Rudy and Judi in Southampton: Guess Who Paid?
Posted on Wed Nov 28, 2007 at 06:52:47 PM EST
Tags: Rudy Giuliani (all tags)
Politico has a major story about Rudy Giuliani. Through a freedom of information act request, it obtained copies of Rudy's Amex bills and billing records that show Rudy billed the city using obscure agencies for hundreds of thousands of dollars for his and his detail's travels, including many trips to Southampton, during the early days of his and Judith Nathan's relationship.
The point is not that he was married. Everyone knows he cheated on his wife. The point is the unusual billing to other agencies and his office's refusal to provide the documents to the comptroller's office investigating the expenses and billing, citing "security concerns." The comptroller then alerted Bloomberg's office who forwarded the matter for investigation.
One thing I find unforgivable is his billing of $400,000, including his 2001 Southampton expenses (he went there every weekend in August and the first in September and none of the trips were listed on his official schedule) to the Assigned Counsel Administrative Office -- the office that provides lawyers for the poor. As if they aren't already underfunded, Rudy took more money out of that till.
More...
In 2000,
[Controller] Thompson also warned that travel costs had increased by 151 percent in Giuliani's final fiscal year, to more than $618,000, a number which also includes police security on campaign swings for Giuliani’s abortive 2000 Senate run and trips to Los Angeles by Donna Hanover, who remained Giuliani's wife and the city's official first lady, in the fall of 2000.
Other agencies Rudy billed the expenses to: The Loft Regulation Board and the agency providing aid to the disabled.
"There is no really good reason to do this except to have nobody know about it," Carol O'Cleireacain, a Brookings Institution senior fellow who was budget director under Giuliani's predecessor, David Dinkins, said of the unusual billing practices.
The American express bill is here. The controller's letter is here.
For those interested in the marital details, Rudy and Donna Hanover announced their split on May 11, 2000.
It doesn't sound like a one time deviation. In 2006, he claimed a deduction on his tax return for paying Judith Nathan $125k a year for her speechwriting help.
Is this a man to whom we want to entrust our federal budget? Surely not.
Let's hope the press doesn't drop the ball on this. It has the earmarks of a major story.
Update: Giuliani's senior advisor says Giuliani will investigate the billings. Great, Rudy gets to investigate himself.
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