Sex on the City - They Walked Her Dog

The slow trickle of revelations about the escapades of Judi 'n' Rudy have turned into a firehouse. Since New York's City Hall made public the financial records obtained by the Politico through a Freedom of Information Act request, the stories have come fast and furious. To wit:

• Mayoral aides were forced to go out of town to the Hamptons during Giuliani's love trysts, forcing taxpayers to foot the bill for travel expenses.

• The Mayor's Office put $400,000 in expenses on a prepaid American Express card to cover expenses from Rudy's security detail. The bill was charged to an agency that's supposed to provide lawyers for poor defendants. This $400,000 fund was then used to pay for travel expenses incurred during many of Rudy's trips out to the Hamptons.

• Apparently, the security coverage given to Judith Nathan not only protected her, but ferried around friends and family, without Nathan, in NYPD cars. It's bad enough to expend security resources on a private citizen - Nathan was not the Mayor's wife at this time, and Giuliani was still married to Donna Hanover - but using the NYPD as a chauffeur in addition to their other crimefighting activities is beyond the pale.

• NYPD cops walked Judi Nathan's dog.

The focus on the Shag Fund has crowded out other stories about Giuliani that broke this week, including his business ties to a Qatari sheikh who harbored Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, a mastermind of the 9/11 attacks. But clearly, this episode reflects that anyone loyal to Giuliani lives under different rules than the rest of us. It's cronyism, it's patronage, it's preferential treatment. It's, as John Edwards has said, "Bush on steroids."