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Team Rudy Stonewalled on Shag Fund as Early as 2001
In comments to the Politico yesterday, Anthony Carbonetti, a longtime aide to Rudy Giuliani and his chief of staff when he was mayor, told Ben Smith that this was the first he'd heard that the city comptroller had been asking about the mayor's charges to backwater agencies.
So we asked the city comptroller's office. And spokesman Jeff Simmons told us that the audit, which focused on $34,000 of travel charges to one of those obscure agencies, the New York City Loft Board, had indeed begun in 2001, when Rudy was still mayor. The comptroller had made "repeated requests to the Loft Board and Mayor’s Office for further information and was stonewalled," he said.
Of course, that stonewalling has continued in the Bloomberg administration, which has refused to discuss the charges, citing "security," although they did refer the matter to the city Department of Investigations, where it seems to have disappeared.
Comments (10)
jvill wrote on November 30, 2007 1:33 PM:Shouldn't the city be investigating whether or not these funds where inappropriately moved (i.e. criminal activity)? Why does it take a muckracking website to look into this stuff? Is it time to start calling Mayor Bloomberg's office?
danger wrote on November 30, 2007 1:49 PM:jvill - the internet is the ad hoc oversight committee, apparently.
I think it's also cause this site is waaaay ahead of the ball, in comparison to some internal investigations office. However, I think it was because of someone in the Bloomberg office that this even came out in the first place. I think rather than calling Bloomberg's office we need to start thinking in terms of contacting the DA's office to get the ball rolling.
eli wrote on November 30, 2007 2:09 PM:Just doesn't matter. Rudy's betting that the MSM will lose interest soon, and start chasing something more lurid. Remember, no one who's supporting Rudy was ever under the misimpression that he was an ethical choirboy. They like him for his bellicosity. They ignore his immorality.
moondancer wrote on November 30, 2007 5:28 PM:I really enjoy arrogant pricks crashing and burning. It's better than American Idol.
Even if MSM loses focus, his opps won't. Its campaign fodder to die for. He's doomed.
Liam wrote on November 30, 2007 5:30 PM:There is no big mystery here folks. Rudi learned from his Mafia investigations how to launder financial transactions that could not stand the light of day.
Follow The Money. Who first send the bills to those obscure agencies that would allow Rudi to conceal his bilking of the taxpayers, and who ordered that person to send the bills to those departments.
Follow The Money.
How long will it be before Rudi tries to brush it off with the : "9/11 changed everything" including how I hid my mistress shagging tax expenditures, excuse.
moondancer wrote on November 30, 2007 5:51 PM:Just dawned on me. Where is the outrage from all the goopers that wanted to stone Clinton? Rudys banging his mistress, using taxpayers money to facilitate his sex and no gooper screams for him to withdraw?* Jeez, such hypocrites.
gothamnotes wrote on November 30, 2007 6:35 PM:* pardon the pun
Remember timelines, here.
Rudy had spent many years cultivating the warm family image of being NY's First Family: beautiful blonde, TV-anchor wife Donna, pretty young daughter and rambunctious, slightly goofy young boy, Andrew. In his first term, all those Yankee games showed Andrew at his dad's side. This was all necessary since he was aiming at Sen. Moynihan's seat when the old man stepped down. Rudy knew full well that the lothario part of his life would ruin any (then very good) shot he had at the Senate. He knew the Clinton camp would have a field day with it after he had piled onto Bill's problems with priggish, nasty quotes. THIS is why he kept it hush-hush for two years. Then, his humongous ego got the better of him, as his wife Donna began griping louder and louder about her husband embarrassing the family by fucking anything that moved. He dragged Nathan into the public eye as much to shove it into the face of the woman he had married, as to proudly show off his new love. His whole M.O. at the time was, "Because I CAN!"
Also, keep the correct focus as this story unfolds: It's not the police detail's expenses that are at issue here; it's the EXTRA police detail expenses that had to be hidden. No one cares (nor should they) who he's been screwing, when. What's at issue here is malfeasance, meant to CYA. The NYC mayor gets a detail 24/7. Their pay is in the budget, as was his family's details' expenses. If Rudy had simply stayed home with his wife and kids, like the ideal family man he worked so hard to create for us, he would never had incurred extra expenses for gasoline, hotels & meal per diems, and occasional airline bills that would have exposed his actual activities and become fodder for the NY press, ruining his shot at becoming NY's junior Senator. But, as often happens, Mr. Johnson got in the way. Mr. Johnson even ordered a police car and driver for his girlfriend, a police detail to guard her NYC apartment building and her Hampton's condo. All at taxpayers' expense. All on top of what was already allotted for the details for his family members. Somehow, Rudy felt that HE was owed that money by the City of New York for his plaything. THAT's why these expenses had to be buried.
Anonymous wrote on November 30, 2007 8:32 PM:"Somehow, Rudy felt that HE was owed that money by the City of New York for his plaything."
Shag fund, plaything, that all sounds so . . . cute and friendly.
Let's call it what it is: He wanted the GOVERNMENT FUNDING to help him commit ADULTERY. You know. One of those Big Ten that all the right wingers are so obsessed about. ADULTERY.
Normally I couldn't give a hoot who sleeps with who. but if you're gonna play TO the family values crowd, GOVERNMENT AID FOR ADULTERY seems a little out of line.
Louise wrote on December 2, 2007 3:26 PM:So Judi was paid 10K a month as Rudy's "speechwriter"? hat seems to be a favorite hidey-hole for Rudy's babes. Perhaps someone should ask the NYPD about the costs spread around to hide the trysts with former City Hall communications director Cristyne Lategano. He's the forgotten woman now, but was the mayor's adulterous squeeze-on-the-payroll for a good deal of his tenure.
Too bad we'll never see the Guiliani-Hanover settlement terms. MUCH more scandalous than the Ryan documents, no doubt.
Frank wrote on December 4, 2007 2:13 PM:I am surprised that no one, either on this site or in the general media, has drawn the comparison between Giuliani's actions and those of Alan Hevesi, the former NY state controller. I realize there are some differences, but there are also very strong parallels. Nevertheless, Hevesi was charged with a felony, forced to resign, and had his career ruined. Giuliani's case involves far greater amounts of taxpayer money for questionable purposes. But the outcry from important people in media is much milder than it was against Hevesi.