While criticizing the apparent improprieties associated with the “Shag Fund” scandal, for New York City Mayor Ed Koch alluded to a point that hasn’t drawn much attention.
“I found it strange that his lady friend was given protection,” said the long-time New York politico. “That was bizarre. She’s not the city’s responsibility. Rudy is the city’s responsibility. Your wife and his children get protection, and that’s understood. But certainly not your lady friend.”
And by “lady friend,” Koch meant “mistress.”
This isn’t exactly new, but in light of recent revelations about Giuliani hiding the expense of his taxpayer-funded romantic rendezvous in the Hamptons, it’s probably worth reminding the political world that in 2001, Giuliani had security details for two women — his wife and his “lady friend” on the side. At the time, Giuliani didn’t deny any of this.
As Greg Sargent noted, “This, combined with Politico’s story, reveals just how expensive Rudy’s extramarital trysts really were to New Yorkers — and adds plausibility to the Politico’s suggestion that tax money funded Rudy’s visits to see Judi in the Hamptons.”
Just to provide some context to all of this, I should note that much of this is old news. We knew about the trips to the Hamptons. We knew Giuliani ordered a security detail for both women. We knew that taxpayers ended up footing the bill.
What we didn’t know was that steps may have been taken to cover up the true costs of Giuliani’s extra-curricular activities. On CNN last night, Lou Dobbs tried to defend Giuliani, suggesting the mayor is entitled to a security force, even if he heads off to the Hamptons to see his mistress. John King had to explain why that’s not the point.
DOBBS: [W]hat was the implication that in all of this that somehow that the mayor, irrespective of what he is doing personally with whichever woman was in his life at the time, was still the mayor and entitled to security? One would assume that he would be and do you think the assumption would be incorrect?
KING: There is no question that the mayor gets security 24/7. The question being raised by the city comptroller himself, the man who audits the city financial account, is why is that not money not allocated to the mayor central budget, why is it not allocated to the police department, why is there not a line item that says security for the mayor? Why instead is an agency called the Loft Office, the Loft Board of New York City or the Office for People with Disabilities being charged for the mayor’s security detail, gas for his SUV and things like that.
Giuliani can have an affair, he can bring his security detail with him while he has an affair, but he can’t hide the costs of this in the budget for the city’s Office for People with Disabilities.
Josh Marshall, meanwhile, explains why Giuliani couldn’t just hook-up in the city he was serving at the time.
Before 9/11, the city of New York set up an emergency command center in the World Trade Center complex, actually in building 7. After 9/11 this was a matter of some controversy since it obviously wasn’t usable on the day of the attacks. (Building 7 eventually collapsed late in the day on 9/11.) And while no one could have predicted 9/11 precisely, there was a certain gap in logic in building the command center in what had already proven to be a top terrorist target.
However that might be, earlier this year it emerged that Rudy actually spent a lot of time in his personal quarters in the command center pre-9/11 because that’s where he took Judi for their snogfests while their relationship was still a secret.
In fact, it gets better. While it’s difficult to prove, there was a decent amount of circumstantial evidence — and some city officials believed — that Rudy’s reason for wanting the center in building 7 was so that he could walk there easily from city hall for his trysts with Judy.
So just how do we judge the price NYC paid for the Judi affair?
Good question.