[Jake The Goose]

And this is interesting to anyone why?

[TxCopper]

I know, right?

[mnehring]

Much ado about nothing... probably a news article meant to show how ‘rich’ Rudy is, and thus, keep the class warfare line going...

[P-40]

Just think of all the greenhouses gases that went into the atmosphere just to mine the materials for that jewelry. :)

[wideawake]

Anti-Giuliani obsessives claim that this was some kind of illegitimate kickback by the Yankees to Giuliani, since the Yankees negotiated contracts with the city when Giuliani purchased the rings at the manufacturer's list price with his own money.

Reality:

(1) Giuliani paid the manufacturer's full list price for the rings.

(2) The Yankees new stadium is one of the few stadiums in America being built entirely with money from private investors without public grants.

(3) Giuliani detractors argue that the contracts Giuliani negotiated included public grants and that Bloomberg repudiated the contracts and that's why the Yankees aren't using public money - no thanks to Giuliani.

in reality, Bloomberg did not repudiate the contracts but simply exercised the city's escape clause that was written into the contract by Giuliani.

[CharlesWayneCT]

I’ve heard of college class rings that cost more than this, and they weren’t as ornate as the rings.

People don’t mind money so much, they hate that a public official uses his official office, where he represents the people, in order to enrich himself, or get things that the rest of us can’t.

The ONLY reason Rudy has these rings is because the people of New York elected him as their representative. Nobody else is allowed to buy these things “at cost”, or under cost.

That’s what the “big deal” is. Getting personally rich off of your public service, or getting special treatment not available to others. Like having a piece donated for an auction given to you for no reason other than to curry your favor as “representative of the people”.

[es345st]

It’s interesting because it is another “where did this come from?” story to bring down Rudy by the MSM. Rudy is the only Republican who consistently polls ahead of Hell’s Queen in most polls. So while many of my fellow Republicans disagree with Rudy on a number of issues, we should take notice of who is trying to bring him down and why.

[river rat]

"....it was his contention that he paid full value for them—$2,500 for the 1996 ring in 2004 and $4,500 apiece for 1998, 1999, and 2000 rings in 2003—that had much of the sports-memorabilia world laughing."

To me, it smells like another grab for the goodies -- and BS about it being a "full value" purchase...

Rudi's "explanations" of his prior performance, behavior, positions and friendships --- sound less credible than Hillary's..