Giuliani Confesses, "I'm A Big Crook"

12/31/99 After Anti-Semitic Comment, Jail-iani Admits He’s A Crook

[Excerpted from NY Times, 12/31/99]

“On Dec. 24, Mrs. Clinton's spokesman, Howard Wolfson, criticized the mayor for causing the ouster of Rudy Crew, the schools chancellor, saying that "the mayor's instinct when he disagrees with someone is to either fire them, sue them or arrest them. That won't work in the Senate...Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani scoffed yesterday at complaints from Jewish leaders who called him insensitive for saying that Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign spokesman, who is Jewish, "can't figure out how to celebrate Christmas... the New York director of the Anti-Defamation League, Howie Katz, said yesterday that Mr. Giuliani's remark "hints at an insensitivity to someone else's beliefs. There was no reason to include the remark about an individual not knowing how to celebrate Christmas who has a Jewish-sounding name...The Forward also quoted Ira Forman, the executive director of the National Jewish Democratic Council, as saying that Mr. Giuliani "proves that if you don't think exactly like he does and you don't celebrate the same holidays he does, then you are fair game for his political thuggery...At his news conference, Mr. Giuliani also responded to questions about a big fund-raiser who received special city parking privileges by joking, "That's right, I'm a big crook...The Daily News reported on Thursday that Joseph Spitzer, a Brooklyn real estate developer who raised more than $83,000 for the mayor's 1997 re-election campaign, has one of 11 special permits letting him park his 1998 Audi anywhere in the city, including no-parking zones. The permit reads "Official Business of the Mayor's Office”. When a reporter asked about it, Mr. Giuliani said: "Oh, get out of here. No, I'm not going to comment on the Joseph Spitzer parking situation. It's the silliest thing." When the reporter pressed, Mr. Giuliani said sarcastically: "Oh, my God, he's got a permit to park in the city. Oh, my God. That's right, I'm a big crook." Giuliani Scoffs at Complaints of Insensitivity About Remark -NY Times 21/31/99

RUDY TO RIKERS IN 2000!!!!

Happy New Year!

Robert Lederman, President of A.R.T.I.S.T.
(Artists’ Response To Illegal State Tactics)
(718) 743-3722
e mail ARTISTpres@aol.com
http://www.openair.org/alerts/artist/nyc.html

Last updated: January 2, 2005