Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Rudy's Insufferable Self-Promotion

Those who have suffered through Giuliani's tedious tenure in New York City, beginning with his appointment as US Attorney for the Southern District of New York (Manhattan), are all too familiar with his overwhelming concern with his personal promotion and image, and lack of care and ability at actual administration.

While US Attorney, criminal defense lawyers there will tell you, he routinely held up indictments, sometimes for months, until he could find time in his busy schedule of self-promotion, for a press conference announcing the indictment. This grand-standing served no legitimate prosecutorial purpose, and was, in itself, a cruel treatment of defendants, left in limbo and delayed in the ultimate clearing of their names (take a look back at the Giuliani indictments of the Wall Street arbs during his rein, and compare that to the jury verdicts he secured -- you'll be surprised at the ineffectiveness of his administration).

His relentless pursuit of press coverage didn't stop when he became Mayor, nor with 9/11. Remember that he asked for an extension of his last term in office? The Giuliani legend was so strong in his own mind that, in the 9/11 aftermath, he couldn't conceive of anyone else running the City, nor of anyone wanting anyone else to run it.

In biting words, Al Sharpton and others called him on it:
Al Sharpton slammed Mayor Giuliani for hogging too much credit for uniting the city, saying "Bozo" could have done as much. Two days after Green and Republican Michael Bloomberg accepted, and Ferrer rejected,Giuliani's pitch for a three-month term-extension, Sharpton - a major Ferrer booster - sharply criticized Giuliani for trying to stretch his term. "We elected you mayor, not Messiah," Sharpton said at his Harlem headquarters during a rally attended by Ferrer. "You didn't bring us together, our pain brought us together and our decency brought us together," Sharpton said. He added, "We would have come together if Bozo was the mayor."
Run, Rudy, Run.


(Photo Credit: Richard B. Levine, Newsweek)

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