Posted on 01/23/2007 6:35:58 AM PST by FreeInWV
Rudy Giuliani never shrank from defending his image as mayor, but as a businessman he's gone a step further - even trademarking his own name, the Daily News has learned. The unusual step, revealed in a recent Giuliani company contract obtained by The News, states under the heading "Use of Mr. Giuliani's Name" that the "trade names and trademarks 'Rudolph Giuliani,' or 'Giuliani Partners LLC' . . . shall not be used . . . without prior written consent."
Doing anything that "tarnishes, degrades, disparages or reflects adversely on the Giuliani" name, it adds, will be grounds for terminating the contract.
As Giuliani now ponders a run for the White House, the document underscores what has become a central question of his candidacy - how will the former mayor's roster of mostly private business clients play when viewed through the harsh prism of presidential campaign politics?
It is clearly something the mayor's own people are worried about: In a list of potential "problems" written inside a Giuliani campaign dossier and obtained by The News last week from a source sympathetic to a rival campaign, the word "business" appears at the top of the list, above even his ex-wife, Donna Hanover.
Apparently, Giuliani's own aides are already imagining the negative ads that could spring from his business dealings.
In the five years that Giuliani has worked in the private sector, his clients have run the gamut, from gambling interests like the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, which may further trouble Christian conservative voters, to large power-generators like the Atlanta-based Southern Co., which environmentalists regard as among the worst polluters in the nation.
He has lent his name to every corner of the energy industry - representing nuclear, oil and natural gas concerns - and worked with the pharmaceutical industry to keep cheap prescription drugs from flowing into the U.S. from Canada.
And that's just what is publicly known.
Giuliani Partners and its subsidiaries are all privately held companies, and the former mayor has refused to release a full client list - making a clear analysis of his net worth impossible, and very likely raising disclosure questions, should he run for President.
"We are reviewing that right now," Giuliani spokeswoman Sunny Mindel said last week when asked if the former mayor planned to release his client list. "But I would reiterate that voters are sophisticated enough to distinguish between public sector and private sector, and they know leadership when they see it."
Forbes magazine estimates that the mayor's companies have reaped "tens of millions of dollars" in contracts, to say nothing of the mayor's estimated $8 million in annual speaking fees and his $3 million in book advances.
His empire includes the flagship Giuliani Partners LLC, a corporate consulting firm, and Giuliani Safety & Security, which has provided security advice to everyone from the Indian Point nuclear power plant in Westchester County to the government-backed Asian Games in Qatar, a Middle East emirate.
In 2005, Giuliani also became a named partner at Bracewell & Giuliani, a Texas-based law firm with a large legal and lobbying arm, much of which is aimed at protecting coal- and oil-burning electrical plants from further government regulation, experts say.
"There were a lot of eyebrows raised in Washington when Mr. Giuliani decided to become a named partner, because Bracewell really does represent some of the most notorious polluters in the U.S.," said Natural Resources Defense Council clean air director John Walke.
Bracewell officials declined to comment but have long argued that their clients are dedicated to providing clean, affordable power.
At the top of this corporate empire is Giuliani himself, whose image as "America's Mayor" has proven as bankable financially as it is politically. "Business is excellent," said Michael Hess, the senior managing director of Giuliani Partners and a former city corporation counsel under Giuliani. "Almost all of our engagements have worked out beautifully."
Hess acknowledged that some of Giuliani's portfolio could pose political challenges if he runs for President, but he argued that there is almost no major corporate interest today that does not attract its share of detractors.
"Someone could say, 'Gee, we don't like them,' " Hess told The News. "But if you take that to the logical extreme, you'd end up not doing business with anyone."
As for the trademarking of Giuliani's name, Hess said it was simply "a proper precaution" to prevent the unauthorized use of one America's most distinctive names.
"If you say 'Rudy,' everyone thinks of Rudy Giuliani," said Hess. "If you say 'John,' " added Hess with a sly nod to one of Giuliani's likely Republican opponents, "you don't necessarily think of John McCain."
From now on, I say we either call him Julie-Annie or "He who shall not be named". LOL!
It may have not showed up in SEARCH, as some really old stuff doesn't (which I've found out).
I don't think Julianni liked me posting this.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1687307/posts?page=4#4
Thru
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1687307/posts?page=37#37
I kept listing the members of Stonewall Vets. Julianni is a MEMBER. You can only be a MEMBER if you were AT Stonewall in 1969.
I wouldn't say January 6th is 'really' old. I mean, it is still January :)
>>>>you don't necessarily think of John McCain
That is a good rule of thumb.
I searched but didn't see it. I figured it somehow slipped past everyone.
Reminds me of the SNL parody of the 88 Republican primary debate where GHWB (Dana Carvey) said to the Bob Dole character something like this. "You are a millionaire like the rest of us, only I'm not sure you made it on the up and up".
So I wonder who will play GHWB to Guliani's Dole...
Sorry. I don't support liberals. No exceptions.
I have seen some here say that they would support Satan himself over a DNC candidate. I just won't ever go that far. Character and principles do matter.
I just did several searches under just about every permutation of RG's name & it still didn't come up for me either. It would have been only 2 weeks ago, so it's not that old. Who knows where it went? (It's probably hangin' with the MIA mates to all my orphan socks.)
Maybe Condor saved it.
Condor, do you have the link to the article you saw?
Well ... to me 17 days in the Internet age (thank you Al Gore), is 'really' old. BUT since I have the attention span of a gnat, anything posted today before 8:00 am is 'old' :-)
'Series', Jan 6th was a Saturday, so maybe a lot of Freepers missed this article back then.
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Do you remember if it was the same title?
We are looking for the link.
Appreciate the help.
I'll do a self search on my comments, it 'should turn' up.
Back in a jiff...
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