Rudy Giuliani in Giuliani: Flawed or Flawless?

On Crime: Applies strict moral standards to lawbreakers

I think the fact that he was of Italian heritage himself made him a tough prosecutor; he wanted to bend over backwards to root out and successfully prosecute organized crime because he felt that Italian Americans suffered unfairly by gangsters being Italian and he resented it. But it is also that he was in the US Attorney’s Office at the right time: white-collar crime was breaking out all over; the sentencing guidelines were coming into play where the position was being taken that white-collar defendants should no longer be coddled and that they should be prosecuted severely.

He was scrupulously honest; you could never corrupt Rudy Giuliani by offering him anything of value to do something that he did not think was appropriate.

On Crime: Prosecuted Miss America for fraud (and lost)

Rudy had been told this is an unwinnable case. Clearly, their strategy was to throw me to the wolves. I never met Rudy; though I knew he was heavily involved. It was one of his pet projects because he wanted to run for mayor and what could be better than bringing down a judge, a Mafia contractor, and Miss America, Koch’s “girlfriend,” in one swoop?

On Crime: As mayor, reduced crime but didn’t raise police pay

Another police spokesperson added, “the cops, to a person, despise him today for building his career on their backs and becoming a law-and-order mayor, and never taking care of the people who did the work. He was behind us publicly. When he came into office, crime was at a peak [and Giuliani reduced crime]. But before he was elected, we were among the highest-paid police officers in the nation. We got a 5-year contract under Giuliani with 2 years of no raises. We’re starting to see the impact now: they can’t get enough recruits and they’ve had to lower the standards to hire.

On Crime: Considered police brutality in Louima case an aberration

Giuliani was quoted in Newsweek in 1999 about the case, saying “I think brutality happens, but in the late 1990s it’s an aberration.”

Al Sharpton opined, “There was a tone. And the fact that something so vicious could be done in a police station with other officers there has to give you an idea of the mentality that the police must have had at that time, that they could get away with it. He did this in the precinct and no one turned him in, no one stopped him, no one made a move. And that’s frightening.

On Drugs: In Dorismond drug shooting, sullied victim as “no choirboy”

Giuliani attempted damage control. A juvenile record was discovered--when Dorismond was 14, he had been arrested on robbery charges, which were dropped---& Giuliani took the unheard-of step of unsealing and publicizing the juvenile record. Giuliani then uttered the racially inflaming 3 words.

Al Sharpton commented, “When Giuliani said ‘He’s no choirboy,’ it was almost as if someone had driven a stake through the mother’s heart. A lot of the passion that I bring to fights is caused by being so close to the family. In revealing the sealed documents and distorting them, the mayor really shook the Dorismond family.

On Education: Attended Catholic high school in Brooklyn

: Established as an all-male, diocesan institution--it would become co-educational in 1974, incorporating girls from Bishop McDonald Memorial High School in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn--Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School had originally occupied a gracious Victorian mansion built circa 1878 for, but only occupied for a short time by, the first bishop of Brooklyn, John Loughlin. The house is now used as a residence for its faculty members. In 1933, a more utilitarian building was constructed next door--one whose architecture is typical of high schools all over the United States--and that is where, from 1957 until his graduation in 1961, Rudy Giuliani spent an intellectually and vocationally stimulating four years.

On Families & Children: Annulled 14-year 1st marriage because wife was 2nd cousin

The end of Regina’s marriage to Rudy was mutual, not acrimonious. They had separated emotionally by the time they decided to do it legally, so the drama we saw in the second relationship wasn’t there.

His bachelor status would soon end: shortly after having obtained his annulment from Regina, Rudy met a Florida-based television news reporter, the recently divorced Dona Hanover. She accepted Rudy’s proposal of marriage and they tied the knot on April 15, 1984, at St. Monica’s Catholic Church, in Manhattan.

On Foreign Policy: As mayor, asked Yasir Arafat to leave concert both attended

A UN spokesperson called Giuliani’s action “an embarrassment to everyone connected with diplomacy.” The mayor, accused of overstepping his role by pursuing his own foreign policy, retorted, “I would not invite Yasir Arafat to anything, anywhere, anytime. I don’t forget,” referring to the PLO’s 1986 murder of Leon Klinghoffer.

On Government Reform: Attempted to undo term limits to extend his mayoralty

When Giuliani asked for 90 days after 9/11, he was pummeled, but he was right. As we are sitting here, more time has passed since 9/11 than it took to defeat the Germans and the Japanese in WWII, and other than repairing the subway and the PATH line, nothing has happened. For 90 days, he would have had the full attention of the Congress.

At the time of the mayoral runoff election, Giuliani made one last attempt to extend his mayoralty by attempting to undo term limits.

He was talking about trying to overturn term limits so he could run again. It is one thing to seek a onetime extension right after an attack--whether he was right or wrong I will leave to others--but it is quite another to use the attack to change the law permanently, which I thought was improper.

On Homeland Security: Avoided military service in Vietnam with a deferment

On Homeland Security: Giuliani’s 9/11 actions reassured a traumatized city

Giuliani’s actions that morning at Ground Zero not only brought some measure of assurance to his grief-stricken, traumatized constituents in the immediate aftermath of that defining tragedy, but in demonstrating his great personal courage, dedication, and leadership, he succeeded in shedding both the baggage of his long career and more recent negative image to emerge to most people as a superhero to his city, the nation, and the world.

One political opponent said, “I’m not a big fan of Giuliani’s mayoral leadership, but that day he performed superbly.” Another political opponent said, “Where Giuliani surprised people is not the ”take charge“ part of it, but the emotional part of it and the way he very effectively brought hope to the people of the city and kept their spirits up.”

On Homeland Security: Locating command center in WTC7 contributed to destruction

When Giuliani builds the Emergency Command Center, he puts it in the wrong place. What was expected was a chemical and biological attack. Some people said, “This is a really bad idea. They hit this target once and they’re going to come back; we should but it in Brooklyn.”

This was supposed to be a bunker. A bunker is normally underground. It is a place where you dig in. In your command center, you should be safe from enemy attack, so you do not put a bunker on the 23rd floor of an office building.

On Homeland Security: 9/11 FYPD were heroes because they chose to stay behind

On Principles & Values: Legacy is safer, cleaner, economically viable NYC

To watch Giuliani speak an 80-minute State of the City address was exhausting but impressive. While most politicians in that situation would read a speech for 20 or 30 minutes, he would speak into a mike, without a podium, a prompter, or notes for 80 minutes. As he spoke, the mayor gathered steam saying, “We should be ashamed that we don’t have the political courage to take on the unions, the special interests, and everything else.“ Then, as if to affirm his place in history despite his low approval rating, he displayed two contrasting blowups of Time magazine covers, published a decade apart. The first, from 1990, bore the legend, ”The Rotting of the Big Apple,“ while the second, dated Jan. 11, 2000 featured a photo of the massive millennium Times Square celebration that had taken place only days earlier in a cleaner, more economically viable New York City.