Posted on 03/17/2002 9:19:46 AM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection
Both started their public careers as prosecutors in the office of then-U.S. Attorney - now 9/11 national hero - former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
But while Giuliani's active support for staunch California conservative Bill Simon was instrumental is giving Simon the momentum he needed to beat former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan in last month's gubernatorial primary, former Independent Counsel Robert Ray learned yesterday he'll get no such favors.
"As of right now, (Giuliani's) staying out of the (N.J.) Republican primary," the ex-mayor's spokeswoman Sunny Mindel told the New York Post.
Giuliani's decision not to do for Ray what he did for his other protege Simon is viewed as a severe blow to Ray's fledgling political bid, especially with June 4 - primary day - fast approaching.
While Giuliani isn't saying so out loud, some speculate that Clinton's pardon of fugitive billionaire Marc Rich - who eluded then-prosecutor Giuliani by fleeing the country in 1983 - has the ex-mayor angry at Ray for tanking on his own ironclad perjury case against the ex-president.
Then there's the tawdry way Ray exited his job last week.
With the ink barely dry on his final report on the Monica Lewinsky case (wherein his office took some potshots at several of the most damaging witnesses against the Clintons), Ray resigned his job last Wednesday, only to announce his candidacy for the New Jersey Senate seat now occupied by Robert Torricelli two days later.
Worse still, even before Ray abandoned ship on his Clinton prosecution, he'd been making noises about turning unprosecuted corruption charges against Torricelli into a campaign issue.
But like Ray's prosecutorial quarry Bill and Hillary, Torricelli managed to slither off the hook thanks to the equally feckless U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White, who was anxious to wrap up her own pretend-investigation of 1996 campaign finance abuses.
There could be more bad news for the politically ambitious ex-independent counsel just around the corner.
We hear that Giuliani is not the only former Ray mentor who's been disappointed with his performance lately.
Who is the Freeper preferred candidate for the Republican Primary anyway?
I can tell you two things for sure: The eventual "GOP" candidate will run an absolutely feckless, vapid campaign...and he'll be a freaking RINO on steroids.
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