Rudy Giuliani defines a political hit job"" as: releasing a story the day of a Republican debate proving a leading presidential candidate covered up expenses to see his mistress, which he billed to taxpayers. Some people (hint: they're called journalists) would call that a story. Something's fishy here.
Last Wednesday the Politico broke a story detailing how, during his time as mayor, Giuliani billed obscure government agencies for weekend trips to the Hamptons to see his future wife Judith Nathan.
We've known for a while now Giuliani was married at the time he was having an affair. That sort of thing doesn't seem to concern Republican voters anymore (although it sure mattered when Bill Clinton did it). But the news of a potential coverup is what's intriguing.
As mayor of New York City, Giuliani had a 24/7 security detail, which makes sense. On weekends he went to see his girlfriend at the Hamptons and his security had to go along - OK, that's still fine if we're looking past the whole cheating on his wife thing - but why would he stick city agencies such as the New York City Loft Board ($34,000), the Office for People with Disabilities ($10,054), the Procurement Policy Board ($29,757), and the Assigned Counsel Administrative Office ($400,000) with the bill?
Giuliani immediately denied the allegations, calling it a hit job. Then he backtracked and said the city comptroller discovered this five years ago, which he did, and he'd already explained it then. According to Giuliani, these agencies were billed to speed payment of the credit card bills, and all city agencies were reimbursed.
Not according to current New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, who served under former Mayor David Dinkins and currently serves under Mayor Michael Bloomberg. ""I don't recall anybody, any statements about delay,"" Kelly told reporters last Friday.
Perhaps if it were only bills for security detail that Giuliani charged to the city it wouldn't be that big of a deal. As long as he reimbursed the agencies, I guess no harm was done.
However, the story keeps getting bigger.
One New York Post headline explains more: ""Rudy aide took Hampton holiday on your dime."" On August 20, 1999, while Giuliani was visiting Nathan for the weekend, one of his aides spent the night at a hotel and billed the city $331.16. Why he brought a mayoral aide on a weekend tryst is beyond me.
According to the New York Daily News, the NYPD also chauffeured Nathan on a 130-mile trip to see her parents in 2001, a trip Giuliani didn't even go on. Not only did the city pay for trips when Giuliani wasn't with Nathan, it also paid for trips for her family and friends even when she wasn't with them, according to WCBS-TV. They even walked her dog!
Oh, and I forgot to mention, the man who approved all of this was Bernard Kerik, who now faces a 16-count indictment for fraud, tax evasion, obstruction and other felonies.
Here we have the latest scandal - Sex on the City, as Keith Olbermann so aptly named it on MSNBC's Countdown.
Unfortunately, you probably haven't heard about it. The day after the story broke the New York Times buried it on page 21, then on page 18 the next day.
It's been mentioned in two articles since then, but only for a paragraph in each. The Washington Post didn't have a story at all the day after it broke.
It's sad that in this era of ""gotcha"" politics, the only story that will hurt a candidate is one with a YouTube video showing him calling an Indian-American a ""macaca"" (former Virginia Sen. George Allen fell victim to that one). We have presidential debates where one candidate says one thing and another says the exact opposite, yet somehow the journalists covering the story don't bother to find out what the real truth is.
The truth here is that Giuliani grossly abused his power as mayor to finance weekend trysts to the Hamptons to cheat on his wife. Now imagine what he'd do as the most powerful man in the world.
Erik Opsal is a senior majoring in journalism and political science. Please send responses to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
