons opus:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1822739/posts

That was a really disappointing opus, but the thread was hillarious. I really look forward to opi now. I enjoy the creativity and humor shown in shaming the opiant (opie?).

I aspire to someday drive a liberal to name me in an opus as the reason for leaving!

[dirtboy]

I aspire to someday drive a liberal to name me in an opus as the reason for leaving!

Stick to conservative principles and that'll just come with the territory.

[Reagan Man]

>>>>Rudy is a fiscal conservative.

Until about a year ago, thats what I thought until I did some of my own research. Rudy may have showed some fiscal restraint by NYC standards, but that is a lot different then being a fiscal conservative. Rudy's a full fledged liberal --- on social and fiscal matters.

From the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research (Edmund J. McMahon):

"Even with the tax cuts of the last several years, New York remains by far the most heavily taxed big city in the country."

TAXES: Giuliani did cut the marginal city income tax rates, reducing taxes by some $2.0-billion from 1996-2001, but those cuts only offset the $1.8-billion increase in city income tax rates put in place by Mayor Dinkins a few years earlier. In the end, income taxes were actually cut by a modest $200-million. Freezing the 12.5% surcharge on high wage earners was good, but Giuliani didn't attempt to abolish that surcharge. Nor did Giuliani attempt to make serious permanent changes to the city income tax code. The primary reason Rudy and the City Council agreed to cut taxes, was to make NYCity more appealing to new businesses thinking about locating/relocating to the Big Apple. A smart move, however, when Rudy left office he left NYCity straddled with some of the highest income taxes, property taxes and utility rates in the entire nation.

GOVERNMENT SPENDING: Spending under Rudy`s reign as Mayor went up 35.6%, compared to the inflation rate of 22.2%. Rudy left NYCity with a projected, pre-9/11 deficit of $2.0 billion and an increased debt total topping $42-billion. Second largest debt after the federal government. Giuliani also added 15,000 new teachers to the city employment rolls. Increasing the membership of two major liberal organizations, the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT).

"The scope of government was not reduced at all. The mayor abandoned his most visible initiative in this sphere—the proposed sale of the city hospital system—after a struggle with the unions and defeats in the courts. He did cut costs in social services; even before the new federal welfare reforms took effect in 1997, the city had begun to significantly reduce caseloads. But money saved on social services has only helped to subsidize big increases in other categories. Today the array of social services sponsored and partially funded by the city—from day care to virtually guaranteed housing—is as wide as ever.

"In the final analysis, Mayor Giuliani sought to make the city deliver services more efficiently—not to make the city deliver fewer services. Gains in efficiency were offset, however, by a spike in the costs of outsourced contracts (see point 2 below). Thus, in two areas where inroads might have been made, the city instead failed to reduce spending."

"1. Personnel Increases. In 1995–96, the city entered into a series of collective bargaining agreements with its public-employee unions. In addition to granting pay increases that ended up roughly equaling inflation, the city promised not to lay off any workers for the life of the contracts. These agreements were expected to add $2.2 billion to the budget by fiscal 2001. But that estimate didn’t reckon with renewed growth in the number of city employees. After dipping in Giuliani’s first two years, the full-time headcount rose from 235,069, in June 1996 to over 253,000 by November 2000. Thanks largely to this growth in the workforce, the total increase in personnel service costs since 1995 has been $4 billion.

2. "Outsourced Services. The failure to shrink the scope of city government made it all the more imperative that Mayor Giuliani vastly increase its efficiency. In the attempt to increase productivity, the mayor farmed out some city services to private contractors. But as the number of outsourced contracts doubled under Giuliani, contractual expenses also nearly doubled—from $3 billion to $5.8 billion. While it may be argued that the city saved money by outsourcing these services, the net savings turned out to be marginal at best. In practice, outsourcing proved to be more of a bargaining chip in negotiations with unions than a serious means of pruning expenses."

Hard evidence that Rudy Giuliani was NO fiscal conservative. Another run-of-the-mill NYCity liberal.

[Jake The Goose]

I enjoyed reading your comments.

Sound - well thought out - and hard to argue with.

Enjoy the debates tonight.

Thanks for posting your comments to me - I really appreciate that.

[FredHunter08]

“George Will”

Why should conservatives care what Will says? He’s not one of us and never has been.

[Leatherneck_MT]

“You’re right, it’s a fascist website.”

Can’t say it enough.

I’m glad you’re gone.

[Rick_Michael]

Yep, the air is getting better. I love Jim’s commandment...lol. Makes sense.

[Rick_Michael]

“You’re right, it’s a fascist website.”

I can’t believe you said that. Well, your banned is earned.