Giuliani Reports Skyscraping Early Money Total for White House Bid

Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani has led the long list of 2008 Republican presidential contenders in early preference polls — and his perceived position as the front-runner, at least for now, was not contradicted by his recent campaign finance report, which shows he has already built a sizable treasury.

Giuliani’s campaign reported total first-quarter receipts of $16.6 million, which included a $1.85 million transfer from the presidential “exploratory” committee he established last November.

With total receipts of $18 million for his campaign to date, Giuliani leads all but three of the current crop of White House hopefuls — Democratic Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois, and Republican Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor — in overall campaign receipts.

Giuliani ended the quarter with $11.9 million left to spend. All but about $1.1 million of Giuliani’s funds were raised for the nominating campaign, with the rest for possible use in the general election should he win the nomination.

Giuliani’s report includes numerous donations that highlight his ties to New York, the nation’s most populous city, which Giuliani headed as mayor from 1993 through 2001.

As an example, Giuliani received contributions from about 30 employees of Lehman Brothers, the large financial services firm that is headquartered in New York.

Giuliani is a longtime fan of baseball’s New York Yankees, who happened to win four World Series titles during his eight years as mayor. Several team executives, including principal owner George Steinbrenner, gave to Giuliani’s presidential campaign.

This profile of Giuliani’s report is the latest in a CQPolitics.com series that is analyzing the first-quarter campaign finance filings of all 19 Democratic and Republican candidates.

Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani

• Receipts, Jan. 1 to March 31: $16.6 million

• Receipts to date: $18 million

• Expenditures, Jan. 1 to March 31: $5.7 million

• Expenditures to date: $6.1 million

• Cash-on-hand, March 31: $11.9 million

• Debts, March 31: $89,000

Notable individual donors (who are allowed to contribute $2,300 to a candidate for a primary campaign and $2,300 for a general election campaign)

• John F. Antioco, chairman and chief executive officer of Blockbuster: $2,300

• Richard D. Beckman, president of Conde Nast Media Group: $2,300

• Brian Cashman, general manager of the New York Yankees baseball team: $2,300

• Miguel Estrada, a partner at the firm Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher and an unsuccessful nominee for a federal judgeship in 2003: $2,300

• Alan D. Feld, a senior executive partner at the firm Akin Gump: $2,300

• John Grant, professional staff member for the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee: $250

• Keith Hernandez, sports broadcaster and a former professional baseball player for the St. Louis Cardinals, New York Mets and Cleveland Indians: $1,000

• Michael D. Hess, a founding partner and senior managing director of Giuliani Partners LLC and Giuliani’s former corporation counsel during his mayoral tenure: $4,600

• John O’Hurley, actor: $4,600

• Susan Molinari, chairman and chief executive officer of The Washington Group and a former House member from New York (1990-97): $1,900 (Molinari also gave Giuliani’s campaign $2,100 in late 2006, bringing her contributions to $4,000)

• Theodore B. Olson, partner at Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher and a former U.S. solicitor general: $2,500 (Olson also gave Giuliani’s campaign $2,100 in late 2006, bringing his contributions to the maximum of $4,600)

• Adam Sandler, actor: $2,100

• Charles R. Schwab, chairman and chief executive officer of Charles Schwab Co.: $2,300

• Ben Stein, an author and actor who served as an aide to presidents Richard M. Nixon and Gerald Ford: $750

• George Steinbrenner, principal owner of the New York Yankees: $4,600

• Chad Sweet, chief of staff at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security: $4,600

• James S. Turley, chairman and chief executive officer of Ernst & Young: $2,100

Candidate committees and political action committees (PACs)

One of Giuliani’s strongest supporters in Congress is California Republican Rep. David Dreier, who donated $2,300 through his House campaign committee and another $5,000 through another political committee, American Success PAC.

Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Charlie Dent, who represents the 15th District in and around Allentown and Bethlehem, donated $2,300 through his political committee, Dedicated to Establishing National Teamwork PAC, which forms an acronym of the congressman’s last name.

Among his political supporters at a more grassroots level is West Virginia state Sen. Vic Sprouse, whose campaign committee gave Giuliani’s campaign a $1,000 contribution.

Notable expenses

Giuliani’s campaign reported spending $897,000 on payroll to 82 individuals. Other expenses included $225,000 on postage — including a payment of $167,000 to the Austin, Texas-based firm Olsen & Shuvalov. Giuliani’s campaign also spent more than $116,000 on catering.

I could not agree more with spkeytx86 [who said those supporting Rudy on Freerepublic are for the most part true conservatives with a pragmatic bent, and who are at worst misguided], with Melas [who asked what have we have gained by being so nasty to each other (and who comes across as a true gentleman, to his credit)] with justshutupandtakeit [who asked (paraphrasing, please forgive the liberty) how it is to Freerepublic’s credit to sink to the level of bile and incivility that run rampant on DU? [out of curiosity, what on earth is the Anthroposophical Society???]] and with EveningStar who questions the idea that fellow conservatives, however misguided in their support for a presidential candidate, are the true enemies. (I HATE it when Democrats relentlessly portray Republicans as the enemy. Republicans are (at present) the opposition party; terrorists, Al Qaeda, and various other Hate-America-First-and-Most entities are the enemy. Surely fellow conservatives with whom we disagree are not The Enemy, and it’s destructive and unhelpful to lose that focus.)

I am one of those people who is on the fence. I am still evaluating the field of Republican presidential hopefuls and trying to decide which one is best. I have to be honest, having read every single response on this thread: Melas was right. My revulsion with Giuliani’s pro abortion stance has been mitigated by the absolute rudeness and in a few cases downright hatefulness of the anti-Giuliani crowd that has mocked, taunted, belittled and otherwise demeaned fellow conservatives. [Unless of course the definition of non/anti-conservative is “pro-life, anti-gay-rights, pro-gun, pro-military, pro-defense, pro-WOT, pro-low taxes and smaller government, but leaning Giuliani for pragmatic reasons in ’08. Then I guess the shameful treatment of fellow “pseudo” conservatives was justified, at least in the minds of those who did it.] If the character of the anti-Rudy crowd is this nasty, then that is a point in Rudy’s favor. The opponents of conservatism in general are also extremely nasty; if you don’t believe me, just go over and lurk on DU for five minutes or so. If conservative opponents of Giuliani were more respectful and less quick to treat other conservatives like dirt, they make a more positive impression and would be far more persuasive.

On a personal note, I should mention that up until about a week ago I was one of those people who had vowed never to vote for McCain. His campaign finance reform abomination revolted me sufficiently to rule him at any cost. Well, I have changed my mind. If McCain becomes the nominee (which thankfully appears unlikely) he will get my vote in the general. The reason: the Supreme Court. The oldest and frailest members of the court are all flaming liberals. They are clinging to their positions in hopes of waiting Bush out. They will attend court in wheelchairs with portable oxygen if they have to, because they know what is at stake. Right now, the court is tenuously balanced between liberal and conservative, but leans liberal. If the flaming lefties can hold out until ’08, and if the Republicans and conservatives fail to unify around a candidate and win, the next Democrat president will appoint young far leftists to the court, and we will be screwed for a long time to come. Of course, God forbid worse could come to worst, and even one of the conservatives might be lost [accident, sudden major health crisis, etc.] and the court could swing far left moonbat liberal. For this reason, I will even vote for McCain if he is the nominee, because his judicial picks would have to be better than Hillary’s, Obama’s or Edwards’. Presidents come and go, but Supreme Court appointments are for a lifetime. We have paid too dearly already for the leftist/constitution-is-toilet-paper approach to Supreme Court rulings. If we can get a Republican elected in ’08, and if he can replace even one of those leftist jurists with a young or youngish originalist, the long term payoff would be worth even four years of McCain. Or so it seems to me. [One more originalist and Campaign Finance Reform is toast anyway, right?)

Final note: KATIE-O, I pinged you because I believe you are a true conservative and were not treated at all well. I don’t know if you continued to follow the thread after you were maligned, but if not I just wanted you to know that other decent, thoughtful people chimed in. I admire you for being a conservative in a liberal wasteland; I’ve had that experience myself. You displayed a lot of courage and your posts were admirably civil; thank you for elevating the level of discourse—it didn’t go unnoticed.

... The reason: the Supreme Court. The oldest and frailest members of the court are all flaming liberals. They are clinging to their positions in hopes of waiting Bush out. They will attend court in wheelchairs with portable oxygen if they have to, because they know what is at stake. Right now, the court is tenuously balanced between liberal and conservative, but leans liberal. If the flaming lefties can hold out until ’08, and if the Republicans and conservatives fail to unify around a candidate and win, the next Democrat president will appoint young far leftists to the court, and we will be screwed for a long time to come.

This is exactly the way I view the importance of winning the election. And, BTW, Thank You for your kind words. I appreciate it very much.

I have never asked anyone to vote for Rudy Giuliani but have been supportive of him after looking over the field, doing some research into his actions and policies as Mayor of NYC. Of course his leadership after 911 was admirable. As a conservative Republican who is pro-life and pro-Second Amendment, I had to reconcile my own beliefs against someone who is an admitted pro-choice candidate. I also had to look at his view on our Constitutional right to bear arms. I read a lot and tried to get to the true character of the man. I have come to the conclusion that other conservative Republicans have done the same thing and have arrived at the same decision as I have. They think Rudy Giuliani CAN WIN and WILL WIN. And having a Republican in the White House, instead of a Marxist/Ultra Liberal is my only objective. All three of the leading Democrats are into Socialism and will take this country down the wrong road and will have 8 years to do it. Two more Liberal Justices could set us back to where we were during the Clinton Administration.

I respect everyones opinions and would like them to respect mine, even if they vehemently disagree with me. If Fred Thompson finally gets off the pot and decides to run and can get any kind of traction with the rest of the country, I'll reconsider his lack of fire in the belly and the "Experience" factor and put all my efforts into his campaign. Until then I will continue to support the candidate I think has the best chance of winning. Losing is not an option we can afford. There's too much at stake.

I fully expect to be banned from this forum for my continued support of Rudy, but that's the fine with me. I can certainly understand, and wholeheartedly agree with, a forum dedicated to advancing conservative principles. I just cannot understand driving our car over a cliff in an election as important as this one. Rudy Giuliani will never be able to corrupt our principles and doesn't have any desire to do so. If he wins he will be there for 8 years and move on. And we will have the power of the bully pulpit during that time. Our Republic will survive and so will conservative Republicans.

Thanks for giving me a chance to express my feelings and motives. I am not the enemy. I have actively fought against abortion and for adoptions for decades and will continue to do so. No matter who resides in the White House.

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