America's Mayor Has Surged, But Are WE Sold? His boy Bernard Kerik may be going down - will Rudy cut and run? Read here. LATEST POLL DATA - Click here
We haven't decided who should get the nod from us (leaning toward Mitt Romney, yet flip-flopping on issues is disconcerting). Since Rudy's leading in the o8 GOP White House race, let's start with him.
Here's a portion of a story by Barbara O'Brien that was interesting. Click here to read more.
Hizzoner Before 9/11: Black Folks And Crime
Bob Herbert column from March 2000 provides a perspective worth considering: The police intercepted the two teenaged boys who were running up Broadway, near 138th Street, and opened fire. This was on the night of Feb. 13, 1997. Robert Reynoso, 18, collapsed to the ground with a bullet in his chest. Juval Green, 17, fell with a leg wound. The police would later say they thought the boys had a gun. There was no gun. And the boys, who survived the shooting, had not been involved in a crime. Nevertheless, the police arrested them. The charge — criminal possession of a firearm.
This shooting typified the over-the-top, overly aggressive behavior that has become the hallmark of policing under Rudolph Giuliani. The cops were responding to a report of shots fired at Broadway and 135th Street, three blocks away. Not only were Mr. Reynoso and Mr. Green shot, but four other innocent people were arrested.
The police were shooting and rounding up people without the slightest clue as to what was happening, with top officials initially refusing to confirm the four additional arrests.
Here’s another Bob Herbert column, from February 25, 1999:
Rudolph Giuliani likes to push people around. He’s pretty indiscriminate about it. One day it’s an indisputably worthy target, like violent criminals, the next day it’s jaywalkers. One moment it’s the organized thugs at the Fulton Fish Market, the next it’s cab drivers and food vendors.
Mr. Giuliani shut down an entire neighborhood in Harlem and buzzed its residents with police helicopters because he didn’t like Khallid Muhammad. Solid citizens trying to exercise their right to protest peacefully have been fought at every conceivable turn. Many gave up, their protests succumbing to fear or exhaustion.
If you want a a textbook case of how a public official should not handle a crisis, study Giuliani after the Amidou Diallo shooting. Diallo, an immigrant from Guinea, was cornered in his Bronx apartment building by four New York City plain clothes cops. The cops fired 41 shots at Diallo, killing him. Diallo was unarmed and not the suspect; he was just trying to go home.
After the shooting, America’s Mayor failed to soothe the city’s frayed nerves. At first he asked the public not to jump to conclusions about what happened, which was reasonable. Over the next several days, however, Giuliani seemed more defensive than conciliatory. He recited statistics comparing fatal police shootings in New York with those in other cities, as if to claim the NYPD didn’t shoot as many people as other cops do, so what’s the problem?
Giuliani also failed to reach out to the city’s African Americans. Dan Barry wrote for the New York Times (February 11, 1999): That was the clear message at a news conference convened yesterday by C. Virginia Fields, the Manhattan Borough President, and former Mayor Edward I. Koch, who had troubles of his own with many black political and civic leaders. Being Mayor ‘’requires a willingness to hear,'’ Mr. Koch said. ‘’So we’re saying to the Mayor: ‘Listen.’ Ms. Fields agreed, saying that "the city must change the tone and move in a different direction.'’
Giuliani responded last night by impeaching the event’s credibility, noting that Koch was a persistent critic and saying that Ms. Fields failed to acknowledge the Police Department’s accomplishments, including reduced crime in black neighborhoods.
Six weeks later, the Mayor finally made a gesture toward his critics. Dan Barry wrote March 28, 1999:
Time and again, the Giuliani administration has demonstrated the ability to make the routine seem unusual and the bizarre seem mundane. How else could a meeting between the Mayor and the city’s highest-elected black official take on the significance of a Botha-Mandela sitdown? Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani’s session last week with C. Virginia Fields, the Manhattan Borough President, was viewed as so extraordinary that the City Council Speaker, Peter F. Vallone, who arranged the meeting, somehow emerged as the great healer of City Hall. Then came word that the Mayor had agreed to meet with State Comptroller H. Carl McCall, another black leader he had rebuffed for years, and would soon be inviting other people of color to Gracie Mansion for face-to-face chats.
Nearly seven weeks after the Amadou Diallo shooting began roiling race relations in the city, the administration decided that the time had come to, as one aide put it, ‘’build bridges'’ and let the ‘’healing process'’ continue. And so Mr. Giuliani was poised to be congratulated for meeting elected city and state officials — activities that used to be normal conduct for any mayor, an expected duty of the office.
Hizzoner On The Low Down: Pimpin' Ain't Easy
Here’s another example, provided by Jimmy Breslin in New York Newsday:
As the mayor, he had a detective driving one of his girlfriends out of the Gracie Mansion driveway while another detective was arriving with another girlfriend and was waved off to prevent a domestic riot.
All the while upstairs there were his wife and children.
Giuliani would later be seen walking in a parade on Fifth Avenue with his girlfriend, his children relegated to watching him on television.
Very interesting family. Love to get some feedback on this. Comments are always welcomed. Stay tuned!