Rudy Giuliani

Rudy Giuliani
107th Mayor of New York City
In office 1994–2001
Preceded by	David Dinkins
Succeeded by	Michael Bloomberg
Personal details
Born	May 28, 1944 Brooklyn, New York
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Regina Peruggi (annulled) Donna Hanover (divorced) Judith Nathan

Rudolph William Louis Giuliani III KBE (born May 28, 1944) is an American lawyer and politician from the U.S. state of New York. He served as Mayor of New York City from 1994–2001, and gained national attention for his role during and after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and led him to be named Time's 2001 Person of the Year. His public visibility in the days following the attacks earned him the nickname "America's Mayor." Since leaving office as Mayor of New York, Giuliani has pursued business and legal interests, and has remained politically active by campaigning for Republican candidates for political offices at all levels. On November 13, 2006, he formed an exploratory committee to consider entering the 2008 Presidential Campaign . The committee filed papers with the FEC on November 22, 2006.

Giuliani, a self-made millionaire, currently heads Giuliani Partners LLC, a security consulting company he founded in 2002, and is a partner in the Houston-based law firm Bracewell & Giuliani LLP.

In 2002, he was made an honorary KBE by HM Queen Elizabeth II.

Giuliani was born in Brooklyn, New York, raised in Garden City South on Long Island, to Harold Angel Giuliani and Helen C. D'Avanzo, the children of Italian immigrants. He attended Manhattan College before graduating from the New York University School of Law cum laude in 1968.

Giuliani is married to Judith Nathan; this is his third marriage. He has two children, Andrew and Caroline, from his second marriage to television personality Donna Hanover, and one stepdaughter, Whitney, who is Nathan's daughter. Giuliani's first marriage, to Regina Peruggi, was annulled after fourteen years, according to Giuliani, because he discovered he and his wife were second cousins. The couple did not have any children. In May of 2000, the New York Daily News broke news of his relationship to his now-third wife, and Giuliani then called a press conference to announce that he intended to separate from Donna Hanover. Hanover, however, had apparently not been told about his plans before his press conference.

Giuliani is also an enthusiastic fan of the New York Yankees and is frequently spotted in attendance of the team's games.

Early career

After a law clerkship following graduation from NYU School of Law, in 1970, Giuliani joined the Office of the US Attorney.

In 1973, he was named Chief of the Narcotics Unit and rose to serve as executive US Attorney. In 1975, Giuliani was recruited to Washington, D.C., where he was named Associate Deputy Attorney General and chief of staff to the Deputy Attorney General. His first high-profile prosecution was of Congressman Bert Podell, who was convicted of corruption. From 1977 to 1981, Giuliani practiced law at the Patterson, Belknap, Webb and Tyler law firm.

In 1981, Giuliani was named Associate Attorney General in the Reagan Administration, placing him in the third-highest position in the Department of Justice. As Associate Attorney General, Giuliani supervised all of the US Attorney Offices' Federal law enforcement agencies, the Department of Corrections, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the United States Marshals Service.

In a well-publicized 1982 case, Giuliani testified in defense of the federal government "detention posture" of interning over 2,000 unlawfully-immigrated Haitian refugees in refugee camps, at one point stating that political repression under President Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier, "simply does not exist now".

In 1983, Giuliani was appointed U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. It was in this position that he first gained national prominence by prosecuting numerous high-profile cases, including the successful prosecutions of Wall Street figures Ivan Boesky and Michael Milken for insider trading. He also spearheaded the effort to jail drug dealers, combat organized crime, break the web of corruption in government, and prosecute white-collar criminals. He amassed a record of 4,152 convictions with only 25 reversals. Critics disparaged Giuliani, claiming he arranged public arrests of people, then dropped charges for lack of evidence rather than going to trial.

Marc Rich, Pincus Green case

It was in 1983 that Giuliani indicted financiers Marc Rich and Pincus Green on charges of tax evasion and making illegal oil deals with Iran during the hostage crisis, in one of the first cases in which the RICO Act was employed in a non-organized crime case. Rich and Green fled the United States to avoid prosecution; both were controversially pardoned by the executive order of President Bill Clinton in 2001.

Mafia Commission trial

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Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno, head of the Genovese crime family, was convicted after Giuliani indicted him and sentenced to 100 years in prison.

In the Mafia Commission Trial (February 25, 1985–November 19, 1986), Giuliani indicted eleven organized crime figures, including the heads of New York's so-called "Five Families," under the RICO Act on charges including extortion, labor racketeering, and murder for hire. Time magazine called this "Case of Cases" possibly "the most significant assault on the infrastructure of organized crime since the high command of the Chicago Mafia was swept away in 1943," and quoted Giuliani's stated intention: "Our approach...is to wipe out the five families."

The inital defendants included:

• Paul "Big Paul" Castellano, head of the Gambino crime family
• Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno, head of the Genovese crime family
• Carmine "Junior" Persico, head of the Colombo Family
• Anthony "Tony Ducks" Corallo, head of the Lucchese crime family
• Philip "Rusty" Rastelli, head of the Bonanno family,

and six subordinates. Eight defendants were found guilty on all counts and subsequently sentenced on January 13, 1987 to hundreds of years of prison time.

Boesky, Milken trials

Michael Milken was indicted by Giuliani on 98 counts of racketeering and securities fraud.

Ivan Boesky was a Wall Street arbitrageur who had amassed a fortune of about US $200 million by betting on corporate takeovers. He was investigated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for making investments based on tips received from corporate insiders. These stock acquisitions were sometimes brazen, with massive purchases occurring only a few days before a corporation announced a takeover. Although insider trading of this kind was illegal, laws prohibiting it were rarely enforced until Boesky was prosecuted. Boesky cooperated with the SEC and informed on several of his insiders, including junk bond trader Michael Milken:

"Boesky admitted to numerous offenses and then turned state's evidence, primarily against Milken. He received a 3 1/2 year prison sentence and $100 million fine after admitting to the charges and reached a plea bargain with Rudy Giuliani...[who would] draw criticism because Ivan was allowed to unload his holdings before his indictment was officially announced, realizing profits from it before being convicted. Others considered the sentence and fine as being too light. But Giuliani and company was [sic] after a much bigger fish, namely Milken."

In 1989, Giuliani charged Milken under the RICO Act with 98 counts of racketeering and fraud. In a highly-publicized case, Milken was indicted by a federal grand jury, and after a plea bargain, pled guilty to six lesser securities and reporting violations.

He paid a total of $900 million in fines and settlements relating primarily to civil lawsuits and was banned for life from the securities industry.

Mayoral campaigns, 1989 and 1993

Giuliani was U.S. Attorney until January 1989, resigning as the Reagan administration ended. He then joined the law firm White & Case in New York City, as a partner. He remained with White & Case until May 1990, when he joined the law firm Anderson Kill Olick & Oshinsky, also in New York City.

1989 campaign

Giuliani first ran for New York City Mayor as the candidate of both the Republican and Liberal parties, attempting to succeed Ed Koch in 1989. Giuliani lost to Democrat David Dinkins by 47,080 votes out of 1,899,845 votes cast, in the closest election in city history.

1993 campaign and election

In 1993, Giuliani again ran for Mayor. The principal issues of the election of 1993 were crime and taxes. Giuliani also campaigned on what he perceived to be the unchecked expansion of the city's budget and the lack of managerial competence of incumbent David Dinkins. While Dinkins had frequently and eloquently voiced his affection for New York City diversity while in office, his tenure bore witness to anti-Semitic rioting in Crown Heights and an Al Sharpton-led black boycott of Korean businesses in Brooklyn.

Giuliani focused on what he described as a breakdown of social and political order that Dinkins had been either unwilling or unable to address effectively. In addition, the City was suffering from a spike in unemployment associated with the nationwide recession, with local unemployment rates going from 6.7% in 1989 to 11.1% in 1992, and was suffering from an all-time high in the crime rate. These were contrasted with Dinkins's appeal to the "gorgeous mosaic" of New York ethnic diversity.

Giuliani promised a return to social order, addressing day-to-day issues rather than past or imminent crises: Poverty, welfare, and the prevalence of homeless panhandlers on streets and subways, and improving New York City's image via improvements on crime, infrastructure and urban revitalization.

He promised to focus the police department on shutting down petty crimes and nuisances as a way of restoring the City's quality of life: "It's the street tax paid to drunk and drug-ridden panhandlers. It's the squeegee men shaking down the motorist waiting at a light. It's the trash storms, the swirling mass of garbage left by peddlers and panhandlers, and open-air drug bazaars on unclean streets."

Giuliani won the election by a margin of 53,367 votes, with 49.25% of the electorate to the incumbent's 46.42% share. He became the first Republican elected Mayor of New York City since John Lindsay won re-election in 1969.

Mayoralty

Crime control

National, New York City, and other major city crime rates (1990-2002).

In his first term as mayor, Giuliani, in conjunction with New York City Police Department Commissioner Bill Bratton, adopted an aggressive enforcement-deterrent strategy based on James Q. Wilson's Broken Windows research. This involved crackdowns on relatively minor offenses such as graffiti, turnstile jumping, and aggressive "squeegeemen", on the principle that this would send a message that order would be maintained, and that the city would be "cleaned up".

Giuliani also directed the New York City Police Department to aggressively pursue enterprises linked to organized crime, such as the Fulton Fish Market and the Javits Center on the West Side (Gambino crime family). In the breaking up of mob control of solid waste removal, the city was able to save city businesses over $600 million.

One of the first initiatives of Giuliani and Bratton was the institution of CompStat in 1994, a comparative statistical approach to mapping crime geographically and in terms of emerging criminal patterns, as well as charting officer performance by quantifying criminal apprehensions. CompStat was operationalized by the empowerment of precinct commanders, based on the assumption that local authorities could best institute crime reduction techniques specific to their experiential knowledge of their own localities. This system also enhanced the accountability of both the commanders and the officers themselves. Critics of the system assert that it creates an environment in which police officials are encouraged to underreport or otherwise manipulate crime data.

Giuliani continued to highlight crime reduction and law enforcement as central missions of his mayoralty throughout both terms, efforts which largely met with success. Concurrent with his achievements, a number of tragic cases of abuse of authority took place, and numerous allegations of civil rights abuses were leveled. Giuliani's own Deputy Mayor, Rudy Washington, alleged that he had been harassed by police on several occasions. More controversial still were several police shootings of unarmed suspects, and the scandals surrounding the brutalization of Abner Louima and the killing of Amadou Diallo. In a case less nationally-publicized than those of Louima and Diallo, unarmed bar patron Patrick Dorismond was killed shortly after declining the overtures of what turned out to be an undercover officer soliciting illegal drugs. Even while hundreds of outraged New Yorkers protested, Giuliani staunchly supported the New York City Police Department, going so far as to take the unprecedented step of releasing Dorismond's "extensive criminal record" to the public.

The amount of credit Giuliani's policies deserve for the drop in the crime rate is disputed by critics. A small but significant nationwide drop in crime preceded Giuliani's election, and he may have been the beneficiary of a trend already in progress. Additional contributing factors to the overall decline in crime during the 1990s was federal funding of an additional 7,000 police officers and an overall improvement in the national economy. Many experts believe changing demographics were the factor most responsible for crime rate reductions, which were similar across the country during this time. Different studies show that New York's drop in crime rate in the '90s and '00s exceeds all national figures and therefore should be linked with a local dynamic that was not present as such anywhere else in the country: "most focused form of policing in history. Zimring (Frank Zimring - The Great American Crime Decline) estimates that up to half of New York’s crime drop in the 1990s, and virtually 100 percent of its continuing crime decline since 2000, has resulted from policing." However, any "credit for keeping Gotham on the path of ongoing crime reduction belongs to Ray Kelly, serving his second tour of duty as the NYPD’s commissioner.(...) Giuliani loyalists, perennially predicting le déluge, greeted Kelly’s appointment with dismay."

Many New Yorkers believe the policies under Mayor Giuliani's pertaining to the policing of NYC to have been effective. This view was obviously not limited to New York City residents, as several programs similar to CompStat were subsequently instituted by a variety of urban police departments nationwide.

In 2005 the former Swedish consul-general in New York City Olle Wästberg nominated Giuliani for the Nobel Peace Prize, citing his efforts to reduce crime rates in the city. "I believe that he has, through his political efforts, saved more human lives than most people alive today," Wästberg said.

Urban reconstruction

Giuliani pursued similarly aggressive real estate policies. The Times Square redevelopment project saw Times Square transformed from a seedy, run-down center for businesses ranging from tourist attractions and peep shows to a gleaming, high-priced district filled with family-oriented stores and theaters, including the MTV studios and a massive Virgin Megastore and theater. Giuliani faced some opposition to these changes, which critics alleged displaced low income residents of the area in favor of large corporations. His critics also alleged that the Giuliani administration's real estate policies tended to reduce the amount of usable public space in the city while increasing the amount of private or corporate space (e.g., the sale of city-owned community gardens to private developers). Throughout his term, Giuliani also pursued the construction of a new sports stadium in Manhattan, a goal in which he did not succeed, though new minor league baseball stadiums opened in Brooklyn, for the Brooklyn Cyclones, and in Staten Island, for the Staten Island Yankees. Conversely, Giuliani refused to attend the opening ceremonies for a Dinkins success, Arthur Ashe Stadium in Flushing Meadows, Queens, stating his anger with a contract that fines the city if planes from LaGuardia Airport fly over the stadium during U.S. Open matches. Giuliani boycotted the U.S. Open throughout his mayoralty.

Immigration

Giuliani has been criticized for embracing illegal immigration. Giuliani continued a policy of preventing city employees from contacting INS about immigration violations. He ordered city attorneys to defend this policy in federal court.[11] Giuliani has also expressed doubt that the federal government can stop illegal immigration.[12] In April 2006, Giuliani went on the record as favoring the US Senate's comprehensive immigration plan which includes a path to citizenship and a guest worker plan. He rejected the US House approach because he does not think House Resolution 4437 could be enforced.[13]

Media management

Giuliani, after being elected, started a weekly call-in program on WABC radio. He avoided one-on-one interviews with the press, preferring to only speak to them at press conferences or on the steps of City Hall. Giuliani made frequent visits to The Late Show with David Letterman television show, sometimes appearing as a guest and sometimes participating in comedy segments. In one highly publicized appearance that took place shortly after his election, Giuliani filled a pothole in the street outside the Ed Sullivan theater.

Donald Rumsfeld and Rudy Giuliani at the site of the World Trade Center, on November 14 2001.

Foreign Policy Actions

In 1995, Giuliani made national headlines by ordering PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat ejected from a Lincoln Center concert held in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations after Arafat showed up to the event uninvited. "Maybe we should wake people up to the way this terrorist is being romanticized," Giuliani said, and noted that Arafat had been implicated in the murder of American civilians and diplomatic personnel.

Brooklyn Museum art controversy

In 1999 Giuliani threatened to cut off city funding for the Brooklyn Museum if the museum did not remove a number of works in an exhibit entitled "Sensation: Young British Artists from the Saatchi Collection." One work in particular, The Holy Virgin Mary by Turner Prize winning-artist Chris Ofili (a Catholic himself), featured the Virgin Mary next to elephant dung and female genitalia pictures. It was targeted as being offensive to some in the Christian community in New York, leading the artist to comment that "This is all about control."

In its defense, the museum filed a lawsuit, charging Giuliani with violating the First Amendment right to freedom of speech. Religious groups such as the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights supported the mayor's actions, while it was condemned by groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union, accusing the mayor of censorship and interference with the first amendment rights of the museum. The museum's lawsuit was successful; the mayor was ordered to resume funding, and the judge, Federal District Judge Nina Gershon, declared "[t]here is no federal constitutional issue more grave than the effort by government officials to censor works of expression and to threaten the vitality of a major cultural institution as punishment for failing to abide by governmental demands for orthodoxy."

Gun control lawsuit

On June 20, 2000 Giuliani announced that the City of New York had filed a lawsuit against two dozen major gun manufacturers and distributors.[14] The lawsuit was made moot when President Bush signed the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act in October 2005 which gave gun companies protection from liability.[15]

Other

In August 1999, Giuliani served as jury foreman for a civil suit; he is believed to be the first sitting mayor of New York to serve on a jury. The case concerned a Harlem couple who alleged that their building's supervisor improperly maintained the facilities, resulting in the man's genitals being burned by the shower, which hurt their sexual life and ultimately caused their marriage to break down.

In 1998, Mayor Giuliani received The Hundred Year Association of New York's Gold Medal Award "in recognition of outstanding contributions to the City of New York."

Run for United States Senate

In April 1999 Giuliani formed an exploratory committee in connection with the 2000 New York United States Senate election, seeking the Republican nomination to fill the seat vacated by the retiring Daniel Patrick Moynihan. His expected Democratic opponent was Hillary Rodham Clinton. On May 19, 2000, before the Republican primary, which he was expected to win, he withdrew his candidacy because of prostate cancer, the Farmersville Garbage Scandal which significantly reduced his support in his core upstate counties, and the fallout from his affair and messy divorce from his wife Donna Hanover. During the ill-fated campaign, Giuliani was forced to confess to his marital infidelities and, in the process, lost a further significant base of electoral support. New York Congressman Rick Lazio replaced Giuliani as the Republican nominee and lost to Clinton.

September 11 terrorist attacks

The defining episode in Giuliani's career was his management of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center. He was near the World Trade Center complex when the Twin Towers collapsed. He coordinated the response of various city departments while organizing the support of state and federal authorities for the World Trade Center site, for city-wide anti-terrorist measures, and for restoration of destroyed infrastructure. He made frequent appearances on radio and television on September 11 and afterwards to communicate critical information to the public; for example, to indicate that tunnels would be closed as a precautionary measure, and that there was no reason to believe that the dispersion of chemical or biological weaponry into the air was a factor in the attack. He balanced the need to make hundreds of decisions directly and immediately, to delegate hundreds of others, and to visit the injured and console the families of the dead.

When Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal suggested that the attacks were an indication that the United States "should re-examine its policies in the Middle East and adopt a more balanced stand toward the Palestinian cause," Giuliani asserted,

There is no moral equivalent for this [terrorist] act. There is no justification for it... And one of the reasons I think this happened is because people were engaged in moral equivalency in not understanding the difference between liberal democracies like the United States, like Israel, and terrorist states and those who condone terrorism. So I think not only are those statements wrong, they're part of the problem.

New York City subsequently rejected the prince's $10 million donation to disaster relief in the aftermath of the attack.

In the wake of the attacks, Giuliani was hailed for his leadership during the crisis. For this, he was named TIME magazine's Person of the Year for 2001, and given an honorary knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II on February 13, 2002.[16]

Criticism for handling of the 9/11 attacks

In September of 2006, Village Voice writer Wayne Barrett and senior producer for CBSNews.com, Dan Collins, published "The Grand Illusion: The Untold Story of Rudy Giuliani and 9/11," one of the strongest reassessments of Giuliani's role in the events of 9/11. The book highlights his decision to locate the Office of Emergency Management headquarters in a long-identified target for a terrorist attack at the World Trade Center, his focus on personal projects and turf wars rather than vital precautions for the city, and his role in communications failures (potentially related to patronage and sweetheart deals inside City Hall). A Kirkus review of the book states, "Giuliani may not have been directly responsible for all those woes, but they happened on his watch.".

Some 9/11 Family members have openly criticized Giuliani for the significant communication failures which occurred on that day. In December of 2006, Sally Regenhard, mother of a late firefighter and co-founder of the Skyscraper Safety Campaign, vowed to expose the truths of Giuliani's actions on 9/11 before 2008, stating, "I can't see why any 9/11 family member who knows the truth about the failures of the Giuliani administration . . . would not be outraged."

Criticism for handling of Ground Zero air quality issue

Giuliani has been subject to increased criticism for downplaying the health effects of the air in the Financial District and lower Manhattan areas in the vicinity of the Ground Zero. He moved quickly to reopen Wall Street, and it was reopened on September 17. However, in the weeks after the attacks, the United States Geological Survey identified hundreds of asbestos hot spots of debris dust that remained on buildings. By the end of the month the USGS reported that the toxicity of the debris was akin to that of a household cleaner. The city's health agencies, such as the Department of Environmental Protection, did not supervise or issue guidelines for the testing and cleanup of private buildings. Instead, the city left this responsibility to building owners.

Firefighters, police and their unions, have criticized Giuliani over the issue of protective equipment and illnesses after the attacks.An October study by the National Institute of Environmental Safety and Health said that cleanup workers lacked adequate protective gear.

"America's Mayor"

In his public statements, Giuliani mirrored the emotions of New Yorkers after the September 11 attacks: shock, sadness, anger, resolution to rebuild, and the desire for justice to be done to those responsible. "Tomorrow New York is going to be here," he said. "And we're going to rebuild, and we're going to be stronger than we were before...I want the people of New York to be an example to the rest of the country, and the rest of the world, that terrorism can't stop us." Giuliani was widely praised for his close involvement with the rescue and recovery efforts.

As an avid and public fan of the New York Yankees, who won four World Series Championships during his time as mayor, Giuliani was frequently sighted at Yankee games, often accompanied by his son. On September 21, 2001, the first game was played in New York City after the attacks, with the New York Mets at home facing the Atlanta Braves. Despite his being a Yankee fan, the crowd cheered for him and for his leadership over the preceding days.

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Rudy Giuliani, 2001 Time Person of the Year.

2001 Mayoral election controversy

The 9/11 attack occurred on the scheduled date of the mayoral primary to select the Democratic and Republican candidates to succeed Giuliani. The primary was immediately delayed two weeks to September 25. During this period, Giuliani sought an unprecedented three-month emergency extension of his term, from its scheduled expiration on January 1 to April 1, due to the circumstances of the emergency besetting the city. He threatened to challenge the law imposing term limits on elected New York City officials and run for another full four-year term, if the primary candidates did not consent to permit the extension of his mayoralty.

Advocates for the extension contended that Giuliani was needed to manage the initial requests for funds from Albany and Washington, speed up recovery, and slow down the exodus of jobs from lower Manhattan to outside New York City. Opponents viewed the extension as an unprecedented power grab and as a means for Giuliani to profit politically from the sudden, international prominence of the role of New York City Mayor. Although a provision for emergency extensions is written into the New York State Constitution (Article 3 Section 25), leaders in the State Assembly and Senate indicated that they did not believe the extension was necessary and the election and inauguration proceeded as scheduled.

Time Person of the Year

In 2001, TIME magazine named Giuliani Person of the Year. TIME observed that, prior to 9/11, the public image of Giuliani had been that of a rigid, self-righteous, ambitious politician. After 9/11, and perhaps owing also to his bout with cancer, his public image had been reformed to that of a man who could be counted on to unite a city in the midst of its greatest crisis. Thus historian Vincent J. Cannato concluded in September, 2006, "With time, Giuliani's legacy will be based on more than just 9/11. He left a city immeasurably better off — safer, more prosperous, more confident — than the one he had inherited eight years earlier, even with the smoldering ruins of the World Trade Center at its heart. Debates about his accomplishments will continue, but the significance of his mayoralty is hard to deny."

Political critics

At the same time, however, voices were being raised against the refrain that it was the mayor who had pulled the city together. "You didn't bring us together, our pain brought us together and our decency brought us together. We would have come together if Bozo was the mayor," said civil-rights activist Al Sharpton, in a statement largely supported by Fernando Ferrer, one of three main candidates for the mayoralty at the end of 2001."He was a power-hungry person", Al also said.

Post-mayoralty

Rudy Giuliani at NYFPC briefing on "New York City - 1 Year After 9/11".

2003 television biopic

In 2003, the "USA Network" aired a made-for-television movie: "Rudy: The Rudy Giuliani Story" with James Woods in the title role. [17]

Consulting

After leaving the mayor's office, Giuliani built a security consulting business and gave speeches. On December 1, 2004 his consulting firm announced it purchased accounting firm Ernst & Young's investment banking unit. The new investment bank will be known as Giuliani Capital Advisors LLC and will advise companies on acquisitions, restructurings and other strategic issues.

Commercial endorsement

Giuliani and Giuliani Partners struck a deal to promote the wireless communication company Nextel. [18]

Movie Cameo

Guiliani appeared in a cameo role in Adam Sandler's Anger Management. In it, he uses Rob Schneider's catch phrase, "You can do it!"

2004

Giuliani, who campaigned on behalf of the reelection of George W. Bush in the 2004 election, was reportedly the top choice for Secretary of Homeland Security after the resignation of Tom Ridge. When suggestions were made that Giuliani's confirmation hearings would be marred by details of his past affairs and scandals, he turned down the offer and instead recommended his friend and former New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik. Kerik in his pre-announcement interviews with the White House failed to disclose facts in his past which were certain to disqualify him. After the formal announcement of Kerik's nomination, information known for years to local reporters, but unreported, became widely known. The political fallout was damaging to the perception of competence in the White House vetting process and doubts as to the political judgment of Giuliani in recommending Kerik in the first place.

Giuliani cutting the ribbon of the new Drug Enforcement Agency mobile museum in Dallas, Texas in Sept. 2003

2005

On March 31, 2005, it was announced that Giuliani would join the firm of Bracewell & Patterson LLP (renamed Bracewell & Giuliani LLP) as a name partner and symbolic head of the expanding firm's new New York office. Despite a busy schedule the former mayor is known to be highly active in the day-to-day business of the Texas-based law firm. While there was early speculation that the firm would merge with Giuliani Partners, this is a legal impossibility (As a matter of ethics, lawyers cannot share legal fees with non-lawyers). However, while the firm is completely independent of the consulting business, the two entities maintain a close strategic partnership.

2006

Speculation that Giuliani might become a candidate for statewide office occurred in 2006, either for the United States Senate challenging incumbent Hillary Clinton, or for Governor of New York as Governor George Pataki announced that he would not seek re-election for a fourth term on July 27, 2005.

The consensus of political observers then was that Giuliani would not run even though polls show that he would be favored in a matchup against Democratic nominee Eliot Spitzer [19]; in any case, a Giuliani spokesman said that he "has no intention" of running, leaving no clear favorite among Republicans. With Giuliani staying out of the Senate race, the Republican nomination was contested among several lesser-known candidates, with none gaining much traction and several dropping out (see New York gubernatorial election, 2006). Democrat Eliot Spitzer won the governorship by 41% margin [20].

On March 15, 2006, Congress announced the formation of the Iraq Study Group (ISG), of which Giuliani was appointed a member but then resigned. The ISG is a bipartisan task force which authored the Iraq Study Group Report, an assessment of US involvement in Iraq.

On May 12, 2006, Cinema Libre Studio [21] released Giuliani Time [22], a critical, feature-length documentary about Giuliani's personal and political history.

On August 15, 2006, a poll from Rasmussen Reports revealed the perception of Giuliani as a moderate. [23]

On November 13, 2006, Giuliani announced during a leadership conference in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania that he had taken the first step toward a potential 2008 White House bid by forming a presidential exploratory committee. He has not officially decided if he will run. By forming the committee Giuliani is able to travel and gauge support without formally declaring his candidacy, which would subject him to federal fundraising laws.

Potential 2008 presidential campaign

Rudy Giuliani speaks to the press about New York's status two years after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Draft Rudy Giuliani for President, Inc, registered with the Federal Election Commission in October 2005, became the first federal committee formed with the sole purpose of encouraging former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani to run for President of the United States in 2008. Throughout 2006, various rumors circulated concerning a Giuliani campaign for President and Giuliani himself hinted at his intentions. On November 13, 2006, the Associated Press reported that Rudy Giuliani filed papers to create the Rudy Giuliani Presidential Exploratory Committee, Inc., allowing him to raise money for national travel and for a Presidential campaign. The committee filed papers with the FEC on November 22, 2006

Early 2008 Presidential polls show him with one of the highest levels of name recognition and support. A recent Gallup poll found Giuliani to be the most "acceptable" nominee for Republicans, with 73% giving him a thumbs-up and 25% dismissing him as "unacceptable." By this measure, he led both Condoleezza Rice (68%-29%) and John McCain (55%-41%).[24] The same poll also found Giuliani leading the Republican field with 29% support, with John McCain at 24%, Newt Gingrich at 8%, and both Mitt Romney and Bill Frist at 6%.

Political views

Supporters point to his leadership of New York City during the September 11, 2001 attacks and his coordination of the emergency response in the immediate aftermath, as well as his track record of success in reducing crime and improving the economy of New York City. The prospect of a Republican candidate with the potential to win New York State's electoral votes would be a strategic victory for the Republican Party, although the prospect is less likely, if New York Senator Hillary Clinton runs on the Democratic ticket.

Giuliani is a Roman Catholic who is pro-choice, supports same-sex civil unions, gun control, and embryonic stem cell research. Pro-life groups, such as the Republican National Coalition for Life, have already announced their intention to oppose Giuliani or any other pro-choice candidate, though evidence suggests that even among these voters, he enjoys some support.

Past problems recalled

Giuliani's relationship with Judith Nathan, (who later became Giuliani's third wife) was well-publicized by local media as it appeared to have begun during his marriage to his second wife. Before his divorce, Giuliani hinted at the relationship by referring to Judith Nathan as his "very good friend." On May 10, 2000 Mr. Giuliani announced at a press conference that he was seeking a separation from his wife, Donna Hanover without first informing her of his decision.

Mr. Giuliani went on to praise Judith Nathan as a "very, very fine woman," and said about his marriage with Donna Hanover, that "over the course of some period of time in many ways, we've grown to live independent and separate lives." The mayor's assertion was contradicted three hours later by his former wife, who said, "I had hoped that we could keep this marriage together. For several years, it was difficult to participate in Rudy's public life because of his relationship with one staff member." Ms. Hanover was referring to Cristyne Lategano-Nicholas, the mayor's former communications director. The mayor and Ms. Lategano-Nicholas denied those allegations in the past, and continue to deny them now.

Giuliani also has been criticized by vocal opponents from his mayoral days, honing in on Giuliani's support for the NYPD during the racially-charged cases of Abner Louima and Amadou Diallo and his crackdown on porn shops in Times Square. In November 2006, civil-rights lawyer and frequent Giuliani critic Norman Siegel pledged to "swift boat" the former Mayor by bringing attention to these and other controversies.[25]

2008 battle plans revealed

On January 1, 2007 the New York Daily News published parts of a secret dossier that sets out the budgets, schedules and fund-raising plans for Giuliani's 2008 presidential run. [26]

Electoral history

• 1997 Race for Mayor (New York City)
  • Rudy Giuliani (R) (inc.), 59%
  • Ruth Messinger (D), 41%

• 1993 Race for Mayor (New York City)
  • Rudy Giuliani (R), 49%
  • David Dinkins (D) (inc.), 46%

• 1989 Race for Mayor (New York City)
  • David Dinkins (D), 51%
  • Rudy Giuliani (R), 49%

Further reading

• Barrett, Wayne, (2000). Rudy!: An Investigative Biography of Rudolph Giuliani. Basic Books, ISBN 0-7567-6114-X (Reprint by Diane Publishing Co.)
• Barrett, Wayne & Collins, Dan (2006). Grand Illusion: The Untold Story of Rudy Giuliani and 9/11. Harper Collins. ISBN 0-06-053660-8.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Giuliani, Rudolph W., Kurson, Ken (2002). Leadership (book). Miramax Books. ISBN 0-7868-6841-4.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Gonzalez, Juan, (2002). Fallout: The Environmental Consequences of the World Trade Center Collapse. New Press, ISBN 156584754
• Kirtzman, Andrew (2001). Rudy Giuliani: Emperor of the City. Harper Collins. ISBN 0-06-009389-7.
• Newfield, Jack, (2003). The Full Rudy: The Man, the Myth, the Mania. Thunder's Mouth Press, ISBN 1-56025-482-3
• Polner, Robert, (2005). America's Mayor: The Hidden History of Rudy Giuliani's New York. Soft Skull Press, ISBN 1-932360-58-1
• Siegel, Fred (2005). The Prince of the City: Giuliani, New York, and the Genius of American Life. Encounter Books. ISBN 1-59403-084-7.

See also

• September 11, 2001 attacks
• New York City
• William J. Bratton (former Police Commissioner of New York City)
• Bernard Kerik (former Police Commissioner of New York City)
• Anthony Rosario
• Howard Safir (former Police Commissioner of New York City)
• Peter Vallone (former Speaker of New York City Council)
• Thomas Von Essen (former Fire Commissioner of New York City)

External links

• Join Rudy 2008 - The Official Website of the Giuliani For President Exploratory Committee
• Draft Rudy Giuliani for President a federal committee organized to "Draft Rudy Giuliani" in 2008
• Unofficial Giuliani Blog
• Giuliani Time the official Web site for the Kevin Keating documentary
• On the Issues - Rudy Giuliani issue positions and quotes
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