Former N.Y. Mayor Rudy Giuliani an Administration Rocked by Corruption & Scandals/want to be our President: Are Independents a Better Alternative?

Can Rudy Giuliani Survive his SCANDALS as Mayor??

Michael Bloomberg A Possible Independent Candidate for PREZ?

Chuck Hagle; Possible VP Presidential running mate for Bloomberg?

Former N.Y. Mayor Rudy Giuliani an Administration Rocked by Corruption & Scandals/want to be our President: Are Independents a Better Alternative to these Whack Jobs?

By Marc Chamot

Is new electoral American Revolution in the works?

While both Democrats and Republicans are neglecting Americans wants and needs Americans are getting fed up with Washington’s politics as usual. Quoting Lou Dobbs, “we’re just about our belly full of this nonsense”

Without a doubt Americans are screaming for change. American mortgages in crisis, losing good paying jobs and homes in record numbers while politicians are still sucking up to China, China’s refusal in allowing our naval ships safe harbor in Hong Kong, tainted toys, American manufacturing jobs going to China and where is the outrage?

Hillary Clinton’s marred campaign behind the Norman Hsu money laundering scandals, Rudy Giuliani’s sex and taxpayer scandals, and George Bush’s disastrous foreign policy who can turn us around for Americans?

Giuliani’s personal scandals take a turn for the worse
By: Steve Benen on Wednesday, November 28th, 2007 at 7:25 PM - PST

So far, Rudy Giuliani’s scandalous personal life has been largely ignored by major media outlets. One of these days, that’s going to change, and today may be the day.

Giuliani is the first thrice-married serial adulterer to ever even run for president, a fact that most reporters have ignored entirely. When the Village Voice reported a few months ago that Giuliani kept his emergency command center in 7 World Trade Center, in part so he could maintain a convenient love nest for his extra-marital affairs, the media, once again, yawned.
OK, but how about this one?

As New York mayor, Rudy Giuliani billed obscure city agencies for tens of thousands of dollars in security expenses amassed during the time when he was beginning an extramarital relationship with future wife Judith Nathan in the Hamptons, according to previously undisclosed government records.

The documents, obtained by Politico under New York’s Freedom of Information Law, show that the mayoral costs had nothing to do with the functions of the little-known city offices that defrayed his tabs, including agencies responsible for regulating loft apartments, aiding the disabled and providing lawyers for indigent defendants.

I realize the common-sense rules and norms don’t apply to Republican presidential candidates, but a story like this one could, and very well may, end Giuliani’s presidential campaign.

Even if one is inclined to ignore the character questions surrounding Giuliani’s shameless and repeated adultery, the scandal here goes much further, including financial irregularities, misuse of official city resources, and an attempt to conceal the mayor’s conduct.

A Giuliani campaign spokesperson declined to comment on any aspect of the story, including the travel documents or the billing arrangements. It’s just as well. Some things are just un-spin able: http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/11/28/giulianis-personal-scandals-take-a-turn-for-the-worse/

'Love Bug' Scandal Rocks New York
GOP Candidate, Ex-Top Cop Suspected Of Plot To Bug Candidate's Husband

(CBS/AP) Jeanine Pirro, the GOP candidate for state Attorney General, and former New York City Police Commissioner Bernie Kerik are suspected of plotting to illegally bug Pirro's husband, a real estate developer whom Pirro believed was cheating on her.

The scandal has rocked New York politics. The New York City tabloids are already having a field day with the story. "PIRRO LOVE BUG," shouted the New York Post. "BUG THIS LOVE BOAT!" screamed the Daily News. Pirro suspected her husband, Albert Pirro, of having an affair and contacted Kerik, now a private security consultant, in the middle of 2005 to discuss possibly placing a tape recorder on a boat owned by the couple.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/09/27/politics/main2046349.shtml

Giuliani billed obscure agencies for TRIPS
By: Ben Smith November 30, 2007 11:33 AM EST

Former New York mayor, Rudy Giuliani billed obscure city agencies for tens of thousands of dollars in security expenses amassed during the time when he was beginning an extramarital relationship with future wife Judith Nathan in the Hamptons, according to previously undisclosed government records.

The documents, obtained by Politico under New York’s Freedom of Information Law, show that the mayoral costs had nothing to do with the functions of the little-known city offices that defrayed his tabs, including agencies responsible for regulating loft apartments, aiding the disabled and providing lawyers for indigent defendants. At the time, the mayor’s office refused to explain the accounting to city auditors, citing “security.”

The Hamptons visits resulted in hotel, gas and other costs for Giuliani’s New York Police Department security detail. Giuliani’s relationship with Nathan is old news now, and Giuliani regularly asks voters on the campaign trail to forgive his "mistakes."
http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=878D4480-3048-5C12-005317F667D990C6

Kerik becomes weight around Giuliani’s neck
Posted November 9th, 2007 at 8:20 am

When a mayor’s police chief gets indicted on federal corruption charges, it’s obviously a pretty tough development for that mayor to spin. Of course, the new criminal charges against Bernie Kerik aren’t just another indictment, and Rudy Giuliani is not just another mayor.

Indeed, yesterday’s developments have the capacity to permanently undermine Giuliani’s presidential campaign.

A federal grand jury has voted to indict former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik on charges stemming from the acceptance of free rent and apartment renovations, tax evasion and lying on his application for the job as head of the Department of Homeland Security, two federal sources and a source involved in the defense told ABC News.

As news of the indictment spread, police in suburban White Plains, N.Y., prepared for an expected onslaught of media by setting up police barricades in front of the courthouse and a parking area for television trucks directly across from it, police officials said. And several of Kerik’s closest supporters planned to spend the evening with their friend before he turned himself into the government, sources said.

The indictment caps a wide-ranging federal probe into Kerik’s affairs that has spanned about a year. While it was not immediately clear what the specific charges were, the government’s case as it has been presented to the grand jury has multiple components that would be reflected in a multiple count indictment.

To a certain extent, this indictment alone debunks most of Giuliani’s claims as a credible presidential candidate. He’s “tough on crime”? No, he appointed a criminal to head the NYPD, and urged the White House to make him the Secretary of Homeland Security. He’s a “competent manager”? No, Giuliani was told about Kerik’s alleged criminal activity, but promoted him anyway. He has “good judgment”? Well, clearly not.

When Kerik’s indictment seemed inevitable earlier this week, Giuliani’s initial response was to defend Kerik and point to NYC’s crime rates during Kerik’s brief tenure at the NYPD.

Yesterday, however, Giuliani backpedaled, distancing himself from his friend. “I made a mistake in not clearing him effectively enough,” he told reporters.

It’s hard to overstate how unpersuasive this is.Giuliani’s basic defense is that everyone’s entitled to one screw-up. Kerik is his mulligan. Sure, he appointed a criminal to head the police department. And sure, he wanted the corrupt cop with mob ties to be responsible for the domestic security of 300 million Americans. But hey, nobody’s perfect.

This falls apart pretty quickly. First, Giuliani has a pattern of cozying up to suspected criminals, and giving them jobs. Accidentally promoting one felon is one thing, repeatedly associating with unsavory characters, including a suspected child molester, starts to reflect poorly on one’s judgment.

And second, as Josh Marshall explained very well, as screw-ups go, Kerik was an awfully big one.

Rudy claims that his qualification for the presidency stems from his management of 9/11 and his experience having “the safety and security of the people of New York on my shoulders.” I’ve noted more than a few times now that this is a rather grandiose conception of the mayoralty of any city. But the only sense in which it has any basis is that in New York (as in many cities) the Mayor is in charge of and ultimately accountable for police department. So who you choose to put in charge of the police department isn’t just one of hundred of thousands of decisions. It is both by simple logic and Rudy’s own reasoning probably the most important decision you can make.

And what did Giuliani do? Let’s set aside all of Kerik run-of-mill corruption and the fact that he used a Battery Park apartment donated as a rest area for cops and rescue workers working at Ground Zero as his own personal love shack to boff Judith Regan and sundry other ladies of glamour and renown. Set all that fun stuff aside and realize that Rudy not only appointed a crooked, mobbed-up cop to be in charge of the NYPD. There is now abundant evidence that Rudy knew of Kerik’s mob ties before appointing him.

Just boil it down and say it: when it came time to choose a police commissioner Rudy chose a crooked, mobbed up cop. And he was warned about it all in advance.

That isn’t just one decision among hundreds of thousands. It’s one of such recklessness, irresponsibility and even a hard-to-figure indifference to criminal conduct that, just on the terms upon which Rudy has asked voters to judge his candidacy, it should pretty much end his campaign in its tracks.

The NYT notes that Kerik’s trial will likely come “at the height of the political season.” If reality still has any meaning at all in a presidential campaign, this will be a huge weight around Giuliani’s neck.

Post Script: Giuliani was asked yesterday whether he would consider pardoning his old friend if elected President. Giuliani wouldn’t say either way, insisting it was a hypothetical question. I think the answer Giuliani was looking for was, “Of course not.”
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/13530.html

Continued Comment Marc Chamot

The independent voters may be possible swing voters for the 2008 presidential elections and a Bloomberg-Hagel candidacy looks far better and enticing than what we got now. Especially after Chuck Hagel calling Bush about the worst in everything….

Hagel-Bloomberg In '08? You Never Know

Senator Says Today's GOP Is Not The Party He Joined; Considers An Independent Ticket In '08

(CBS) The Republican Party has been "hijacked" and led away from its core values, Chuck Hagel, the Republican Senator from Nebraska, said Sunday on Face The Nation. Hagel, who is still considering his options for the 2008 race, left open the possibility of becoming an independent and sharing a ticket with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. "I am not happy with the Republican Party today," Hagel said. "It's been hijacked by a group of single-minded almost isolationists, insulationists, power-projectors." http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/05/13/ftn/main2795705.shtml

Hagel hints at a 2008 run with New York's Bloomberg

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Expressing dismay over the Republican Party's trajectory, Sen. Chuck Hagel said Sunday that an independent presidential bid would be good for the nation.
And Hagel, R-Nebraska, did not rule out the possibility that he might be the one to do it, perhaps in alliance with New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg.

"I am not happy with the Republican Party today," the self-described lifelong Republican from Nebraska told CBS' "Face the Nation." "It's been hijacked by a group of single-minded, almost isolationist insulationists, power-projectors," he said.

Hagel said he would decide by late summer whether to run for president.

"I think a credible third party would be good for the system," he said. "It would force both parties that have been hijacked by the extremes of their two parties -- and I think we would want something like that. http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/05/14/hagel.bloomberg/index.html

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