NY Daily News: New Twist in Tryst Flap; Campaign's defense unravels --->>>

[Stephanie]

Bootygate gets worse for Rudy.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2007/11/30/2007-11-30_rudy_giuliani_campaign_team_backtracks_o.html


Rudy Giuliani campaign team backtracks on tryst talk
BY DAVID SALTONSTALL and MICHAEL SAUL
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Friday, November 30th 2007, 4:00 AM

The uproar grew Thursday over expenses for Rudy Giuliani's protection during his trysts with Judith Nathan as his campaign's initial defense - that its accounting methods were the same as previous mayors' - unraveled.

Joe Lhota, a deputy mayor in Giuliani's City Hall, told the Daily News Wednesday night that the administration's practice of allocating security expenses to small city offices that had nothing to do with mayoral protection has "gone on for years" and "predates Giuliani."

When told budget officials from the administrations of Ed Koch and David Dinkins said they did no such thing, Lhota caved Thursday, "I'm going to reverse myself on that. I'm just going to talk about the Giuliani era," Lhota said. "I should only talk about what I know about."

***

Former Mayor Ed Koch and City Controller William Thompson, along with budget officials from the Koch and Dinkins eras as well as independent budget experts, described the bookkeeping practice as shoddy and wrong.

"It's simply an effort to fool the public," said Koch, a longtime Giuliani critic and supporter of Clinton. "I haven't got the slightest idea for his motivation other than it appears he wanted to disguise it so people wouldn't know what was happening. It's asinine."

Thompson, a Democrat, said the accounting practice "does not promote open government."

"It's not the way you want to see expenditures handled," Thompson said. "It creates just a more opaque, more difficult situation to track and to follow."

Dinkins declined Thursday to comment, but Carol O'Cleireacain, who served as his budget director, said Giuliani officials scattered expenses because they "didn't want anybody to know about it."

"This was the least transparent administration in a very long time," she said. "I have no trouble saying that."

[havocmom]

1. Thanks Stephanie. Good to keep this as a topic of discussion around water coolers in America

It give a rather good illustration of how GOP pols have their henchmen deceive and hide what they do. Since is also has that sex element, people pay attention. Some of them will be able to have those Ah HA! moments where they will connect a few dots and notice trends about how little the GOP really thinks of them.

[aquart]

2. So, basically, he was a mayor like Bush is a president?

Deceiving, lying, distracting, and embarrassing.

[madrchsod]

3. otherwise a modern republican politician....