February 9, 2010 · www.gothamgazette.com

Gotham Gazette

Gotham Gazette: Social Networking Print Story

Share Story


Giuliani's Not Talking on Gov Run
July 30th, 2009

It might take more than a stalemate for former mayor and republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani to run for governor in 2010.

At a breakfast hosted by Crain’s New York Business this morning, Giuliani said the state of New York State must be “so bad” before he would gear up for a gubernatorial race. When asked how bad the state of New York State is now, Giuliani gave our situation a 9 or 10 (10 being the worst-it-could-get scenario).

“The only way I can get elected governor is the way I got elected mayor — things have to be so bad,” said Giuliani this morning. “New York is in pretty bad shape. Not as bad as California. Not as bad as New Jersey. Not as bad as a few other states.” The former mayor paused. “I am talking about the economy here.”

The nearly standing room only crowd erupted with laughter.

Right now, Giuliani looks like a strong contender for the Republican party ticket. A Rasmussen poll from earlier this month, had the former mayor leading Gov. David Paterson by more then 20 percentage points. He was behind Attorney General Andrew Cuomo in a potential general election, but only by 41 to 48 percent. Of the 800 people polled, 28 percent saw Giuliani as very favorable, 28 percent said somewhat favorable and 22 percent said very unfavorable.

Much of Giuliani’s address this morning centered on run-away government spending. If he were governor, he said, he would solve New York’s fiscal crisis by drastically cutting for three to four years. Initially, he added, he would take a 8 to 9 percent slash at the state’s budget, followed by about 2 to 3 percent cuts a year.

Though Giuliani says he hasn’t “thought seriously” about running, he still got a parting shot from Greg David, editorial director of Crain’s New York Business. As this morning’s final question, David suggested, based on Giuliani’s responses at the Midtown Crowne Plaza, the former mayor may be ill-prepared for a run.

Shrugging the question off, Giuliani laughed and responded: “I thought you were going to say based on my performance today, I seem to know the issues really well.”

He then shook both moderators hands and walked off stage.

By Courtney Gross on July 30, 2009, 2:36 pm
In category: Albany, City Hall, Gotham City, Governing, Law, nextNY | No Comments »

| More

Leave a Reply