Posted on 01/07/2007 11:46:24 AM PST by wagglebee
THERE is one woman who could cause Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor, more problems than Hillary Clinton in the race for the White House: she is Donna Hanover, his second wife, writes Sarah Baxter.
Hanover, an actress and broadcaster, was enraged by Giuliani’s flagrant infidelity towards the end of their 18-year marriage and the divorce case was vicious. Giuliani’s advisers fear that she could be a loose cannon in the 2008 campaign.
Giuliani was acclaimed as the “mayor of America” for his heroic role during the attacks on September 11, 2001 and is revered for his leadership. At the time he was living in the spare room of an apartment belonging to gay friends after Hanover forced him out of Gracie Mansion, the official residence.
Hanover refused to confirm that she would vote for Giuliani as mayor of New York even when she was married to him. “What kind of wife is that?” Raoul Felder, Giuliani’s lawyer, fumed. “She’s essentially saying she’s not going to vote for him.”
Hanover once stood outside a shower at Gracie Mansion, expecting to confront Judith Nathan, Giuliani’s mistress, now his third wife. In the event, a startled golfing friend of Giuliani’s emerged.
Hanover was also accused of a lack of sympathy while the former mayor was battling prostate cancer, by banishing him to a spare bedroom and exercising noisily on a treadmill at 5am.
New Yorkers relished the details of Giuliani’s larger-than-life personal story. But conservative “values voters” could be different, as Giuliani’s own aides noted in a 140-page memo leaked last week by supporters of a rival candidate.
The campaign dossier suggested that Hanover could be one of several potentially “insurmountable” vulnerabilities that could cause him to drop out of the race. It was an embarrassing start to a campaign that is not yet officially under way.
Giuliani’s record in fighting crime and terrorism has placed him at the top of several polls for the 2008 Republican nomination, edging out Senator John McCain in popular support. But the party base may be turned off by his support for abortion, immigration, gun control and gay rights (although not gay marriage). It is their votes that he needs to secure the nomination.
“It would be one thing if Giuliani could say, ‘I’m a strong social conservative in my private life’, but he can’t even say that,” said Ramesh Ponnuru, a conservative commentator and author of The Party of Death, an attack on social liberalism. “It’s not just the fact of his multiple marriages, it is the way the Hanover marriage melted down. It was operatic.”
When Giuliani met Hanover on a blind date in the early 1980s, his first marriage to Regina, his second cousin, was already over. Hanover, who went on to appear in the television series Ally McBeal, was a glamorous soulmate who seemed to enjoy the spotlight as much as he did.
They had two children, Andrew, 21, and Caroline, 17, but in 1996 Hanover stopped calling herself by his last name and a year later Vanity Fair magazine said that he was having an “intimate relationship” with a senior member of his staff.
In 2000, without telling Hanover first, Giuliani announced at a press conference that he was separating from her. She retaliated by accusing him of being unfaithful with the employee, but he was already with Nathan.
Maggie Gallagher, a family values campaigner, was outraged by Giuliani’s “scummy” performance, accusing him of making Bill Clinton “look good as a husband and father”.
New Yorkers learnt during the divorce case that their cancer- afflicted mayor was temporarily impotent and Hanover demanded a huge settlement, including £760 a month to care for Goalie, the family’s golden retriever.
Felder struck back, accusing Hanover of being an “uncaring mother” who was “howling like a stuck pig”.
In the end Giuliani, who was beginning to earn big consultancy fees after September 11, agreed to a settlement of $6.8m to avoid the full horror of a court case.
Hanover has married Ed Oster, her university sweetheart, and written a book, My Boyfriend’s Back, about rekindling an old romance. Even if she stays mum, there is enough in the public domain to rattle conservatives. Yet however vicious the personal attacks on Giuliani, they are unlikely to dent his reputation for competence. He did, after all, handle the September 11 attacks while bunking with gay friends in the midst of an affair and a divorce battle.
"In 2000, without telling Hanover first, Giuliani announced at a press conference that he was separating from her."
How white trash. Guliani, please go away and stick to making poll tested pulp speeches about "leadership."
Well she made mini comeback as judge on Law and Order Donna Hanover personally I think she sucks as Law and Order judge
I like other judge what her name who smack chat DA when they don't have case her name is Judge Steinberg she is funny ROFL
And, there are Rudy supporters on FR who decry Newt's "personal baggage." Rudy is no different, just much farther to the left.
A wife of the "ex" variety.
his first marriage to Regina, his second cousin, was already over.
ROTFLMAO. Man if nothing else it would be a hoot seeing the front pages of the newspaper everyday. My goodness I did not know he married a cousin too. It gets more and more crazy everyday. That is why McCain seems sane to me. lol.
nasty smear piece
people really fear Giuliani since he is a front runner
Oprah: Mayor Rudy Giuliani's Ex-Wife Donna Hanover Reveals Her New Love
http://www.oprah.com/tows/pastshows/200501/tows_past_20050125.jhtml
And those who do can look at recent history and see that treating women like trash and lying about it can be a non-issue as a POTUS.
Tom Tancredo, AFAIK, has been happily married with kids. Duncan Hunter has one son in the military and a reasonably happy marriage.
So why do we get the guy who marries cousins, treats women like crap, goes to live with gay friends, then marries wife #3? Or McInsane? Someone has a vested interest in forcing these men on us as candidates, and it's not conservatives.
Married to a cousin?? He's got more baggage to worry about than Hanover. Fuhgedaboudit, Rudus...
The MSM will viciously attack every Republican contender except for McCain. After he gets the nomination, they will viciously attack McCain.
> And since the media won't cover for him the way they did for BJ Klintoon, this could be a disaster.
I for one don't want the media to cover up such disgusting behavior for ANY man, no matter what his qualifications.
I don't understand the Guiliani love fest here on FR. The man is a proven degenerate. Is it too much to ask a presidential candidate to be competent AND morally sound?
No wonder they have never captured the interest of the MSM.
Nope...Rudy was married to the liberal b@tch from Hell...the "Vagina Monologues" chick.
He deserves all happiness with Judith, who stood by his side before 9/11...through 9/11...and beyond.
Well of course she's gonna go after him! Any fool who is even vaguely familiar with Guiliani knows this!
Apparently so for one of the greatest President's of modern day is in the 30% range in real time.
Sad but true.
Maybe they were married in Arkansas when Bill Clinton was a Justice of the Peace? Seriously, though, Rudi's baggage is SNL comedy and his lefty views are even worse.
The fact that his affair and divorce was salacious, the fact that he was married to his cousin about knocked me off my chair.
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