The centerpiece of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s campaign is his supposed leadership qualities from 9/11. But the first Director of the Office of Emergency Management under Giuliani, Jerome Hauer, disputes many of the former mayor’s contentions.
In recent days, Mr. Hauer has challenged Mr. Giuliani’s recollection that he had little role as mayor in placing the city’s emergency command center at the ill-fated World Trade Center.
Mr. Hauer has also disputed the claim by the Giuliani campaign that the mayor’s wife, Judith Giuliani, had coordinated a help center for families after the attack.
And he has contradicted Mr. Giuliani’s assertions that the city’s emergency response was well coordinated that day, a point he made most notably to the authors of “Grand Illusion,” a book that depicts Mr. Giuliani’s antiterrorism efforts as deeply flawed.
Among Hauer’s views on Giuliani:
Now from a distance, Mr. Hauer offers views of Mr. Giuliani’s management style, ones that depict him not only as highly competent and exceptionally hands-on, but also as insensitive and retaliatory at times.
Mr. Hauer, for example, recalls a conversation he had with Mr. Giuliani in 2001 when he had decided to endorse a Democrat, Mark Green, for New York City mayor over Mr. Giuliani’s own choice for a successor, Michael R. Bloomberg, a Republican. Mr. Hauer said Mr. Giuliani, upset, called up to say his disloyalty was unforgivable.
“He was shouting, ‘If you do this, you’re done … I’m going to end your career,’ or something along those lines,” Mr. Hauer said.
Another member of Giuliani’s former inner circle says –
“The core of the administration was that these guys would always pull together,” said Mr. Siegel, who once served as speechwriter for Mr. Giuliani. “Once a decision was made, that was it. There wouldn’t be any second-guessing.”
Sounds just like the current administration — which Rudy hopes to imitate should he be elected to office.
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[...] campaign is founded on years of carefully crafted dodges, myths and non sequitur arguments on his emergency management, “optimistic leadership,” foreign policy and counter-terrorism [...]
Left by The Right’s Field » NYPD: "Rudy Giuliani Doesn't Deserve to Be President"
May 30, 2007 at 1:36am