GOP + Giuliani = MOS

The qualities, judgment and character of the pretenders to the throne of the US Presidency pose vital questions for our future, and the American public must decide whether they want more of the same – MOS. As the run up to the 2008 election continues, the media and the press seem to be improving performance of their basic responsibilities to the public, the job of providing information upon which the public can try to make an informed decision. The task for the voters is to sift through the mountain of information, decipher the biases inherent in the news sources, and make an intelligent choice. These past years of cronyism, incompetence and corruption, which have been the hallmarks and will be the legacy, of the George W. Bush Administration are not times that bear repeating if the “Great Experiment” is to survive. Yet the GOP seems to be positioning a frontrunner who suggests that MOS is its preference.

GOP candidate Rudy Giuliani is the close friend and mentor of Bernard Kerik, the former New York City Police Commissioner. Mr. Kerik was allowed to plead guilty to misdemeanor charges of accepting costly renovations to his Bronx apartment and failing to disclose a $28,000 loan to help buy it. Mr. Kerik is now facing a 16-count federal indictment including allegations that a construction company with suspected organized crime ties paid for the renovations hoping that Mr. Kerik would help it obtain a city license. The indictment also charges that Mr. Kerik failed to disclose a $250,000 loan financed by an unnamed Israeli businessman and did not report as income more than $200,000 in rent paid by a developer on an Upper East Side luxury apartment.

Those actions show a blatant disregard for the principle that public office is a service and that officials must be held to a higher standard of responsibility and conduct. The venal abuse of office for personal enrichment is unfortunately not that uncommon in our times. This is especially true under the Bush Administration, where high officials from Treasury officials to the World Bank President have been ousted upon disclosure of their illegal self dealing. We must also keep in mind that President Bush nominated Kerik for the position of head of the Department of Homeland Security. His candidacy was withdrawn only after his corrupt dealings came to light and were made embarrassingly public.

Although lamentably too common, such conduct is not something to which we should aspire in the selection of public servants in high office. As someone mentored by the aspiring Presidential candidate Giuliani, we have to ask whether Rudy deliberately chose someone of such low character to mentor and whether Kerik’s conduct is a reflection of the standards of the candidate himself. Alternatively, we should question whether Giuliani is simply a lousy judge of character and his mechanisms for selecting his “team” are so flawed that they cannot ferret out the corrupt and the incompetent. In either case, Giuliani presents the clear prospect of following in the footsteps of George W. Bush. As the campaign manager for Presidential candidate John McCain (a candidate with credibility problems of his own) stated: “A president’s judgment matters, and Rudy Giuliani has repeatedly placed personal loyalty over regard for the facts.”

Giuliani rides a wave of popularity based upon an almost mythical public image of leadership following the Twin Towers disaster of September 11 in the city he governed. Yet the image is more myth than reality. Although it is true that Giuliani took charge immediately after the attack and helped to coordinate rescue operations, his role looked larger than life more because of its contrast with the ineptitude of President Bush than because of any extraordinary action of Giuliani himself. Following the disaster, history shows that more than 5 years later the huge amounts of charitable funds raised for the benefit of victims have still not reached the intended recipients, much having been diverted by opportunistic public and private schemers. The proposed memorial to those who died in the attack and the rescuers who gave their lives attempting to help survivors is still unfinished.

How great, then, are the actual talents of Presidential candidate Giuliani? Are we being fed a candidate of substance, of another figure that is essentially no more competent that Bush and similarly surrounded and supported by hype, cronies, incompetent loyalists and “spinmeisters?” Will the public again fall for the GOP formula that amounts to MOS?