Continued from Part one of this article
Politics
Since leaving office as Mayor,
Giuliani has remained politically active by campaigning for Republican candidates
for political offices at all levels. He was one of the keynote speakers at the
2004 Republican National Convention, where he endorsed George W. Bush for re-election
by recalling that immediately after the World Trade Center towers fell, "Without
really thinking, based on just emotion, spontaneous, I grabbed the arm of then-Police
Commissioner Bernard Kerik, & I said to him, 'Bernie, thank God George Bush
is our president.'" Similarly, in June 2006, Giuliani started a website called
Solutions America to help elect Republicans candidates across the nation.
After campaigning on behalf of George W. Bush in the 2004 election, he 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 & scandals, he turned down the offer & instead recommended his friend & 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 (most prominently, that Kerik had employed an illegal immigrant as a nanny, had been sued for sexual harrassment, & had ties to organized crime). The political fallout was damaging to the perception of competence in the White House vetting process & doubts as to the political judgment of Giuliani in recommending Kerik in the first place.
Speculation that Giuliani might become a candidate for 2006 statewide office took place early in that election cycle, with the notion that Giuliani might run for either for the United States Senate challenging incumbent Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton, or for Governor of New York, as incumbent Republican Governor George Pataki announced that he would not seek re-election in July 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 gubernatorial nominee Eliot Spitzer; 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 both races, the Republican nominations fell to little-known candiates, & both Clinton & Spitzer won by very large margins.
On March 15, 2006, Congress formed the Iraq Study Group (ISG), a ten-person bipartisan panel charged with assessing the Iraq War & making recommendations. Giuliani was appointed to the ISG. On May 24, 2006, however, he resigned, citing his "previous time commitments". Giuliani was described by Newsweek magazine in January of 2007 as "one of the most consistent cheerleaders for the president’s handling of the war in Iraq."
Contrasts with successor Michael Bloomberg
A
May 14, 2007 "New York Daily News" poll indicates that 56 percent of
polled New Yorkers believe that Bloomberg has done a better job as mayor, &
that 29 percent believed that Giuliani had been a better job as mayor. 46% of
those polled also indicated they would choose Bloomberg over Giuliani as President;
Giuliani received the support of only 29% of New Yorkers.
Media
Giuliani
published Leadership, his account of his mayoralty, in 2002.
In 2003, the USA Network aired a made-for-television movie: Rudy: The Rudy Giuliani Story with James Woods in the title role.
Giuliani appeared in a cameo role in Adam Sandler's 2003 film Anger Management. In it, he uses Rob Schneider's catch phrase, "You can do it!"
On May 12, 2006, Cinema Libre Studio released Giuliani Time, a critical, feature-length documentary about Giuliani's personal & political history.
Personal life
Giuliani has been married three
times. His first marriage was to educator Regina Peruggi, whom Giuliani had known
since childhood & was his second cousin, on October 26, 1968, soon after he
graduated law school. In 1976, the couple decided on a trial separation. The couple
did not have any children.
Giuliani met local television personality Donna Hanover sometime in 1982, & they began dating when she was working in Miami. Giuliani filed for legal separation from Peruggi on August 12, 1982. Giuliani & Hanover started living together later that year in Washington, D.C. The Giuliani-Peruggi marriage was ended in two ways: a civil divorce was issued by the end of the 1982, while a Roman Catholic Church annulment of the Giuliani-Peruggi marriage was granted at the end of 1983 , according to Giuliani, because he discovered after fourteen years that he & his wife were second cousins & they did not have the Church dispensation thus needed.
Giuliani & Hanover then married in a Catholic ceremony at St. Monica's Church in New York on April 15, 1984. They had two children, son Andrew (born January 30, 1986) & daughter Caroline (born 1989). Andrew first became a familiar sight by misbehaving at Giuliani's first mayoral inaguration, then with his father at New York Yankees games, of whom Rudy Giuliani is an enthusiastic fan; Andrew also was an accomplished junior golfer.
Beginning in 1996, Giuliani & Hanover's public relationship became distant, with Hanover appearing at few public events. In 1997, a Vanity Fair article report that Giuliani had a romantic relationship with Cristyne Lategano, the mayor's communications director. The mayor & Lategano denied the allegations.
In May 2000, the New York Daily News broke news of Giuliani's extramarital relationship with Judith Nathan, a sales manager for a pharmaceutical company. Giuliani then called a press conference to announce that he intended to separate from Hanover. Hanover, however, had not been told about his plans before his press conference , an omission for which Giuliani was widely criticized . Previously, Giuliani had hinted at the relationship by referring to Nathan as his "very good friend." Giuliani now went on to praise Nathan as a "very, very fine woman", & said about his marriage with Hanover, that "over the course of some period of time in many ways, we've grown to live independent & separate lives." Hours later Hanover 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," a reference to Lategano.
Giuliani then moved out of Gracie Mansion & into an apartment where two gay friends of his lived. Giuliani filed for divorce against Hanover in October 2000, & an unpleasant public battle broke out between their representatives. In May 2001, in an effort to mitigate the bad publicity from the proceedings, Giuliani's attorney revealed (with the mayor's approval) that Giuliani was impotent due to his prostate cancer treatments & had not had sex with Nathan for the preceding year. "You don't get through treatment for cancer & radiation all by yourself," Giuliani said. "You need people to help you & care for you & support you. & I'm very fortunate I had a lot of people who did that, but nobody did more to help me than Judith Nathan." Giuliani & Hanover finally settled their acrimonious divorce case in July 2002, after his mayoralty had ended, with Giuliani paying Hanover a $6.8 million settlement & granting her custody of their children.
Giuliani subsequently married Judith Nathan on May 24, 2003, & thus gained a stepdaughter, Whitney.
By March 2007, The New York Times & the New York Daily News reported that Rudy Giuliani had become estranged from both his son Andrew (now a Duke Blue Devils golf team member at Duke University aspiring to a professional career, & who was quoted as saying "there's obviously a little problem" between him & Judith) & his daughter Caroline (now a high school senior, due to enter Harvard University in the fall), missing major events in their lives & sometimes going long stretches without talking to them, & that neither of them was taking part in his presidential campaign. The official Giuliani campaign website biography mentions Nathan but not his children or his former wives.
Rudy Giuliani presidential campaign,
2008
A draft movement began in late 2005 to get Rudy Giuliani to run for President
of the United States in 2008. Throughout 2006, rumors circulated regarding a possible
Giuliani campaign, abetted by hints from the former Mayor himself. In November
2006 Giuliani announced the formation of an exploratory committee. In February
2007 he filed a "statement of candidacy" & confirmed on the television
program Larry King Live that he was indeed running.
Early polls showed him with one of the highest levels of name recognition & support & the front-runner in the race for the Republican nomination. The Associated Press reported that Giuliani appeared to be the favorite candidate of the largest Gay Republican organization.
Giuliani participated in the first 2008 Republican Presidential Candidates Debate on May 3, 2007, at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library along with the other Republican presidential contenders. The debate was sponsored by MSNBC, politico.com, The Reagan Library, & Nancy Reagan. In the six part MSNBC online vote following the debate, Giuliani finished in 3rd place (15%) behind front runner Dr. Ron Paul, M.D. (43%). In addition, the vote rated Giuliani #1 (38%) as the candidate "Who avoided the questions?". However, this is not a scientific poll - it is an online vote of interested people.
Political
positions of Rudy Giuliani
An August 2006 poll from Rasmussen Reports revealed
the perception of Giuliani as an overall moderate. Specifically, of those Americans
polled, 36% classified him as a moderate, 29% as a conservative, & 15% as
a liberal, with the remaining 20% being unsure.
Controversies
Annulment
of first marriage
Some claim that Giuliani knew all along that his first wife
Regina Peruggi was his second cousin (Peruggi was the daughter of Giuliani's father's
cousin), & simply used that fact as an excuse to get the marriage annulled.
According to these accounts, Monsignor Alan Placa, a Catholic priest & childhood
friend of both Giuliani & Peruggi, had offered assurances to Giuliani's mother
that the relation would not be a problem.
Promotion of Bernard
Kerik
Critics state that Giuliani showed consistently poor judgment in promoting
the career of Bernard Kerik, who started out as a New York Police Department detective
driving for his campaign, then became the city's Correction Commissioner &
later police commissioner & a founder of Giuliani Partners. Giuliani then
pushed President Bush to nominate Kerik to be secretary of Homeland Security,
at which point multiple scandals derailed the nomination & Kerik's career;
subsequently Kerik pled guilty to corruption charges dating from his Corrections
days. In March of 2007, The New York Times reported that Kerik was likely to also
be indicted for tax fraud & illegal eavesdropping, & also disclosed that
Giuliani had testified under oath in April 2006 that he had in fact been briefed
on Kerik's mob links in 2000 - prior to his appointment of Kerik as Corrections
Commissioner. Giuliani had previously denied knowing of these connections until
years later.
Promotion of Russell Harding
In 2000, Mayor Giuliani appointed
34-year-old Russell Harding, the son of Liberal Party of New York boss & longtime
Giuliani mentor Raymond Harding, to head the New York City Housing Development
Corporation, despite Harding not having a college degree or relevant experience
for the position. Harding spent lavishly on himself in the job; in 2005, he pled
guilty to defrauding the Housing Development Corporation & possession of child
pornography & was sentenced to five years in prison.
"Muzzle Award"
In
2000, Mayor Giuliani received a "Muzzle Award" from the Thomas Jefferson
Center for the Protection of Free Expression. The Muzzles are "awarded as
a means to draw national attention to abridgments of free speech." This was
Giuliani's third such award, including an unprecedented "Lifetime Muzzle
Award" which noted he had "stifled speech & press to so unprecedented
a degree, & in so many & varied forms, that simply keeping up with the
city's censorious activity has proved a challenge for defenders of free expression."
Giuliani Partners business deals
Forbes reported in November 2006 that
Giuliani Partners also accepted fees from penny stock firms, made alliances that
have gone nowhere & formed pacts with businesses & individuals that have
come under scrutiny by regulators & law enforcement officers. For instance,
Giuliani Capital Advisors accepted 1.6 million warrants from Lighting Science
Group at 60 cents, a fee of $150,000 & a promise to raise cash. The company
went bankrupt, losing $412,000 on sales of $137,000 in the first part of 2006.
Another venture CamelBak, started out under Giuliani's consulting arrangement
with $31 million in sales, but was run into the ground with various missteps,
including having the disgraced Bernard Kerik sit on its board. Forbes said Giuliani's
most controversial deal was throwing in with a 2004 project with Applied DNA Sciences.
Its backer, Richard Langley Jr. had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to
commit wire fraud & commercial bribery in another penny stock scam.
Lobbying
efforts on behalf of Venezuelan oil company Citgo
In March of 2007 it was revealed
that the Bracewell & Giuliani law firm was acting as a lobbyist on behalf
of the Venezuelan state-owned petroleum company Citgo in Texas. Citgo had been
the focus of boycott efforts due to the Socialist policies of President Hugo Chavez
& allegations by the Right Wing Bush U.S. Government that Venezuela has "not
cooperated" in the War on Terror, and as it harms US rich people's business
aims.
New York Yankees gifts
On 8 May 2007, the Village Voice published
a feature questioning whether Giuliani might have received improper gifts from
the New York Yankees baseball team during Giuliani's tenure as mayor, possibly
including tickets, souvenirs, & 4 World Series championship rings. The article
further questioned whether Giuliani properly reported these gifts or paid any
necessary taxes on this gifts, which collectively had very significant value.
Awards & honors
Giuliani is awarded the 2002 Ronald Reagan
Freedom Award by Former First Lady Nancy Reagan.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."
For his leadership
on & after September 11, Giuliani was given an honorary knighthood (KBE) by
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on February 13, 2002.
In 2004, construction
began on the Rudolph W. Giuliani Trauma Center at St. Vincent's Hospital in New
York.
In 2005, Giuliani received honorary degrees from Loyola College in Maryland
& Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont. In 2007, Giuliani receeived an
honorary Doctorate in Public Administration from The Citadel, The Military College
of South Carolina, Charleston, SC.
In 2006, Rudy & Judith Giuliani were
honored by the American Heart Association at its annual Heart of the Hamptons
benefit in Water Mill, New York.[174]
Electoral history
1989 Race for
Mayor (New York City)
David Dinkins (D), 51%
Rudy Giuliani (R), 49%
1993
Race for Mayor (New York City)
Rudy Giuliani (R), 49%
David Dinkins (D)
(inc.), 46%
1997 Race for Mayor (New York City)
Rudy Giuliani (R) (inc.),
59%
Ruth Messinger (D), 41%
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His name is not spelt Rudy Guliani or Roody Giuliiani, or Roody Guliani or Rody Giuliani,