Giuliani billed obscure agencies for trips

Politico ^ | 112807 | By: Ben Smith

[Larry Lucido]

I’ve gotta know, are you a Thompson supporter and, if so, did you predict that way back in 1997 when you chose your screen name?

[Scythian]

This might do him in ...

[Maynerd]

As someone willing to vote for Giuliani in the general election, I think he is a goner (assuming this report is true).

[Fred]

Gaze into my crystal ball for the answer....

[yoely]

IN OTHER WORDS, LETS SWITCH FIRST AND LAST NAMES, RUDY KERIK, BERNARD GIULIANI...

[penowa]

"Even so he is better than anything the dimocRATS have to offer."

That's your opinion. IMO he is NO BETTER and unworthy of an honest conservative vote just as the Democrats are.

[Larry Lucido]

LOL!

[Larry Lucido]

Now if your screen name was Fred2008 I would have been really impressed!

[af_vet_rr]

This guy has WAY too much baggage to hold any national office. The Dems would chew him up and spit him out.

It's not about whether or not the Dems could beat him, it's about whether or not he has the character to represent the GOP. He clearly does not and has not for many many years, going back way before 9/11 (and I'm not talking about him marrying his cousin either - I'm talking about things he did in his marriages, people he associated with and continues to associate with, etc.). He wouldn't have the political capital to even run were it not for the people who jumped on his bandwagon after 9/11.

It will be funny to see the Giuliani supporters try to defend this.

[Man50D]

As much as I prefer Hunter, Romney, and Thompson (in that order) RG wouldn’t be 1/100th as destructive as another Clinton administration.

Think again.

Giuliani/Clinton/Dem vs. GOP Platform Comparison
Issue	Giuliani	Clinton	Dem Platform	GOP Platform
Abortion on Demand	Supports	Supports	Supports	Opposes
Partial Birth Abortion	Supports Opposed NY ban	Supports	Supports	Opposes
Roe v. Wade	Supports	Supports	Supports	Opposes
Taxpayer Funded Abortions	Supports	Supports	Supports	Opposes
Embryonic Stem Cell Research	Supports	Supports	Supports	Opposes
Federal Marriage Amendment	Opposes	Opposes	Opposes Defined at state level	Supports
Gay Domestic Partnership/ Civil Unions	Supports	Supports	Supports	Opposes
Openly Gay Military	Supports	Supports	Supports	Opposes
Defense of Marriage Act	Opposes	Opposes	Opposes	Supports
Amnesty for Illegal Aliens	Supports	Supports	Supports	Opposes
Special Path to Citizenship for Illegal Aliens	Supports	Supports	Supports	Opposes
Tough Penalties for Employers of Illegal Aliens	Opposes	Opposes	Opposes	Supports
Sanctuary Cities/ Ignoring Immigration Law	Supports	Supports	Supports	Opposes
Protecting 2nd Amendment	Opposes	Opposes	Opposes Supports bans	Supports
Confiscating Guns	Supports Confiscated as mayor. Even bragged.	Supports	Supports Supports bans	Opposes
'Assault' Weapons Ban	Supports	Supports	Supports
Frivolous Lawsuits Against Gun Makers	Supports Filed One Himself	Supports		Opposes
Gun Registration/Licenses	Supports	Supports		Opposes
War in Afghanistan	Supports	Supports Voted for it	Supports	Supports
War in Iraq	Supports	Supports Voted for it	Supports Weak support	Supports
Patriot Act	Supports	Supports Voted for it 2001 & 2006	Opposes	Supports

Giuliani/Clinton/Dem vs. GOP Platform Comparison
Issue	Giuliani	Clinton	Dem Platform	GOP Platform
Abortion on Demand	Supports	Supports	Supports	Opposes
Partial Birth Abortion	Supports Opposed NY ban	Supports	Supports	Opposes
Roe v. Wade	Supports	Supports	Supports	Opposes
Taxpayer Funded Abortions	Supports	Supports	Supports	Opposes
Embryonic Stem Cell Research	Supports	Supports	Supports	Opposes
Federal Marriage Amendment	Opposes	Opposes	Opposes Defined at state level	Supports
Gay Domestic Partnership/ Civil Unions	Supports	Supports	Supports	Opposes
Openly Gay Military	Supports	Supports	Supports	Opposes
Defense of Marriage Act	Opposes	Opposes	Opposes	Supports
Amnesty for Illegal Aliens	Supports	Supports	Supports	Opposes
Special Path to Citizenship for Illegal Aliens	Supports	Supports	Supports	Opposes
Tough Penalties for Employers of Illegal Aliens	Opposes	Opposes	Opposes	Supports
Sanctuary Cities/ Ignoring Immigration Law	Supports	Supports	Supports	Opposes
Protecting 2nd Amendment	Opposes	Opposes	Opposes Supports bans	Supports
Confiscating Guns	Supports Confiscated as mayor. Even bragged.	Supports	Supports Supports bans	Opposes
'Assault' Weapons Ban	Supports	Supports	Supports
Frivolous Lawsuits Against Gun Makers	Supports Filed One Himself	Supports		Opposes
Gun Registration/Licenses	Supports	Supports		Opposes
War in Afghanistan	Supports	Supports Voted for it	Supports	Supports
War in Iraq	Supports	Supports Voted for it	Supports Weak support	Supports
Patriot Act	Supports	Supports Voted for it 2001 & 2006	Opposes	Supports

[af_vet_rr]

The billings are for security detail’s travel expenses. The mayor’s security detail goes where the mayor goes. I missed the part where it says the mayor of NYC is forbidden to leave the city.

If this was a trip for legitimate business or recreation, nobody would be saying anything. Instead it was trips to be with his mistress. If his name were Bill Clinton and he was racking up expenses related to his extramarital affairs, you'd be very angry about this. Oh wait, Clinton did that while Governor and probably while President and many of us were angry.

[GovernmentShrinker]

He owes the public a good explanation. Could be just to avoid chatter in the office about his personal life, if the billing pattern used resulted in different people processing the expenses, instead of one person or group if the billings had all been routed to the main “mayor’s office” account. Not too clear what the meaning is of “units of the mayor’s office”. If these are just subsets of the mayor’s office, I’m not sure why they would each need separate budgets and maybe they didn’t. If they did each have separate budgets, did they get billed for a portion of expenses each time the mayor went on some public outing that was related to a given unit’s function, but also related to other things?

I don’t have a problem with public figures getting taxpayer-funded security details for personal activities. Someone like a mayor of NYC is very definitely a target, and it would get pretty hard to find people willing to take these positions if they had to spend a couple hundred thousand a year in extra security costs just to stay reasonably safe while doing whatever they would normally be doing in their personal time (other thatn the occasional billionaire who gets an urge to take a huge pay cut and put up with all the crap that public office entails). But pending some good explanation, this sounds like a deliberate attempt to conceal expenses, and that is definitely not okay for public figures to do with taxpayers’ money.

[af_vet_rr]

Even so he is better than anything the dimocRATS have to offer.

I would put him on the same level as the Clintons, and I wouldn't vote for any of them. Besides, being better than a democrat is not good enough as far as I'm concerned. A liberal is still a liberal regardless of the letter next to their name.

[JCEccles]

Rudy has his ethics stench, Huckabee has his, McCain's is an oldie but goodie.

So far, Fred looks fairly clean (apart from the fact that he took more than $5000 to push pro-abortion legislation as a lobbyist--an ethical breach of a different kind).

But Mitt's ethics background is spotless. In fact, Mitt is a hard-headed businessman, a notorious tightwad. He's never shown the slightest tendency to want to gorge himself at the trough of special interests and hidden slush funds. He's wealthy by his own effort but not greedy for filthy lucre.

The severely ethically-challenged and corrupt Hillary will likely be the Democratic candidate. Only Mitt and Fred can speak boldly to her many ethical failures without sounding like hypocrites.

[Ramius]

As someone willing to vote for Giuliani in the general election, I think he is a goner (assuming this report is true).

I read it, and I'm still wondering what the story is. It seems that the Mayor's security detail is paid for by the city, and includes security costs for his personal trips and travel. Well... of course it does. Security details are all of the time, not just working hours.

Somebody want to tell me what the big deal is?

[Eaker]

No he is just the damn same.

[af_vet_rr]

Read #52. Add onto that the fact that this was to see his mistress. It wasn’t kosher when Clinton was Governor of Arkansas and it wasn’t kosher when Giuliani was Mayor of NYC.

[stockstrader]

No wonder Rudy became an Obama-Apologist last week when rumors began flying about Obama's personal life.

Rudy's personal life is an absolute 'train wreck'. That means, of course, that Rudy DOES benefit a great deal (more than anyone else in the campaign) from the Clinton VACCINE (the position that Clinton and the democrats made so strongly during the Monica fiasco--that personal life DOES NOT MATTER).

I bet that many of the Rudy-Apologists defending Rudy here on FR were the same ones attacking Clinton during the Monica fiasco--by saying that 'PERSONAL LIFE, CHARACTER and CONDUCT DOES MATTER'. How ironic is that???

[mewzilla]

Related link....

High Infidelity What if three admitted adulterers run for president and no one cares?

[Ramius]

Add onto that the fact that this was to see his mistress.

It could have been to go to a whorehouse, and *still* the mayor's security detail remains on duty with him. Like a Presidential Secret Service detail... they go everywhere.

Look, I know that people around here hate Rudy's guts. I've got a few concerns myself. But this is just a lame attempt to spin up a controversy-- hoping that enough buzzwords and turn of lingo will make it sound like there's something interesting happening. But if you actually read the story... there's nothing but vague hysteria over things that when you think about it, aren't all that unusual.

It's like somebody hyperventilating because the Secret Service covers Bush out at his ranch when he's on vacation. Well... duh?