Giuliani Tracker

Giulliani To Take Part In Ground Zero Ceremony

Rudy Giuliani will attend the sixth anniversary remembrance of the World Trade Center attack and will help read aloud the victims' names, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Tuesday.

Bloomberg said in a radio interview that he had spoken with Giuliani a day earlier and that the former mayor and 2008 presidential candidate would be one of the dignitaries to participate in this year's roll call of the nearly 3,000 names.

The somber reading has been the centerpiece of the annual ceremony since the 2001 attack and has become a tradition for thousands of people who lost loved ones. Giuliani was the first reader at the first anniversary in 2002.

Bloomberg and Giuliani were on opposite sides of a disagreement weeks ago about where the ceremony would be held this year. Some relatives of victims were angered when the city decided to move the event from the west border of the 16-acre trade center site to a plaza off the southeast corner because of the construction at the site.

Giuliani, on the campaign trail, said he sympathized with them and was saddened it would not be held in its usual place. A national figure whose notoriety is linked to his handling of the attack, he said he had great emotional attachment to the site itself.

"I feel very bad that it's going to be moved," he said last month.

Bloomberg and the families worked out a compromise that still keeps the reading of the names in the new location but gives loved ones some minimal access to the bedrock at the bottom of the seven-story pit that once was the trade center's basement. Many mourners feel as though that area is a gravesite and say they need to touch the ground to feel connected.

Reading aloud all the names of the lost can take more than three hours. The reading pauses for moments of silence for the times that the two planes hit and the towers collapsed.

In past years, between 100 and 200 people have helped read out the roll call.

Bloomberg and Giuliani will be two of several dignitaries to read names. New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, New Jersey Gov. John Corzine and Spitzer's predecessor, Gov. George Pataki, were also invited, Bloomberg said.

The rest of the readers will be firefighters, police officers and other rescue workers.

Fox 5 | Rasmussen Poll: Clinton Over Giuliani in New York

In thinking about the next Presidential election, voters surveyed in New York overwhelmingly picked Sen. Hillary Clinton over former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, according to a new poll from Fox 5 / Rasmussen Reports.

33% Giuliani
58% Clinton
7% Some other candidate
2% Not sure

And even though Giuliani earned the moniker "America's Mayor" for his actions on and after the 9/11 attacks, New Yorkers said they trust Clinton over Giuliani to handle the War on Terror.

36% Giuliani
44% Clinton
19% Not sure

READ THE FULL POLL REPORT

Giuliani Outlines Tax Plan

A Democratic president would raise taxes and ravage the economy, GOP hopeful candidate Rudy Giuliani said Saturday.

The former New York City mayor said he would lower taxes, make permanent President Bush's tax cuts and eliminate inheritance taxes.

"The Democrats believe in government when they have a choice. Republicans believe in people when we have a choice. ... The Republican Party is the party of the people. The Democratic Party is the party of the government," Giuliani said at a town hall meeting.

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Giuliani: Attorney General Gonzales Has 'Given Service'

Rudy Giuliani suggested Monday that President Bush might want to turn to Michael Chertoff, a man Giuliani himself once hired, when picking a replacement for outgoing Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

Speaking before a fundraiser in Detroit, where the Detroit Tigers were hosting his New York Yankees on Monday night, Giuliani echoed neither Bush's effusive praise of Gonzales nor Democrats' harsh criticism.

After months of attacks, Gonzales announced Monday that he was stepping down next month.

"I think Judge Gonzales has given service with his contribution both at the White House and as attorney general," the former New York mayor and federal prosecutor said. "He made his choice. I know he's lived through a lot of fire in many areas."

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Giuliani: Democrats Would Ruin Economy

A Democratic president would raise taxes and ravage the economy, GOP hopeful candidate Rudy Giuliani said Saturday.

 

The former New York City mayor said he would lower taxes, make permanent President Bush's tax cuts and eliminate inheritance taxes.

"The Democrats believe in government when they have a choice. Republicans believe in people when we have a choice. ... The Republican Party is the party of the people. The Democratic Party is the party of the government," Giuliani said at a town hall meeting. He appeared with former presidential candidate Steve Forbes, who is a campaign adviser, and former Massachusetts Gov. Paul Cellucci.

In his speech, Giuliani paid little attention to his GOP rivals while taking on the Democratic candidates.

"If you've never run anything, you sometimes have unrealistic ideas," he said, noting none of the leading Democratic contenders has served as an executive. "This is not a place for on-the-job training."

Giuliani criticized Democrats who want to repeal Bush's cuts. "When it's working, let's change it. That's a brilliant philosophy. It sounds little bit like Iraq," Giuliani said to laughter.

Democrats took issue with Giuliani's approach. A spokeswoman for U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Giuliani misunderstands the situation.

"If he's attacking Sen. Clinton for wanting to change President Bush's economic policies and his Iraq policy, he's right. She will," Kathleen Strand said. "Sen. Clinton knows that the Bush-Cheney economic policies are wrong for New Hampshire families and their stay-the-course strategy in Iraq is wrong for America."

The cornerstone of Giuliani's campaign has been tax cuts, greater freedom over spending and less government. He said people would face $3 trillion in tax increase over the next decade unless Bush's tax cuts are made permanent.

Giuliani also advocated a permanent child tax credit and lower marginal tax rates. He wants to tie marginal tax rates to the current levels and perhaps cut the rates further. He favors linking the alternative minimum tax to the rate of inflation, which Giuliani said would stop tax increases on 30 million people by 2010.

This tax originally was designed to make sure that the wealthiest could not use tax breaks or deductions to eliminate their entire tax liability. It is not adjusted for inflation.

Inflation and recent tax cuts push more and more taxpayers into the grasp of the minimum tax each year, depriving about 4 million tax filers from taking full advantage of various deductions and tax credits.

Giuliani told his audience that he is the best option to help them have more control over their own money. As part of his standard stump speech, Giuliani routinely reminds voters he cut taxes 23 times.

"New York City's taxes were way too high," Giuliani said. "We were taxing people out of the city. We were making the choice for them."

While Giuliani cut taxes 23 times, his record has come into question.

Giuliani initiated only 15 cuts and opposed one of the largest, accepting it only after a five-month negotiation with the city council. Seven cuts started at the state level. One was initiated by the council.

MySpace, MTV to Offer Candidate Chats

Lecterns are so 2004. In the latest chapter of new Web-empowered debates and interaction with presidential candidates, social networking site MySpace and MTV will bring together 2008 hopefuls and young voters for real-time online conversations.

The announced front-running candidates of both parties will participate, each holding individual dialogues with voters. Voters can instant-message, e-mail or text their questions in real-time during the events, which will be webcast live on MTV.com and MySpaceTV.com.

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Giuliani: 'Leave My Family Alone'

Republican Rudy Giuliani said Thursday that people should "leave my family alone" when asked by a New Hampshire woman why the presidential candidate should expect loyalty from voters when he doesn't get it from his children.

 

Giuliani has a daughter who has indicated support for Democrat Barack Obama and a son who said they didn't speak for some time. His ugly divorce from their mother, Donna Hanover, was waged publicly while Giuliani was mayor of New York. Giuliani has since remarried.

Answering questions at a town-hall meeting, Giuliani was asked why he should expect loyalty from GOP voters when his children aren't backing him.

"I love my family very, very much and will do anything for them. There are complexities in every family in America," Giuliani said calmly and quietly. "The best thing I can say is kind of, 'leave my family alone, just like I'll leave your family alone.'"

His comments were greeted with a smattering of applause from the audience of about 120 people. Giuliani urged them to judge him based on his performance as mayor and a federal prosecutor, and he launched into a list of his successes such as reducing crime and welfare and prosecuting organized crime figures and drug dealers.

The questioner, Derry mother Katherine Prudhomme-O'Brien, opened by thanking Giuliani for how he handled the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and introduced him to her 5-year-old daughter, Abby, who was playing on the floor next to the platform where Giuliani stood.

Prudhomme-O'Brien, 36, wasn't certain about Giuliani's answer.

"If a person is running for president, I would assume their children would be behind them." she said. "If they're not, you've got to wonder."

She said the issue is a question mark that is "going to stay there for a lot of people."

Giuliani mentioned his wife, Judith, when he answered a question about Alzheimer's disease, saying she had helped raise money to fight the disease.

"We've been touched by it very close to our family, too," he said.

Giuliani focussed on health care during the hour-long forum, saying that buying health insurance ought to be like buying insurance for cars or a home, with people buying their own policies with different deductibles and types of coverage.

Employers and the government "never buy precisely what you want: they buy what they think is generally good," he said.

Giuliani wants to give families a 15,000 tax credit to buy insurance privately rather than through employers and he proposes that any money left over from the credit be kept in tax-free health savings accounts.

In South Carolina, Giuliani launched two radio ads focusing on illegal immigration and his record as mayor. The first spot outlines Giuliani's plan to deport illegal aliens who commit crimes, bolster border protection and reiterates his belief that newcomers to the U.S. should learn English. His second spot highlights his work as mayor on cutting crime, trimming welfare rolls and reducing taxes.

9/11 Health Worries Follow Giuliani

Rudy Giuliani's experience on Sept. 11 and at ground zero propelled him into presidential politics, yet by his own admission, it may also weaken his health -- a key issue for any candidate seeking the White House.

 

Just last week, Giuliani was criticized by some firefighter unions for suggesting he was at ground zero as much, if not more, than many rescue workers and exposed to the same health risks. He quickly backed off that statement, saying he misspoke.

"I empathize with them, because I feel like I have that same risk," said Giuliani, who was at the World Trade Center almost immediately on Sept. 11, 2001, and was onsite many times a day after that.

That assertion -- made repeatedly by the former mayor over the years -- could pose a different challenge in his quest for the White House, by suggesting he may not stay healthy through a presidential term that would begin in 2009.

Giuliani, a 63-year-old cancer survivor, clearly wonders about his long-term health and that of his close aides who worked with him on Sept. 11, 2001 and after.

"I'm sure that some of these people are going to have symptoms, and maybe it's not now. They're going to have them five years from now or 10 years from now," Giuliani said last year on the fifth anniversary of the attacks.

Dr. Joan Reibman, who heads a city-funded program at Bellevue Hospital in New York to study the health effects of ground zero exposure, said she had no knowledge of Giuliani's health history or exposure, but that given his public presence at the site, he should probably be enrolled in the health monitoring program for ground zero workers and lower Manhattan residents.

"I think he would have fit the criteria," said Reibman.

Asked about his health, Giuliani said in a statement that he is not enrolled in one of the 9/11 related health program but does get regular medical checkups.

"Today, I am fortunate that my health remains excellent, but I will continue to get regular checkups as I urge everyone to do," he said, and repeated a pledge to work for ground zero workers if elected president.

"No one will be a stronger supporter for those brave men and woman in the White House than me. They need and deserve our full support," said Giuliani.

Reibman, the ground zero doctor, said some trends have emerged among ground zero workers and nearby residents, but that much remains a mystery.

"I suspect that if one didn't have respiratory illnesses that one probably won't develop them now," said Reibman. "But what about late emergent diseases? I don't think we have the answer to that. I think it's very important to monitor for those. There's a lot we still don't know."

A major study by Mount Sinai Medical Center last year found 70 percent of ground zero workers suffered some form of lung problems -- and experts there predicted thousands will either remain sick or get sick in coming years.

Those statistics have already struck close to home for Giuliani: two deputy mayors were made sick by ground zero exposure, one so severely that he now receives workers compensation health benefits.

Reibman said a number of factors determine whether the toxic soup at the World Trade Center site would make an individual sick: the specific contaminants around a person, the length of exposure, the intensity of the exposure, the amount of protective breathing apparatus worn by the individual, and an individual's pre-existing susceptibility to disease.

"The amount of exposure is going to differ within the recovery and rescue workers, with residents, and with the people who worked downtown," said Reibman.

For Giuliani, talking about his potential for future illness carries some political risks.

"For a presidential candidate to say that he might be sick is obviously a mixed message," said Steven Cohen, a public affairs professor at Columbia University.

"We want our presidential candidates to be healthy for at least eight more years, if not longer," said Cohen.

Cohen argued that Giuliani's rhetoric has wandered from the original source of his Sept. 11-related popularity.

"After 9/11 it really wasn't his work at the pit or anything that was the main positive aspect of his leadership, but the fact that he gave people confidence that they could resume normal life. That was unambiguous leadership at a time when it was really needed."

Even that opinion is challenged by Giuliani's critics within the New York fire and police departments, some of whom never forgave him for pushing an ambitious cleanup schedule that, they charge, ignored the ongoing recovery of bodies at the site.

Jimmy Riches, a deputy fire chief who spent months digging at ground zero for his firefighter son, scoffs at the very notion that Giuliani was at ground zero long enough to risk his health.

"The longest time I saw him down there was when President Bush came to the site," said Riches. "He doesn't care about the first responders, he did nothing to help them when he was in office or after. He didn't give us respirators until November."

Fox TV/Rasmussen Reports Poll Debuts on Fox 5

Veteran pollster Scott Rasmussen and Fox 5 have teamed up to explore the latest hot topics on the political scene. Linda Schmidt took a look at the first poll results.

WATCH THE REPORT

Giuliani: I Misspoke About Ground Zero

Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani said Friday that he misspoke when he said he spent as much time, if not more, at ground zero exposed to the same health risks as workers combing the site after the Sept. 11 attacks.

 

"I think I could have said it better," he told nationally syndicated radio host Mike Gallagher. "You know, what I was saying was, 'I'm there with you.'"

The former New York mayor struck a nerve with firefighters and police officers when he said Thursday in Cincinnati that he was at ground zero "as often, if not more, than most of the workers."

"I was there working with them. I was exposed to exactly the same things they were exposed to. So in that sense, I'm one of them," he told reporters at a Los Angeles Dodgers-Cincinnati Reds baseball game.

Fire and police officials responded angrily, saying Giuliani did not do the same work as those involved in the rescue, recovery and cleanup from the 2001 terrorist attacks, which left many workers sick and injured.

"I have a real problem with that statement," said Battalion Chief John McDonnell, head of the Uniformed Fire Officers Association in New York. "I think he's really grasping and trying to justify his previous attempts to portray himself as the hero of 9/11."

On Friday, Giuliani said he was trying to show his concern for the workers' health.

"What I was trying to say yesterday is that I empathize with them, because I feel like I have that same risk," he said.

"There were people there less than me, people on my staff, who already have had serious health consequences, and they weren't there as often as I was," Giuliani said, "but I wasn't trying to suggest a competition of any kind, which is the way it come across."

Giuliani's explanation further angered his ground zero critics, prompting several to issue a statement demanding an apology.

"He is such a liar, because the only time he was down there was for photo ops with celebrities, with politicians, with diplomats," said deputy fire chief Jimmy Riches, who spent months digging for his firefighter son.

"On 9/11 all he did was run. He got that soot on him, and I don't think he's taken a shower since."

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Associated Press Writer Devlin Barrett contributed to this report.