Posted on 01/29/2007 6:56:54 AM PST by deport
By PHILIP ELLIOTT, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 1 minute ago
CONCORD, N.H. - Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani has recruited veteran Republican activist Wayne Semprini to lead his New Hampshire operations.
Giuliani, who is mulling a White House run, announced the appointment Monday, following his weekend visit to the first-in-the-nation primary state.
"We picked up a lot of supporters this weekend," Semprini said.
Semprini, who until Saturday was the state Republican Party chairman, has been involved in New Hampshire politics since 1972.
Giuliani has formed an exploratory committee, the first step toward a full presidential campaign. During his visit this weekend, he would not say when he would make a final decision, although his speeches at Bretton Woods and Manchester were campaign-style addresses.
"It appears to me that Mayor Giuliani is not a guy who does anything part way. He's someone who is very, very thorough," Semprini said. "I don't think he'll make his total announcement until he's had an opportunity to look at all those angles and share all those angles with his wife, Judith."
Judith Giuliani accompanied her husband to New Hampshire, his first trip to the state since forming his exploratory committee.
Giuliani has hired other key staff in New Hampshire, including veteran GOP activist David Tille as his political director. Chris Wood, a veteran of Steve Forbes' and Pat Buchanan's campaigns, will lead coalition building.
Please tell me how someone who is more interested in political cronyism in the selection of such a critical, national security position - after the 9/11 attacks and during a time of war - is better on national security than any of the other candidates. Despite getting the reports about comms not working between FDNY and NYPD during the 1993 WTC attack, Giuliani didn't fix the situation and 8 years later found the city unprepared for the 2001 WTC attack. Tell me how that helps his image on national security and war fighting issues. I mean, if a glaring security and safety deficiency, exposed by an attack on us, is found in our national security or our armed forces, will it take President/Commander in Chief Giuliani 8 years to fix it if he even attempts to fix it?
Giuliani agreed to give the New York Stock Exchange a $1.1 Billion dollar handout (which, by the way, is equal to the entire operating budget of the New York Fire Department) but he could never find it in the budget to upgrade the FDNY and NYPD communications systems even after the original WTC attacks demonstrated their deficiencies. How does this demonstrate the way he will act as Commander in Chief when determining priorities for the military and homeland security?
In truth, the whole national security thing with Giuliani is purely myth. Yes, he's a war hawk. Just like almost every other Republican Presidential candidate right now except for Paul and Hagel. But his actual record on issues that directly pertain to how he would operate as President is not going to help him.
Law and Order: His law and order record does not go well beyond clearing the streets of squeegee men, bums, and hookers. Some tout his efforts to go after organized crime, but he lost all credibility on that when it was exposed that he'd appointed a corrupt high school dropout with mob ties to be the Commissioner of the New York Police Department. Bernie Kerik, again. Giuliani went on to strong arm President Bush into appointing Kerik to one of the top law enforcement positions in the country - the head of the Department of Homeland Security. Kerik had to withdraw his name when he was later indicted for his crimes for which he received an even later conviction. He avoided jail, but narrowly.
Giuliani also continued the 'sanctuary city' policies of enacted by his Democrat predecessors. He welcomed hundreds of thousands of criminals - illegal aliens - into his city and refused to work with the INS on enforcing immigration laws. In fact, so annoyed with the pressure that INS was putting on him to cooperate and uphold law and order, he actually sued the Federal Government to try to be able to just ignore the law and continue coddling hundreds of thousands of criminal aliens. His lawsuit failed, and failed again on appeal, but he flouted the law anyway and continued to coddle the hundreds of thousands of criminals in his city.
Appointments/Nominations to his administration:First, I'll start with two words. Bernie Kerik. We know what a great job Giuliani did at getting Bush to appoint his mobbed up, high school dropout, corrupt business partner Bernie Kerik to head the Department of Homeland Security. Giuliani earlier appointed Kerik to head the New York Police Department And we know now how that all worked out. Kerik narrowly avoided jail, but he was convicted anyway.
Giuliani, in a quid pro quo for the New York Liberal Party's endorsement and support, appointed Liberal Party Chairwoman Fran Reiter as Deputy Mayor. He also appointed Russell Harding, the son of Giuliani's close friend Raymond Harding who also chaired the Liberal Party and was one of Giuliani's closest campaign advisers, to be the City Housing Director. Russell Harding had to leave office upon being arrested by federal law enforcement and charged with conspiracy, fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, receiving child pornography, and possesing child pornography. He was using his official credit card to pay for personal items including a car, 'Sopranos' and 'Sex in the City' DVDs, and a helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon. He later pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced to 5 years in prison and forced to repay $367,000 he embezzled from the New York City.
Yes, Rudy Giuliani has a sterling record when it comes to appointing people to positions in his administration. One can only imagine the types of people he'd appoint to his administration and to the Supreme Court if given the opportunity. It would be wise not to give him that opportunity given his record.
Fiscal Conservatism:Rudy is no fiscal conservative. He's a big government Republican. Rudy got taxes cut $2.0 billion. But that only offset the $1.8 billion tax increase Mayor Dinkins signed off on a few years earlier. A modest $200 million tax cut. Rudy also froze the 12.5% surcharge on high income earners, but he didn't eliminate the surcharge. Nor did Rudy abolish the city income tax structure. Rudy also left NYCity saddled with a projected, pre-9/11 deficit of $2.0 billion and a $42 billion debt. Second largest behind the federal government. Rudy also added 15,000 new teachers to the city employment rolls, helping to increase the membership of two of America's largest liberal oraganizations. The National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers. Rudy also took all those savings from the cuts in welfare costs and applied them to other city welfare progarms. Really no savings whatsoever. The scope of city services wasn't reduced. In addition, Rudy almost doubled the costs of contractual outsourcing from $3.0 billion to $5.8 billion.
Yes. I went through each of the items, found statements and policies of Giuliani matching each position, found votes, statements, and such from Hillary matching each position, and I went through the GOP Party Platform and pulled out what the platform has to say about each item.
I know the truth hurts. But, that's the way it is. I'm not going to let you all get away with promoting someone who is in opposition to the GOP Party Platform, and in agreement with Clinton on most issues, without inflicting as much pain as possible by exposing exactly what you're promoting.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/story/486421p-409552c.html
Rudy Inc., or Rudy sink?
Mayor's client roster could hurt '08 hopes
BY DAVID SALTONSTALL
DAILY NEWS SENIOR CORRESPONDENT
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."
Rudy`s got huge name recognition, but not a conservative bone in his entire body. Rudy`s a lifelong liberal.
Conservatives DO NOT support big government. Rudy supports big government Republicanism. Conservatives DO NOT support gun control. Rudy supports gun control. Conservatives DO NOT support an assault weapons ban. Rudy supports an assault weapons ban. Conservatives DO NOT support abortion on demand. Rudy supports abortion on demand. Conservatives DO NOT oppose a ban on partial birth abortion. Rudy opposes a ban on partial birth abortion. Conservatives DO NOT support special rights for homos. Rudy supports special rights for homos. Conservatives DO NOT support amnesty for illegals. Rudy supports amnesty for illegals.
And conservatives don't vote for liberals. Not unless they've sold out their integrity and principles. Voting for the lesser of two evils only goes so far.
Who do you support, Ronnie Boy? Is it someone who can beat the cut and run democrats in 2008? If not, you are betraying the troops.
The primary process will play out and the people of the GOP primaries across the land will make a choice and whether you like it or not it still is the process we have. You all act like the GOP is a party of like individuals and it's not.
I don't know who will win at this stage as it's very early but I will guarantee you one thing, I'll support the nominee whoever it is in an effort to defeat the democratic nominee. Now maybe you won't and will be satisfied to see the democrat win. So be it.
I'm all for the process and you know that. The Founders created a good system and it works well over the years. Not perfect mind you, but good enough. My post was directed at the fact that name recognition is really ALL Rudy has at this point. That goes for McCain, Newt and Romney too. Do you think that conservatives are going to shove aside 30 years of anti-liberal efforts, just to see Rudy get the nomination? Of course not. This will play out and the facts about every candidates record will get out. Once conservative folks see what Rudy is offering, IMO they'll look for someone else. I think Rudy tops out at 35%-40% among Republicans. He'd have to do one heck of a snow job to get most conservatives to vote for him in the primaries.
I think you're being duplicitous, given that your candidate essentially opposes the party platform on so many issues.
Have you looked at the Constitution Party?
I have. In 2000, I voted for George Bush. In 2004, I voted for Mike Peroutka. In 2008, if Duncan Hunter is nominated, I shall vote for him. If Rudy Guliani or John McCain are nominated, I will once again vote for the Constitution Party candidate.
You see, I don't vote for liberals.
Did you know that Rudy is NOT a social conservative?
Look, it's the little spammer - that won't answer a question. How do you feel you are doing so far in saving the country and preventing abortion nation-wide? :-)
Did you know that Rudy is NOT a social conservative?
It's unlikely that Hunter will be the nominee. You may want to put your time and energy into the Constitution Party now.
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