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G.O.P. Official Complains About First Lady's Use of Jet
http://www.nytimes.com/library/politics/camp/012700sen-ny-den.htm
NATIONAL
New York Region
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$15
January 27, 2000
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G.O.P. Official Complains About First
Search
Lady's Use of Jet
Find what yo
Enter it here!
By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN
A
Republican congressman accused Hillary Rodham Clinton
yesterday of putting politics ahead of official United States
Shop by :
business by appropriating an Air Force jet that had been
Select
scheduled for use by a Congressional delegation to Latin America.
Shop heal
Representative Cass Ballenger of North Carolina said that his
Select
delegation was forced to take two six-seat Air Force jets on the trip
Shop by b
to Central and South America last week because a 14-seat jet that he
- Select
had reserved was taken by Mrs. Clinton's staff for a political trip to
New York City and Buffalo..
ASK OUR
The expenditure of government resources is a complicated matter
Nutritionist
for both Mrs. Clinton and her likely opponent in next year's Senate
Medical Direc
race in New York, Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani. Both Mrs. Clinton
Personal Train
and Mr. Giuliani have security and governmental staffing needs
HEALTHN
even when they are traveling as political candidates to campaign or
raise money. Their aides have traded accusations in recent months
Get Rid of Art
Nutrient Profi
about the use of governmental resources for campaign events.
Eating Disord
Evening Primr
By law, the expenses must be shared by the appropriate government
Advertis
agency and the candidates' campaign committees. The expenses and
reimbursements to the government by the campaigns are supposed
to be included in the semiannual expense filings required by the
Federal Election Commission.
The Giuliani campaign and other New York Republicans, including
the state party chairman, issued statements criticizing Mrs. Clinton
about the airplane but offered no evidence of wrongdoing. Howard
Wolfson, Mrs. Clinton's spokesman, referred questions about Mr.
Ballenger's complaint to the White House, but also accused Mr.
Giuliani of using City Hall staff members for campaign work.
Jim Kennedy, a spokesman for the White House, said: "Any
suggestion that the first lady or the White House directed that they
be bumped to a smaller plane is absolutely false, and in fact, if we
had known that Congressman Ballenger and his wife were having
trouble getting a bigger plane, perhaps we could have helped. He
should have called."
1 of 2
1/27/2000 8:27 PM
G.O.P. Official Complains About First Lady's Use of Jet
http://www.nytimes.com/library/politics/camp/012700sen-ny-dem.htm
The complaint raised by Mr. Ballenger involves Air Force jets from
the 89th Air Wing that are used for top government officials,
generals and other dignitaries.
But because the 89th Air Wing operates a large pool of aircraft,
White House officials said, it was impossible to know if the plane
Mr. Ballenger had reserved was the same one assigned to Mrs.
Clinton for her trip to New York.
Higher level officials are typically given priority when it comes to
using the aircraft, Mr. Ballenger said. "A senator can get a plane
immediately," Mr. Ballenger said. "You have to have three
congressman before you can get a plane."
Mr. Ballenger said that in late November, he requested the 14-seat
plane for a trip that involved touring areas of Venezuela that had
been devastated by mudslides and attending meetings about
antidrug efforts in Colombia, Mexico and Guatemala. Three other
legislators, two staff members, and Mr. Ballenger's wife, who has
done charity work in Latin America, also went on the trip.
Mr. Ballenger said a member of his staff called him in North
Carolina on Jan. 13, three days before the trip was scheduled to
depart, to say, "The bad news is Mrs. Clinton took your plane."
"It really teed me off," Mr. Ballenger said. "Why in the world
couldn't she have taken one of the little planes to New York?"
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2 of 2
1/27/2000 8:27 PM
GOP Rep. accuses Mrs. Clinton of appropriating jet
wysiwyg://66/http://www.newsday.com/ap/mmpmt0z.htm
TOYOTA
Top News
GOP Rep. accuses Mrs. Clinton of
appropriating jet
Sports
WASHINGTON (AP) - Hillary Rodham Clinton's air
Lotteries
travel again came under fire on Wednesday, this time from
a Republican congressman who says the first lady
International
appropriated an Air Force jet he had reserved for a
fact-finding mission.
National
Rep. Cass Ballenger, R-N.C., said his delegation was
Washington
forced to fly two small Air Force planes to Latin America
rather than the one larger plane he had reserved in
Business
December. Instead, Mrs. Clinton was given the 14-seat
Gulfstream jet to fly to New York last week, Ballenger
Wall Street
said. There she made campaign appearances in New York
City and Buffalo.
Entertainment
As a result of the Congressional delegation being forced to
Health/Science
fly two planes, taxpayers were billed thousands of dollars
in extra costs, Ballenger said. The trip ended Jan. 22.
Regional
"It tees me off that here we were on legitimate United
States business important to the country and yet she gets
the plane for her own political purposes," Ballenger said
Wednesday. "It doesn't seem fair to me."
Mrs. Clinton's campaign spokesman, Howard Wolfson,
said Ballenger's information was wrong, but said he could
not elaborate because he is restricted from discussing
issues affecting the first lady's security.
The campaign of Mrs. Clinton's most likely rival, New
York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, wasted no time in
attacking the travel, calling on Mrs. Clinton to reimburse
taxpayers for the extra costs involved in the Latin
American trip.
"The extraordinary and unethical expenditures borne by
the taxpayers were incurred because Mrs. Clinton insists
on running for the Senate in a state where she has never
lived, worked or paid taxes," Giuliani campaign
spokeswoman Kim Serafin said.
The first lady, an expected Democratic Senate candidate in
New York, recently moved to a newly purchased home in
Westchester County.
She came under fire last year for using government jets for
campaign-related events. On the advice of Secret Service,
I of 2
1/27/2000 8:29 PM
GOP Rep. accuses Mrs. Clinton of appropriating jet
wysiwyg://6/http://www.newsday.com/ap/rmmpmt0z.htm
her campaign is continuing to use government aircraft and
has said it will reimburse taxpayers for the costs of
political travel at the rate of first class commercial airfare.
That commercial rate is below the actual costs of
government travel, which is estimated at running between
$4,600 an hour to more than $7,200 an hour.
Pentagon spokesman Jim Turner declined comment about
the latest flap Wednesday over military aircraft. "The
bottom line is to call her press office. We don't comment
on her activities," Turner said.
Ballenger's delegation traveled to flood-ravaged
Venezuela to discuss disaster aid, and to Colombia,
Mexico and Guatemala to talk about drug-interdiction
efforts. On the trip were Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind., Rep.
Bill Delahunt, D-Mass., and Rep. Sam Farr, D-Calif.
Ballenger's wife, two staff members and two military
escorts were also on the trip. Ballenger said his wife came
along because she is fluent in Spanish and has done
extensive volunteer work in Latin America.
Ballenger's complaints were first reported in the New
York Post.
AP-ES-01-26-00 1553EST<
Copyright © Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may
not be published. broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Home I Top of Page
2 of 2
1/27/2000 8:29 PM
For Immediate Release
Contact: Howard Wolfson
February 9, 2000
Karen Finney
(212) 239-2000
Karen Dunn
RUDY LAUNCHES THE LATEST IN A
STRING OF FALSE, NEGATIVE ATTACKS -
THIS TIME ABOUT HILLARY'S RESPECT
FOR RELIGION
NEW YORK - Today, Hillary Clinton responded to a fundraising letter attacking her
respect for religion, signed by Rudy Giuliani and targeted to religious conservatives.
"As a person of faith, I am appalled that he would make false statements about me and
my respect for religion in order to raise money for his campaign," Hillary said today in
Rochester.
Giuliani writes in his letter, " Hillary Clinton further revealed her hostility towards
America's religious traditions when she attacked Gov. George W. Bush's idea that we
should look toward America's faith-based charities more than government programs to
address social problems." (the letter is posted on the Village Voice web site)
In fact, the Mayor is wrong -- Hillary Clinton never attacked Bush's proposal. Hillary
supports using religiously affiliated or faith-based charities to provide social programs if
it is done within the Constitutional framework.
"I am outraged that he would inject religion into this campaign in any form whatsoever.
And to do it in a way designed to raise money for his campaign is something he should
take responsibility for, " Hillary said.
Hillary is a devout Methodist. As First Lady, Hillary has traveled nationally and abroad
to promote freedom of religion and tolerance for religion everywhere. In 1996, she was
honored by the General Conference of Methodists as the keynote speaker where Bishop
Richard B. Wilke placed her at "the forefront for the spiritual formation and nurture of
children" and called her "an advocate of concerns dear to The United Methodist Church."
This week, while Hillary has traveled through New York, announcing proposals that will
bring jobs upstate, make health care more affordable, and improve education for our
children, the Mayor has waged a relentlessly negative campaign of attacks. According to
today's Daily News, the Mayor has launched a "string of attacks that his aides said are
intended to raise questions about Clinton's character as she unrolls major policy
initiatives in the campaign."
###
The New York Observer
http://www.nyobserver.com/pages/conason.htm
THE
NEW YORK OBSERVER
@ 2000 THE NEW YORK OBS ERVER INC.
OPINIONS
Feuding Republicans Ready for New Battle
by Joe Conason
Now that Hillary Rodham Clinton has declared her
candidacy, voters can expect substantive discussion of
important issues-like why her handlers played an
JOE CONASON
uncensored Billy Joel album at her announcement rally, and
why her campaign video mentioned that she cooks omelets
and tosses salads, and why her bumper stickers and buttons
With the
refer to the candidate by her first name instead of her full
married name.
possible
re-emergence
All of these shocking departures from normal political
of
behavior are newsworthy, of course, but there are other
Representative
aspects of the Senate campaign that deserve attention. Such
Rick Lazio as
as the continuing feud between Mayor Rudolph
a senatorial
Giuliani-who is expected to be the Republican senatorial
nominee-and Gov. George Pataki, who is supposedly
contender,
supporting the Mayor.
history is
repeating
Not all of the indications of that continuing estrangement are
itself.
quite as obvious as the recent remarks by Conservative Party
leader Michael Long, who more or less warned Mr. Giuliani not to run at all. Mr.
Long once again has begun to promote the candidacy of Representative Rick Lazio
of Long Island, a maneuver thought to have been put down months ago at the
command of Mr. Pataki. Since Mr. Long's little party depends on the Governor for
patronage, he seems unlikely to be encouraging Mr. Lazio without at least tacit
permission from Albany.
Why would Mr. Pataki and his minions seek to undermine the Mayor, just when
Mrs. Clinton seems to be improving her position against him in the polls? The
simplest answer is that Mr. Giuliani and his enemies in his own party have never
really reconciled.
Local maneuvering in the Presidential campaign has offered fresh evidence of ill
feeling within the state Republican Party. A few weeks ago, the Mayor criticized
state Republican leaders-and implicitly the Governor-for their underhanded
scheme to block Senator John McCain from the March 7 primary ballot in New
1 of 3
2/9/2000 12:04 PM
The New York Observer
it:p://www.nyobserver.com/pages/conason.htm
York. Coming from a prominent endorser of Gov. George W. Bush of Texas, the
Mayor's blast was doubly embarrassing to Mr. Pataki, whose aspirations to Vice
Presidency have been endangered by the ballot-access fiasco.
Those aspirations will be dealt another slap by Mr. Giuliani soon, when he
welcomes the Governor's chief rival for the Vice Presidential nomination to the
city. That would be Gov. Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania, who has been invited by
some mischievous person to deliver the keynote address at the G.O.P.'s annual
Lincoln Day dinner in Manhattan. The Mayor may look dour, but nobody can say
he doesn't have a wonderful sense of humor.
It is safe to assume, however, that Mr. Pataki is not amused-and that his feuding
with Mr. Giuliani is encouraged by powerful figures on his staff who remain close
to former Senator Alfonse D'Amato. It is equally likely that Mr. D'Amato, whose
intense dislike for the Mayor dates back well over a decade, doesn't relish the
notion of his old adversary becoming senator. In their conflict, Mr. Giuliani has
always played the role of principled public servant, brushing back the demands of
Mr. D'Amato, the sleazy politician. A decade ago, he exposed Mr. D'Amato's
attempt to win leniency for two Mafia defendants, and things have never been quite
the same between them since. Mr. D'Amato answered by mounting a Republican
Party primary challenge to damage Mr. Giuliani in the 1989 mayoral race, clearly
preferring a Democratic victory to the prospect of a mortal enemy in City Hall.
So with the possible re-emergence of Mr. Lazio as a senatorial contender, history is
repeating itself-but there is no tragedy here, only farce. Having doled out
patronage to his friends in the Liberal Party and other special interests for the past
several years, Mr. Giuliani is no longer quite the shining reformer he once seemed
to be.
As for Mr. Long, his outrage about Mr. Giuliani's "liberalism" appears rather
selective. The Conservative boss has voiced no qualms about supporting Mr.
Pataki, whose positions on such matters as abortion and gay rights seem scarcely
different from those held by the Mayor.
Perhaps, as his supporters suggest, Mr. Giuliani will ultimately be helped more
than hurt by the enmity of Messrs. Long, Pataki and Amato. Perhaps the
presence of a Conservative candidate in the race will highlight his credentials as a
moderate, even as he exploits the Clinton-hating extremism of the far right.
Certainly, that strategy would make the best of a bad situation. But it will leave the
Republicans in severe disarray come November, when the party's Presidential
nominee is almost certain to appear on the Conservative Party line while its
senatorial nominee may not.
And as the Mayor surely knows, no Republican has won statewide office without
the Conservative line since 1974. Historical trends since then show that the minor
party could tally more than 8 percent of the vote this fall-more than enough to
lose what currently looks like a very close election.
2 of 3
2/9/2000 12:04 PM
The Village Voice: CityState: Romancing the Right
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0006/barrett.shtml
IVOICE
'article search
go
Ingring
bereness
citystate
Published February 9 - 15, 2000
cityster
spec
letters
meching ###
ROMANCING THE RIGHT
BY WAYNE BARRETT
by missor
Rudy's Secret and Saintly Letter Hits Home in the Heartland
sports
Read the actual letter from Giuliani.
as
thereis
My dad died on Martin Luther King Day. A nuclear physicist with patents on
dinner
irradiated hardwood flooring and foods, he had his own company in
film
Lynchburg, Virginia, where he raised six children and, like most of his
moste
neighbors, saw himself as a Reagan Republican. Twenty-one years after I
started writing at the Voice, he'd never read one of my pieces. It was a
parental act of mercy.
When he got the contract to supply the gym floor at Liberty Baptist College
years ago, one of Jerry Falwell's minions suggested he make a 3 percent
contribution to the nationally prominent minister's church or school. My dad,
who took me to 6 a.m. Mass daily during Lent and put me through nearly 16
WILLS
years of Catholic education, laughed at the idea. Falwell may have run the
best of nys
town and founded the Moral Majority, but no Baptist would ever get a dime
New Yo
part and 100
from Dad.
cursors
Come
Shortly before he died, Dad got an eight-page solicitation letter signed by
your
Rudy Giuliani. An attachment, asking that contributions of up to $1000 be sent
To advertise
USI
to Giuliani headquarters at 250 Broadway, indicated that Rudy planned to
contact Jim
"travel to the Lynchburg area" and asked my father if he'd "like to be invited to
meet" him. Dad's health, more than his politics, prevented him from checking
the box.
Richard Viguerie, the right-wing direct-mail guru hired by Giuliani to carry his
anti-Hillary message to heartland donors, founded the Moral Majority with
Falwell. Viguerie launched his Manassas, Virginia-based direct-mail business
right after his candidate, Barry Goldwater, lost the presidential race of 1964.
Lynchburg voted for Goldwater seven to one. Combined with the rise of
Falwell, that kind of plurality has made my hometown the natural repository for
a swill of Viguerie mailings.
The letter sent to my father was clearly designed for Christian Coalition
Catholics and never mentioned Giuliani's positions on abortion, gay rights, or
gun control-the constellation of issues that made him acceptable enough to a
narrow majority of New York City voters to become its mayor. Neither did the
letter refer to his three-time endorsement by the Liberal Party, which gave him
his margin of victory in 1993. In fact, the only use of the word "liberal" in the
letter was as a pejorative, alternating with "far-left," "left-wing elite," "ultra-left,"
and the just plain "left," which were collectively used 18 breathless times to
describe the Clinton forces.
What may come as a surprise to even New Yorkers who have followed the
many reincarnations of Rudy Giuliani is that he is now a champion of school
prayer, as well as the posting in public schools of the Ten Commandments (or
I of 4
2/9/2000 10:05 AM
The Village Voice: CityState: Romancing the Right
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0006/barrett.shtml
maybe, in his case, only nine). "In the minds of left-wing activists like Hillary
Clinton," the letter charged, "the government can fund attacks on religion, but
apparently not pro-religious expression."
Examples of what Giuliani called "a relentless 30-year war the left-wing elite
has waged against America's religious heritage" included: "Liberal judges
have banned the posting of even the Ten Commandments in our public
schools.
"School children are harassed by school officials for praying on their own time
because schools are terrified of lawsuits by the ACLU."
Citing these examples and Hillary's "attack" on George W. Bush's "idea that
we should look toward America's faith-based charities to address social
problems," the letter assailed Clinton's supposed "hostility toward America's
religious traditions." The man who resolutely refuses to answer a question
about his own marriage advanced himself as a godly stalwart: "I think America
needs more faith and more respect for religious traditions
not less."
Just a year and a half ago, Giuliani defended a city teacher fired for leading
her 11-year-old students in prayer and asking them to accept Jesus Christ as
their savior. But the mayor said she should've been warned, not fired, adding:
"Sure, you should not pray in public school."
Though Giuliani's never spoken out on the Ten Commandments, his letter
invoked a growing fundamentalist demand, which culminated in a bill that just
passed the Colorado State Senate's education committee requiring the posting
of the commandments in all public classrooms. A similar bill was recently
proposed in New Mexico, and presidential candidates Alan Keyes and Gary
Bauer have been raising the issue on the campaign trail. The ACLU filed suit
in November against three Kentucky school systems that suddenly began to
display the commandments. It's a "heart cry" movement, claims Janet
Parshall, spokeswoman for Bauer's Family Research Council, which has
distributed 750,000 Ten Commandment book covers.
The Giuliani letter also devoted two pages to a particularly rabid rendition of
the war over the Brooklyn Museum's "Sensation" exhibit, which Giuliani
branded "an aggressively hateful anti-religion exhibit" that "desecrates the
Virgin Mary!" At the end of a passage that used the word "hateful" or
"hate-filled" three times, amid references to "pornographic" and "disgusting,"
Giuliani's letter said Clinton's "free speech" objections to his defunding of the
exhibit were rank "hypocrisy."
"I guess it's okay to use taxpayer funds to subsidize religious expression," he
concluded, "so long as it involves the desecration of religious symbols." The
mayor never revealed that he did not merely attempt to defund the exhibit, but
removed the museum's entire city subsidy. Neither did he mention that a
federal judge ruled his actions unconstitutional. On the hypocrisy front, the use
of his Brooklyn Museum position to raise millions for his campaign now turns
his earlier attack on the museum's "Sensation" profiteering into a sour joke.
Not all the letter's surprises about this new Rudy, though, involve his religious
conversion. The candidate who did all he could in 1989 and 1993 to distance
himself from the Reagan administration which had employed him-saying, "I
was never a partisan Republican; I was not involved in the Reagan election
campaign"-changed his tune in the letter: "I guess what I'm most angry about
is how the Clintons have attacked and belittled Ronald Reagan and his
legacy."
He then launched into a 10-paragraph salute to Reagan's achievements, citing
the former president's tax cuts and military buildup without ever mentioning his
budget-wrecking deficits. Giuliani even praised Reagan's "steadfast
commitment to the SDI anti-missile system" twice, signaling his own support
for this long-stymied Republican boondoggle.
"The left-wing elite opposes me," he wrote, "because I have shown that a
Republican can win elections by wide margins even in a Democratic
stronghold like New York City with a bold unapologetic Ronald Reagan-style
conservative agenda." Of course he's only won one election by a wide margin,
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The Village Voice: CityState: Romancing the Right
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0006/barrett.shtml
though with the lowest total vote in a two-way mayoral contest in 74 years.
That was in 1997, when he never mentioned his party or Reagan, ran as a
Liberal, featured his endorsement by a hundred Democrats in his television
commercial, and got the backing of the Central Labor Council. It was the year
after he maddened Republicans by making a last-minute, nominal
endorsement of Bob Dole, the Republican opposing Bill Clinton, whose crime
and budget policies he'd openly supported in defiance of the GOP leadership.
The letter also denounced Ed Koch, whose 1993 endorsement was
indispensable to Giuliani's first election, by his own account. "I can vividly
recall the 1970s and 1980s when left-wing Democratic administrations, with
their 'soft-on-crime' approach," he concluded, "allowed violent criminals and
drug lords to rule our streets."
Finally, he juxtaposed Clinton's "Big Government Socialized Medicine Plan"
with his own preference that "Americans should be able to make their own
health care choices," an indication that he has no program of his own.
Rudy managed, with one letter, to squeeze my own bisected life into a single
frame, transcending regions and time to weld together what once seemed like
antithetical politics. My first newspaper job-in 1963-was at the Lynchburg
Daily Advance, then owned by the descendants of former U.S. senator Carter
Glass. The paper's policy, inscribed on a sign in the photo lab, was that it
would not print an integrated picture, unless it was one of a cop and a
perpetrator. Only white people were born, married, and buried in its pages.
When Pennsylvania governor William Scranton opposed Goldwater in the
primaries, the paper called the moderate Republican a "pinko." Much has
changed there in 35 years, including the paper, but the city is still a citadel of
conservatism.
I never would've believed a mayor of New York could raise money there, plan
to visit, and sell himself as the man whose "tough law-and-order policies have
succeeded in making New York City great again," throwing phrases around
like "our current bureaucratic welfare state" and "putting criminals behind
bars." I never would've believed that this mayor, who ran three times in New
York City as a nonpartisan centrist, could get away now with seeking
donations from what his letter described as "exactly the kind of respected,
politically active conservative I need on my campaign team."
My father was a rigidly honest and devout man. This letter was a deathbed
con, portraying a Rudy no one in New York would recognize. Giuliani
scornfully dismisses Hillary's charge that his fundraising is tainted by
"arch-conservative" money. But this letter was sent by his Senate
committee-not, like others cited in prior stories, by an unaffiliated support
group. His own words lay bare his cynical transformation, even as he did a
record number of Sunday morning national shows this weekend presenting
himself as an anti-politician who takes only principled stands, bowing to
neither polls nor pressure.
When Tim Russert on Meet the Press ticked off half a dozen key issues that
Rudy and Hillary agree on and asked him how his mailings could nonetheless
position him as her opposite, he laughed it off. He said she ought to stop
talking about him as a member of a right-wing conspiracy then, which, of
course, she's done only in reaction to his postal assault. It is all a sound-bite
game now to Rudy, and no moral compass guides his tactics.
Read the actual letter from Giuliani.
Tell us what you think. [email protected]
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Copyright © 2000 W Publishing Corporation, 36 Cooper Square, New York, NY 10003 The
3 of 4
2/9/2000 10:05 AM
The Village Voice: Rudy's Letter, Page
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0006/barrett-letter1.shtml
28
IVOICE
Page 1 I Page 2 I Page 3 I Page 4 I Page 5 I Page 6 I Page 7 I Page 8
RUDY GIULIANI
Dear Friend,
My name is Rudy Giuliani.
You may know me as the Mayor of New York City.
I am writing to ask if you will join my Campaign Finance
Committee in my Senate race against Hillary Rodham Clinton.
I am rushing you this special TWO-WAY PRIORITY LETTER
because I need your answer immediately. Please tell me "YES"
or "NO" by
1) completing the enclosed Reply: and
2) mailing it to me using the special TWO-WAY PRIORITY
LETTER REPLY ENVELOPE I've enclosed for your convenience.
The postage is already paid. All you have to do is drop your
reply in the nearest mail box.
The Post Office assures us that I will receive your answer in
two or three days. I am very anxious to hear from you.
I know this is a long letter. But I believe a long letter is
needed for me to lay out for you exactly what's at stake in the
Senate race between Hillary Clinton and me.
The stakes in this race are truly enormous. So I hope you
will read my letter to the very end.
You and I may not have yet met personally. But your name was
given to me with the recommendation that I write to you and invite
you to join my Senate Campaign Finance Committee.
I am told that you are a pro-freedom, pro-free enterprise,
patriotic American who takes an active interest in politics.
And I am told that you are exactly the kind of respected,
politically active conservative I need on my campaign team.
Hillary Clinton is expected to raise between $20 and $30
250 Broadway. Suite 2104
New York. NY 10277-2619
Page 1 I Page 2 I Page 3 I Page 4 I Page 5 I Page 6 I Page 7 I Page 8
Romancing the Right by Wayne Barrett I Village Voice
1 of 2
2/9/2000 10:06 AM
The Village Voice: Rudy's Letter, Page 2
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0006/barrett-letter2.shtml
II
IVOICE
Page 1 I Page 2 I Page 3 I Page 4 I Page 5 I Page 6 I Page 7 I Page 8
Page Two
MILLION for her Senate race. She will have President Clinton's
entire fundraising apparatus at her disposal.
Most political observers believe that Hillary Clinton's real
goal is to use her Senate seat (if she wins) as a springboard to
run for higher office.
Millary Clinton very well could raise more money for her
Senate run than any Senate candidate in U.S. history.
I do not need to match Hillary Clinton's fundraising dollar-
for dollar in order to beat her.
But I do need to raise enough to be competitive.
Unlike Hillary Clinton, I don't have every ultra-left wing
group and pro-Big Government special interests pouring millions of
dollars into my campaign.
My only source of funds is voluntary contributions from
citizens like you who love this great nation.
If you can possibly contribute $1,000 to my Senate Campaign,
this will make you a "Founding Member of my Senate Campaign
Finance Committee.
If you can't send $1,000, but can send $500. this will make
you a "Charter Member" of my Finance Committee.
You can also be a "Sustaining Member* by contributing $250, a
"Supporting Member" by contributing $100, or an "Associate Member*
by sending $50 or $25.
Any contribution under $25 will make you a "Supporter."
The maximum amount you may contribute under federal election
law is $1,000.
I will be very grateful for whatever you are able to send -
whether it's the maximum $1,000 amount allowed under law, or
whether it's $500, $250, $100, S50, $25 or even just $15.
This is a battle between two very different visions for
America's future.
One of the clearest examples of our deep philosophical
differences was our recent disagreement over BY decision. AS
Mayor. to withdraw hard-earned taxpayer money from the Brooklyn
Museum of Art if it insisted on moving forward with its plans to
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display an aggressively hateful anti-religion exhibit
...
an exhibit which desecrates the Virgin Mary!
This exhibit included elephant dung smeared across Mary along
with pornographic body parts (female genitalia disguised as angels)
littered throughout the portrait.
This so-called "art" was one of the most disgusting attacks
on religion I have ever seen.
I do not think one penny of hard-earned taxpayer money
should go to fund such a hate-filled display.
But Hillary Clinton (along with the far-left AMERICAN CIVIL
LIBERTIES UNION) immediately attacked me for threatening the right
to free speech.
Of course, cutting off taxpayer funding threatens no one's
right to free speech.
They are perfectly free to display their hateful, twisted
anti-religion exhibit without a tax subsidy.
But what I find most interesting about Hillary Clinton's and
the Left's attack on me over this issue is their hypocrisy.
In the minds of left-wing activists like Hillary Clinton, I
guess it's okay to use taxpayer funds to subsidize religious
expression so long as it involves the desecration of religious
symbols.
In their minds, the government can fund attacks on religion,
but apparently not pro-religious expression.
This is just the latest example of a relentless 30-year war
the left-wing elite has waged against America's religious heritage.
For example:
: Liberal judges have banned the posting of even the Ten
Commandments in our public schools.
** School children are harassed by school officials for
praying on their own time ... because schools are
terrified of lawsuits by the ACLU.
** Meanwhile, the courts have made it difficult, if not
nearly impossible, for parents to protect their children
from the most vile forms of pornography on the internet
(which the ACLU and liberals defend as "First Amendment
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protected expression").
Hillary Clinton further revealed her hostility toward
America's religious traditions when she attacked Governor George W.
Bush's idea that we should look toward America's faith-based
charities, more than government programs, to address social
problems.
She thinks we need more government programs.
I say our current bureaucratic welfare state has only trapped
poor people in poverty. I say we should move away from top-down
Washington-based anti-poverty programs, and rely more on local
communities, churches. synagogues, religious institutions
. . .
and organizations like Catholic Charities, United Jewish
Appeal and the Protestant Welfare League for answers on ways to
lift the poor out of poverty.
I think America needs more faith and more respect for
America's religious traditions ...
not
less.
Another major area of disagreement between Hillary Clinton
and me is our views on the role of government.
I think government is much too big, and that taxes are much
too high.
Hillary Clinton wants more government and higher taxes.
I agree with Ronald Reagan when he said: "A government that's
big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take
away everything you have."
I do not think government can, or should, solve every social
problem.
I believe most of our social problems can be solved by
private initiative, local communities and institutions ...
if
government bureaucrats would just step out of the way.
I have seen first hand the devastation caused in New York
City by decades of left-wing policies and programs.
I have lived in New York City most of my life.
And I can vividly recall the 1970s and 1980s when left-wing
Democrat Administrations, with their "soft on crime* approach,
allowed violent criminals and drug lords to rule our streets.
I remember the crushing taxation that drove businesses along
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with hundreds of thousands of jobs out of our City.
"The cities are ungovernable," I was told. "Especially New
York City."
When I became Mayor of New York City, my first two
priorities were:
1) Restore order on the streets by putting criminals behind
bars: and
2) Slash taxes to bring businesses and jobs back to the City.
The first tax I wanted to cut was the so-called "hotel
occupancy tax," which was the highest of its kind in the country.
We cut it by 30%.
My critics said this would starve the New York City
government of much needed money.
Instead the opposite happened.
New hotels opened up.
Businesses started coming back to the City again.
Since I've been Mayor, we've cut taxes by $2.3 billion and
watched business boom in New York City.
As a result of my pro-law and order, pro-free enterprise
policies, New York City is once again America's #1 tourist
attraction.
But Hillary Clinton and the left-wing elite don't trust
people to make the right decisions for themselves.
Hillary Clinton wants government to make all the most
important decisions.
That's what her Big Government Socialized Medicine Plan was
all about.
She wanted to put America's entire Health Care System (the
most successful health care system in the world) under government
control (one-seventh of the entire U.S. economy).
Under her failed plan, government bureaucrats would choose
your doctor for you.
And, just like in other government-run health care systems
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that we see in other countries, you could be put on long waiting
lists before receiving life-saving medical treatment.
Now she says passing her failed government-run health care
plans into law will be one of her top priorities as Senator.
Unlike Hillary Clinton, I think Americans should be able to
make their own health care choices.
Unlike Hillary Clinton, I trust the American people (far more
than Washington) to spend and invest their own money wisely.
Unlike Hillary Clinton, I don't think taxpayer money should
be wasted on so-called "art" that seems deliberately calculated to
offend religious people.
I guess what I'm most angry about is how the Clintons have
attacked and belittled Ronald Reagan and his legacy.
The Clintons behave as though the 1980s were dismal, and as
if the Clinton Administration is responsible for the tremendous
prosperity we have witnessed over the last 17 years.
They give no credit to Ronald Reagan for cutting taxes and
regulations that had strangled America's spirit of enterprise.
They give no credit to Ronald Reagan for winning the Cold War
and rebuilding America's military - which made winning the Cold
War possible.
When Ronald Reagan took office in 1981, our economy was in
shambles, and Soviet Communism was on the march around the world.
I remember how the Left bitterly fought his plan to cut
taxes, from a top rate of 70% to 50%, and later to 25%.
I remember the Left's outrage when Ronald Reagan called the
Soviet Union what it was - an "evil empire."
But Ronald Reagan knew that if the West could not recognize
this evil for what it was, we could not prevail in the Cold War.
As President Reagan put it: "No weapon in the arsenals of the
world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men
and women."
I remember how the Left opposed Ronald Reagan's military
build-up every step of the way. And how they ridiculed his plans
for an anti-missile shield known as SDI.
I also remember that it was President Reagan's military
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build-up and his steadfast commitment to the SDI anti-missile
system, combined with the tremendous Reagan prosperity, that
brought about the collapse of the Soviet Union.
If Hillary Clinton gets to the Senate, she won't be just
another left-wing Senator.
She will immediately become the chief advocate of every
ultra-left cause you can imagine.
I can't beat Hillary Clinton without the support of you and
many others who believe in the time-honored values that made this
nation great
...
values and institutions that have been so relentlessly
attacked by the left-wing elite over the past three decades.
I need you on my team.
In fact, I am counting on you to help me raise the funds I
need to beat Hillary Clinton.
Our visions for America could not be farther a part.
Hillary Clinton believes in big government.
I believe in the power of individuals and getting government
out of the way.
This is shaping up to be the most expensive Senate race in
our nation's history.
The Left is furious that my tough law-and-order, pro-free
enterprise, pro-people policies have succeeded in making New York
City great again.
The left-wing elite opposes me because I have shown that a
Republican can win elections by wide margins even in a Democratic
stronghold like New York City with a bold unapologetic Ronald
Reagan-style conservative agenda.
This race will be very tough and very close.
But, with your support, I'm confident you and I can beat
Hillary Clinton. You can help me win by making the decision today
to become
** a "Founding Member* of my Campaign Finance Committee by
contributing $1,000;
** & "Charter Member" by contributing $500;
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: a "Sustaining Member" by contributing $250;
** a "Supporting Member" by contributing $100;
** an "Associate Member" by sending $50 or 25;
Any contribution under $25 will make you an official
"Supporter" of my campaign.
The maximum amount you may contribute under federal election
law is $1,000.
I will be very grateful for whatever you are able to
contribute whether it's the maximum $1,000 amount allowed under
law, or whether it's $500, $250, $100, $50, $25 or even just $15.
What's crucial is that you do your best to send support in
some amount.
So my question to you is: Will you support me?
Please let me know immediately if I can include you as the
newest Member of my Senate Campaign Finance Committee.
Frankly, I'm counting on you.
Please rush my Senate Campaign the largest contribution you
can today. I am very anxious to hear from you.
Thank you so much.
Sincerely,
Tonday Rudy Giuliani
P.S. I must raise $15-$20 million to beat Hillary Rodham Clinton
in the Senate race of the decade. My only way to do this is with
your help, and the support of many other pro-free enterprise, pro-
freedom Americans.
I need you on my team because this campaign is not just a battle
between me and Hillary Clinton: it's a battle between two very
different visions for America.
By using the special TWO-WAY PRIORITY LETTER REPLY ENVELOPE I've
enclosed for you, your contribution will reach me in two or three
days. I will then immediately add your name to my Senate Finance
Committee. I cannot thank you enough for your support.
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