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Posted on 04/15/2007 4:27:07 PM PDT by Josh Painter
That is the reason I would like to see J.C. as VP. He has such an infectious smile!! I also like Steele.
“I think as more information comes out about Rudy, and when Fred Thompson gets in the race, this will change everything. My view of Rudy is that he’s the “Howard Dean” of the republican party—here today, gone tomorrow”
In fact most people already know his viewss on the social issues. What they don’t know is his actual record—which is pretty remarkable. You clearly don’t, otherwise you would not have dismissed his candidacy by comparing it to that of a do-nothing loud-mouth like Dean. Here’s a summary of his achievments—and believe me, it only skims the surface and does not even include his exemplary leadership on 9/11:
To begin with, crime in NYC plummeted some 64% as a result of Rudy’s administration, the murder rate alone declining 67%. Rudy shut down porn shops throughout the downtown tourist areas and kicked them out of residential neighborhoods. He went after drug dealers—something unheard of in NYC before his tenure. He went after the welfare cheats, removing illegal recipients, cutting the outlay for welfare by 20%. Over 600,000 recipients were dropped from the welfare rolls. At the same time he began a work requirement program for remaining recipients.
He ended the set-aside program for minority contractors, refused to meet with Al Sharpton, and otherwise refused to be cowed by racial politics. He refused to lower job requirements for minorities and women. He pushed to reform the city’s schools, firing ineffectual educators, and supported school vouchers—another view that went against the liberal grain. Ditto his fight against using public money for anti-religious art displays. He saved hundreds of millions of dollars by reorganizing the police force and transit authority and trash collection agencies. He fired thousands of dead wood bureaucrats and used the money to hire more cops on the beat.
He cut taxes and levies over 23 times, saving billions for taxpayers. He cut NYC’s top income-tax rate by 20.6%. Local city taxes on a family of four dropped 23.7%. He cut the commercial-rent tax. He cut sales taxes, including taxes on clothing. He cut the marriage penalty tax. He cut taxes on commercial rents and on small businesses and self-employed New Yorkers. He privatized municipal assets, selling city-owned radio and television stations and divested the City from the New York Coliseum adding $345 million to erase the City’s red ink. He cut NYC’s hotel tax from 6% to 5%. Tourism increased 50% in the city per year during Rudy’s tenure. Personal income increased 50%. Unemployment in the city went form 10.3% to 5.1%.
In all of this he was fought by the liberal media, beginning with the NYTimes, in a city that was five-to-one liberal Democrat, with a population larger than most states. When he left as mayor, NYC had gone from one of the most crime-ridden cities in America to one of the safest—and he had put it in the black for the first time in 50 years.
Nor was he just successful as mayor. As a U.S. Attorney in the Reagan administration, Rudy amassed more than 4,000 convictions, with only 25 reversals. He broke the back of organized crime, going after the five family heads of NY’s notorious Mob—defying threats to his own life. In the end he put them away for long prison terms. He also went after Wall Street white collar criminals like millionaires Ivan Boesky and Michael Milkin. He destroyed the Democratic Party machine in NYC as well, putting some of its most corrupt bosses behind bars. He also prosecuted terrorists and illegal immigrants.
What other candidate has such a resume?
How do you vote on this poll?
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