Giuliani Might Be Your Candidate, But He Isn't Mine
When I arrived at Rudolph Giuliani’s Exeter town hall meeting, I was surprised to see so many of my neighbors sitting there wearing Rudy stickers - and apparently accepting everything he said as truth.
I lived in New York City for many years. Although I did not live in the city during Rudolph Giuiliani’s tenure as Mayor, I lived immediately outside the city, in suburban New Jersey. I lived there on 9/11 and lost many of my neighbors and even some friends in that disaster.
I would like to comment on some of the things that Mr. Giuliani stated in his meeting – just to set the record state about his activities. Insofar as possible, I will state facts that anyone who reads my post here can check with just a little Internet research.
Early in his talk, Mr. Giuiliani pleased the crowd with a story about what he said was one of the first tax cuts ever made in the history of New York City – a $17 million cut in the city’s hotel tax. This story was greeted enthusiastically by the crowd, but I wonder how many of them actually know anything about what that tax cut meant. The hotel tax is a surcharge tax that is added to hotel bills in New York City. Mr. Giuliani did cut that tax in an effort to stimulate tourism in Manhattan. It was not a tax cut that benefitted New Yorkers, except in the economic stimulus that it might have given. It actually took money from New York’s coffers and distributed it among tourists. So while my New Hampshire neighbors seemed pleased with Mr. Giuiliani’s self-depiction as a Robin Hood of some sort, the story in fact was quite different.
Mr. Giuliani also talked about the importance of stimulating business as a way to encourage overall economic growth. And he stated that he had done so in New York. There is truth to that. But what the people of New Hampshire do not know is that part of that “stimulus” was to give builders of luxury buildings advantageous deals to build their luxury condominiums in certain areas of New York City to the exclusion of middle-class and lower-income New Yorkers. The newly developed neighborhood of Battery Park, for example. But older neighborhoods, such as the Upper East Side, were transformed too, in ways that drove out older middle-class populations who could not afford to live in the new housing or shop in the new upscale stores. Under Mayor Giuliani’s leadership the city moved decisively toward being a city where only the rich could afford to live.
Mr. Giuliani also spoke about his record of cutting crime in New York. What he should have said was that he cut crime in Manhattan – in the areas most likely to be visited by people from outside the city. Many outlying areas of New York – many parts of Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx – remain paralyzed by crime. Yes, Time Square now looks like a Disney theme park. That might stimulate the economy through tourism, but the darker side of it is that both crime and the homeless have been cosmetically removed to the outer boros. How many of my fellow New Hampshirites have any sense of this?
Mr. Giuliani, to his credit, did not dwell overly on 9/11. I know that he is perceived countrywide as a strong and capable leader who unified the city in the wake of that catastrophe. I know that his responsibilities in the aftermath of the attack were extreme. But I also know that my neighbors were going into New York to post handmade signs on makeshift bulletin boards in the hopes that someone had seen their loved ones. There was no central point of communication for such messages. I also know that, as long as two years after 9/11, Federal and other funds earmarked for the rebuilding of businesses in lower Manhattan were tied up in red tape in Mayor Giuliani’s City Hall. While big businesses were benefitting from his incentives, small businesses – mostly run by immigrants to New York – were closing down for good. I also know that Mr. Giuiliani allowed thousands of New Yorkers to return to live and work in lower Manhattan well before the air quality was good enough – and that only now many health problems are beginning to emerge.
And then we come to Mr. Giuiliani’s homey positioning of himself as a caring and open leader. Let me just reference the famous case of Amadou Diallo, an African immigrant and street vendor who was gunned down by plainclothes policemen back in 1999. Those policemen approached Mr. Diallo as he approached the front door of his apartment building in the Bronx. When Mr. Diallo, who did not speak English well, began to run from the policemen, they opened fire and killed him. I realize that mistakes are made in police work. But in the aftermath of this tragedy, what did Mr. Giuliani do? He did not go before the press for weeks. He refused to meet with leaders of New York’s African-American community, or with the clergy of predominantly Black churches. He refused to meet with the members of Mr. Diallo’s family. Is this the kind of leadership we want in our next President?
Again, this is not my opinion – it is a simple statement of fact.
Part of any voter’s responsibility is to research and understand a candidate, not blindly accept the script that has been created for him or her by a staff of writers, marketers and consultants. I was shocked to see Mr. Giuliani receiving such a cordial welcome from people who accepted his statements blindly, calmly, as though they were facts.
Incidentally, one of Guiliani's more positive actions when Mayor of New York was to lead the Gay Pride Parade down Fifth Avenue and reach out to Gay New Yorkers. If you doubt that he did such things, here's a link you should visit: http://stonewallvets.org/MayorRudy.htm
I notice that he didn't lead off his Exeter session by talking about that. My point is not to indemnify him for reaching out to all New Yorkers in that way, but rather to let my fellow New Hampshire voters know that the image he is projecting to those of us in the north country has been carefully shaped and combed over by his handlers.
Who is better for America?Submitted by GuateUNH on Thu, 12/13/2007 - 05:59.
Bleson is obviously not a Republican. He or she stated to be an independent. Just like me. He is not voting based on party preference or affiliation. He or she is voting based on two questions:Who is the best qualified presidential candidate? Who has the experience, the character and the best priorities ? Bleson is just sharing his or her personal experience with this presidential candidate. I value his write-up and opinions about Guiliani, since Bleson is writing from the perceptive of a N.Y.C. resident.
"Giulianit might not be . . . "Submitted by blenson on Sun, 11/18/2007 - 18:48.
It is interesting to see the comments. I want to add just a few additional ones and then move on.
First, my mistake in my original post was really to say that my statements of fact could be verified on the Internet. Because there are facts and then there are facts – not all of which can be represented statistically.
In my original post, I commented about Mr. Giuliani’s citing of the New York Hotel Tax reduction as an example of tax reductions – his choice of case study, not mine; the link that Mr. Greenberg provides to factcheck.org really only amplifies my original point: that candidates, including this one, pick and choose and exaggerate their track records. I did not state that Mr. Giuliani never cut taxes; that is apparently something that Mr. Greenberg ascribed to me. The factcheck.org info, while not definitive, does imply that this candidate, like others, is exaggerating the strong points of his record. So it supports my posted views rather than refuting them.
Regarding crime in New York, there are facts, and then there are facts. Statistics do not reflect the reality of what it means to live in New York. I would invite anyone to perform this experiment. Click on the link to the Deroy Murdock table that Mr. Greenberg supplied, open the chart that shows the overall decline of crime in New York City. Print out that chart, fold it up, and put it in your shirt pocket. Then drive to any one of the following locations (your choice): Brownsville, Brooklyn; Bedford-Styuvesant, Brooklyn; just about any place along Jerome Avenue in the Bronx. Lots of outer-boro locations would do. Then park your car (finding a parking spot will not be a problem), get out and start to walk. When the first person comes up to you and hassles you or points a gun at your head or sticks a knife in your ribs, pull that chart out of your pocket, unfold it, and show it to him or her. Explain that you should not statistically be mugged, because muggings have declined on the spot where you are standing. After that mugger apologizes and goes away, drive to Manhattan and perform the same experiment in Midtown. Now stop to think what it would be like to be a parent raising small kids in one of the dangerous areas outside of Manhattan. So you see, there are realities and then there are realities. Similar realities exist regarding outsourcing homelessness to the outer boros; I am sure that there are statistics that would refute that, but anybody who lives in New York knows from personal experience what has really happened. You simply know stuff about places where you live. Peering at those places through a computer is like looking at a cow through a pinhole and trying to decide whether it is a cow or a cat; the fact that I implied that doing so was possible was my mistake.
By the way, there are some terrific articles available online about Mayor Bloomberg’s performance in New York – largely laudable and good, especially in regard to race relations. New York City is a place that is always in flux and getting a read-out on it is not easy to do.
Jacko-Giulian-ternSubmitted by Marshall on Sun, 11/18/2007 - 17:24.
I was a Republican. I became so scared of Republicans, I didn't recognize them anymore. Like all Americans, and all citizens of the world, I have been terorrized by Republicans for the last 7 years. They can twist the truth, bend the facts, change the laws, control media outlets, play political games, and deal in all the dark arts that are necessary to prop up their fragile charade. They can smile behind their goulish masks, rub their hands together and compliment eachother on being so clever. But this is not a game. This is real life (and real death for way too much of the world.) They play us for fools. But they can fool just so many of us, grin, and take our sons and daughters, for just so much of the time. Someday, hopefully, at least 51% of citizens say, "No. Stop. Enough. We cannot and will not live like this anymore."
I know Republicans who voted Republican last time because they thought Bush should be responsible for cleaning up the mess he had created. That proved irresponsible; the mess has become messier. I am boggled by the mind that reasons, "because 9/11 happened on their watch, Bush and Giuliani make us feel safe." If this country votes Republican again, it may be a win for the party, but it will be no victory for the U.S. or democracy or humanity. Rather, I fear, it may be the sign that this country is truly and irretrievably lost.
Editor's Note: Setting the Record StraightSubmitted by jgreenberg on Thu, 11/15/2007 - 19:42.
I followed up with the author of the original post and one of his critics. For the record, here is the result of my research on three of the issues raised in the post. Also for the record, the author of that post agrees that in some cases -- on taxes and crime -- his post was factually incomplete or flawed.
The lesson we can glean from this is to follow the guidance of Senator Moynihan who said "Everyone is entitled to his own opinion but not his own facts."
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On taxes, there were many tax cuts during Mr. Giuliani's tenure other than the hotel tax the former Mayor mentioned at the town hall. If there's any controversy, it is the extent to which Giuliani supported or opposed certain tax cuts. For a good analysis, see the work done by FactCheck-dot-org.
The summary from FactCheck is: A new radio ad boasts that Rudy Giuliani "cut or eliminated 23 taxes" while mayor of New York City, a boast he and his supporters have repeated many times on the campaign trail. We find that to be an overstatement. Giuliani can properly claim credit for initiating only 14 of those cuts. In fact, he strongly opposed one of the largest cuts for which he claims credit, reversing himself only after a five-month standoff with the city council. In addition, the ad's claim that Giuliani turned the budget deficit he inherited into a surplus, while true enough, ignores the fact that he also left a multibillion-dollar deficit for his successor, not including costs associated with 9/11. Update, July 31: After our article appeared, the New York Daily News ran a similar article stating that the former mayor “is seizing credit for cuts initiated by others.” In an interview posted on YouTube, the mayor said he deserves credit for tax cuts he supported, whether he initiated them or not.
This table by Deroy Murdock was brought to my attention by Brian. Murdock contributes to the National Review and this table shows lower tax rates and crime rates.
Brian also pointed me to this speech by Giuliani that he gave at the Manhattan Institutute. It speaks to the benefits of the entrepreneurial approach in improving the quality of life for a broad cross-section of New Yorkers.
On crime, I used the Geostat Center at the University of Virginia. There I found county level data from the Uniform Crime Reports. The author of the post said that crime did not go down in the outer boroughs of New York City. This is not accurate. Between 1994 an d2001, there were major reductions in every borough in every crime category, including burglaries, robberies, aggravated assaults, rapes, motor vehicle thefts and larcenies. The one confusing bit of data concerns murders. Every other source, see this example, shows a steep decline in murders, but the county level data from the UCR doesn't match. I have not been able to determine why but I feel comfortable that murders decreased dramatically. The Bronx County District Attorney has this assessment in his 2002 Annual Report.
On race relations, I found many articles in the New York Times that spoke to troubled relations between Giuliani and the African-American community. This article presents many of the nuances in a relationship that rose and fell at various times.
Rudy Not My CandidateSubmitted by Shadow63 on Wed, 11/07/2007 - 17:42.
It is interesting to read comments from a New Jersey resident about a New York City mayor. It will be difficult for the mayor to respond to the points made by Blenson unless they are posed to him in upcoming visits as they should be. I think one would be naive to believe that candidates do not stretch "truths" or use statistics in a manner that favors them. I do not see any evidence of out and out lies on the part of the mayor so see no reason to view him in a negative way. I see Mayor Giulianni as a man of action with positive leadership qualities that are needed in a president. He is unafraid to refer to past accomplishments to make his case, fully understanding they can be analyzed in blogs, newspapers and other communiques.
ptisdall-Confirmation Of your suspicionSubmitted by Brian on Wed, 11/07/2007 - 04:27.
Fellow Exeter Republican, there is confirmation of your suspicion now online. Despite Blenson stating he's a registered Independant, you only need to look at his second post of today with the glowing tributes supporting Edwards. He is encouraged by Edward's "radical" positions. This is not the talk of an open minded independant. Wow!
He further uses his second post to imply Republicans are the party for only old gray haired people and Democrats are for the young and those with families. That hurt. I could have sworn that the final questions to Rudy, the one about aliens from outer space, came from an 11 year old and his sibling. Maybe B. Lenson's view is so narrow he missed it.
I've lived here in NH for 30 years. As I know you're a long time resident of Exeter, a final question for you ptisdall. Have you ever heard of this B. Lenson person around town? Must be a new arrival, and definately not an Independant or Republican.
Question: Why did you go? Question: Who's misleading who?Submitted by Brian on Tue, 11/06/2007 - 22:49.
Upon reading the post by "blenson", my first reaction was I didn't like the personification that I was some naive zombie. After some thought, I came to the conclusion that "blenson" truly did not have any understanding of economics. But upon much reflection and a little research, I came up two questions, "Why did you go and who's misleading who?
Based on "blenson's" profile and his posted statements, he is a newcomer to New Hampshire, formerly a long time resident of New York and New Jersey. His bio says he's registered Independant but his candidate preferences and his statements clearly lean left wing liberal. He claims to be familiar with the Mayor's record from being there during Rudy's terms as Mayor thereby legitimizing his stated beliefs. He states Rudy did a poor job in actuality and that the Mayor was uncaring and only hurt the lower and middle income citizens of New York. Let's see, liberal, anti-Giuliani personal opinion, pro-Obama supporter; why in the heck did you even bother to go see Giuliani in the first place if your mind was already made up about him?
This leads to the second question, who's misleading who? After reading in his bio that he is a professional writer, I went back and looked at "benson's" post again. What a skillfully crafted piece of character assination! A fine example of a writer's skills using subtlety, nuance and slight of hand to lead a reader to a foregone conclusion. I urge everyone to go back and read it again.
Let's review "blenson's" post from the begining; Old New Hampshire citizens are simple minded, Rudy "...actually took money from New York’s coffers and distributed it among tourists" hurting New Yorkers, Rudy only likes the rich and big developers, he doesn't care about the poor, middle class or the homeless, Rudy didn't actually fight crime and didn't really care about the families of victims of 9/11, he supports only big business, not small businesses, especially if owned by immigrants.
The subtle message was, "Rudy Giuliani is actually Saddam Hussen, the devil reincarnate, don't vote for him!" If that were not enough, "blenson" adds for the Christian Coalition crowd, Rudy as NYC Mayor marched in the NYC Gay Pride Parade. Shocking, sickening! But if that's not enough, there's a link to show you Rudy being hugged by a Gay Rights Activist. Fire and brimstone upon you if you support Rudy Giuliani! Mr. Blenson, did you get everyone phobia button?
Pardon my sarcasim but your message really wasn't that subtle Mr. "blenson". I could go into the economic misrepresentations you give, a little tax law and economic stimulation theory/principle to demonstrate why attracting people with money to come to NYC provided additional jobs, services and taxes to support NY City's poor, middle class and homeless, but that isn't really the issue.
Why I wrote this response is simple: "to let my fellow New Hampshire voters know that the image he (Mr. Blenson) is projecting to those of us in the north country has been carefully shaped and combed over...". The purpose of Mr. Blenson's post is to produce an unreasoned, prejudicial and emotional reaction against Rudy Giuliani, nothing more. Shame on him!
Guiliani might be your candidate....Submitted by ptisdall on Tue, 11/06/2007 - 19:43.
Two things strike one about blenson commentary: he/she doesn't state party affiliation and declares, "...it is a simple statement of fact". In my experience, statements of fact are rarely simple. so I am immediatley suspicious that this is not coming from a Republican.
To answer your comments: We wore the stickers for the fun of it. We all like Rudy as a candidate, even if we are not voting for him in the primary, and after our shellacking in the 2006 cycle, we Republicans are just plain glad to see each again.I found the sticker display to be festive. Who would ever think that that meant there were no critical thinking skills present? Blenson seems to have trouble accepting that economic stimuli for business is a good thing. ????? We get our jobs from businesses. You can't be for jobs and against the institutions that create them, to quote John Kerry. Prosperous economies create rich people. That's one way to tell we're prosperous. When NH became prosperous in the 1990's, our real estate became expensive too. Do I smell envy and resentment of the rich? As for 9/11, of course gov't couldn't do all things for all people. Mr Guliani made that important point in the meeting. He said that if the was a disaster in Exeter, we should look to ourselves first as it would be days before a federal response. Self-reliance is a Republican trait. As for Mr Diallo's death, what would you have had the mayor do? It's a very large city, a very large police force and bad things happen. Should the mayor have met with all those people? That isn't how I measure government caring. I'd rather live in a safer community over-all that didn't require consolation in the first place.
So I think the message is from someone who fears Guiliani as the Republican candidate and is trying to scare us Republicans away.