Giuliani Advisor Speaks Out

I'm openly hoping that the little authoritarians on the right buy Rudy Giuliani's tough guy shtick and pick him to lead the party because he'll "kick some terrorist ass." Because if this guy ever gets to a general election, the chorus of opposition from those who knew and worked with him will make the Swift Boat campaign look like a tea party.

Today in the New York Times, Jerome Hauer, a former member of Rudy's "inner circle" and the former emergency management director for New York City, slams Giuliani for his various distortions and poor judgment in protecting the city. Talk about attacking the opponent's strength, I think we have too much information to fit in one book here.

In recent days, Mr. Hauer has challenged Mr. Giuliani’s recollection that he had little role as mayor in placing the city’s emergency command center at the ill-fated World Trade Center.

Mr. Hauer has also disputed the claim by the Giuliani campaign that the mayor’s wife, Judith Giuliani, had coordinated a help center for families after the attack.

And he has contradicted Mr. Giuliani’s assertions that the city’s emergency response was well coordinated that day, a point he made most notably to the authors of “Grand Illusion,” a book that depicts Mr. Giuliani’s antiterrorism efforts as deeply flawed.

"Grand Illusion" is a good name for it. Apparently the fallout between Giuliani and Hauer came when Hauer endorsed Mark Green for Mayor over Michael Bloomberg. Rudy went nuts, saying "If you do this, you’re done ... I’m going to end your career." The similarity in terms of valuing loyalty between Giuliani and Bush is apparent (Bush said something very similar to Al Hunt when Hunt touted Jack Kemp over his father for President in 1988).

Hauer describes how Giuliani drove the debate over where to house the emergency management control center shortly after he signed on as emergency management director in 1996.

One of Mr. Hauer’s first tasks was to find a home for an emergency command center to replace the inadequate facilities at police headquarters. Mr. Hauer suggested an office complex in downtown Brooklyn as a “good alternative” in a memorandum.

But Mr. Hauer said the mayor insisted instead on a site within walking distance of City Hall. Given that concern and others, Mr. Hauer said he decided that offices on the 23rd floor of 7 World Trade Center, next to the twin towers and just a few blocks from City Hall, seemed the best choice.

The site was immediately controversial because it was part of the trade center, which had already been the location of a truck bomb attack in 1993. City officials, though, including Mr. Hauer, have long defended their decision, even after the command center had to be evacuated during the 2001 terror attack.

Last week, in an interview with Fox News, Mr. Giuliani again faced questions about the site. He put responsibility for selecting it on Mr. Hauer.

“Jerry Hauer recommended that as the prime site and the site that would make the most sense,” Mr. Giuliani said. “It was largely on his recommendation that that site was selected.”

Mr. Hauer took immediate exception to that account in interviews. “That’s Rudy’s own reality that he lives in,” he said. “It is not, in fact, the truth.”

Again, how typical, and how redolent of what we've lived with over the last six years. Blame somebody else for your own mistakes, attack your critics, find scapegoats. Incidentally, why in Jebus' name should the walking distance from City Hall play a role in where to house an emergency command center, especially when that forces the final site to be in a complex that has been targeted by terrorists in the past?

Giuliani has also lied about the role of his wife, who is caught up in his own hagiography:

Mr. Hauer left his city job in 2000. A year later, Mr. Giuliani called him back into service after the terror attacks. He was assigned to help prepare for possible biological or chemical attacks and to help set up an assistance center for victims’ families.

Mr. Giuliani’s wife, Judith, who was then his companion, also had a role in setting up the center. But last week Mr. Hauer told New York magazine that the campaign’s depiction of her role was “simply a lie.”

The campaign’s Web site said that Mrs. Giuliani had “coordinated the efforts at the Family Assistance Center on Pier 94.”

Indeed, others were at least equally involved in that effort. Rosemary O’Keefe, who was then director of the Community Assistance Unit, said Mrs. Giuliani had helped during the first two days at the pier.

The campaign has since taken down the language on the Web because they know it's wrong.

The image of Rudy Giuliani is gradually becoming tarnished by these continued revelations. The media is finally taking off the halo and taking a more sober and realistic look at the former Mayor's decisions, and their consequences:

As more and more workers who inhaled the dust at ground zero fall ill, it has become increasingly clear that much of the problem can be traced to the Giuliani administration’s failure to insist that all emergency personnel and construction workers at the site wear respirators.

The then-mayor and his agency heads put their emphasis on a speedy cleanup and return to normalcy. In that, they were remarkably successful, clearing the site in less than 10 months. Unfortunately, the price is now being paid by thousands of workers who have developed lung and other ailments.

Again, I can't help but note the similarities to the current Administration. Appearance is always favored to reality. It was more important that everybody "return to normal" and that the area is swept clean and made to look nice instead of ensuring worker safety. It's the President and his emergency generators in Jackson Square all over again.

I hope the Ron Paul exchange carries Rudy all the way to the nomination. The fact that he's considering skipping Iowa doesn't make me hopeful. But I'd love the opportunity to beat Giuliani in 2008. The evidence is overwhelming.