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Giuliani and the Yankees

Gwreck May 10 2007 10:29 AM

The Village Voice reports on Giuliani's dealings with the Yankees, from stadium negotiations to improper benefits to illegal gifts: http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0719,barrett,76566,2.html/full

metirish May 10 2007 10:41 AM

Hardly surprising,he's a crook and an arrogant prick.

Yancy Street Gang May 10 2007 10:46 AM

AND a wanker!

MFS62 May 10 2007 10:57 AM

And those are his GOOD points. Later

Kid Carsey May 10 2007 11:14 AM

Too long a column to read, but that caricature is drop dead funny.

Edgy DC May 10 2007 11:30 AM

That's not entirely fair to print the rings' value as collectors pieces, and not their production cost, which is where it became a gift. Making the distinction doesn't make it proper, but not making it is a distorition.

soupcan May 10 2007 11:35 AM

There's some troubling shit in there but nothing that I would say surprises me. Giuliani's reputation as being one who is not bound to the same morals he expects those around him to be is well-documented.

soupcan May 10 2007 11:40 AM

="Edgy DC"]That's not entirely fair to print the rings' value as collectors pieces, and not their production cost, which is where it became a gift. Making the distinction doesn't make it proper, but not making it is a distorition. The collectable value of the rings is a non-issue for me. This paragraph is the real issue: ]What's more troubling is that Giuliani's receipt of the rings may be a serious breach of the law, and one that could still be prosecuted. New York officials are barred from taking a gift of greater than $50 value from anyone doing business with the city, and under Giuliani, that statute was enforced aggressively against others. His administration forced a fire department chief, for example, to retire, forfeit $93,105 in salary, and pay a $6,000 fine for taking Broadway tickets to two shows and a free week in a ski condo from a city vendor. The city's Conflicts of Interest Board (COIB) has applied the gift rule to discounts as well, unless the cheaper rate "is available generally to all government employees." When a buildings department deputy commissioner was indicted in 2000 for taking Mets and Rangers tickets, as well as a family trip to Florida, from a vendor, an outraged Giuliani denounced his conduct as "reprehensible," particularly "at high levels in city agencies," and said that such officials had to be "singled out" and "used as examples." The rings are just the tip of the iceberg in that article anyway

MFS62 May 10 2007 11:55 AM

="soupcan"] The collectable value of the rings is a non-issue for me. This paragraph is the real issue: What's more troubling is that Giuliani's receipt of the rings may be a serious breach of the law, and one that could still be prosecuted. New York officials are barred from taking a gift of greater than $50 value from anyone doing business with the city, and under Giuliani, that statute was enforced aggressively against others. His administration forced a fire department chief, for example, to retire, forfeit $93,105 in salary, and pay a $6,000 fine for taking Broadway tickets to two shows and a free week in a ski condo from a city vendor. The city's Conflicts of Interest Board (COIB) has applied the gift rule to discounts as well, unless the cheaper rate "is available generally to all government employees." When a buildings department deputy commissioner was indicted in 2000 for taking Mets and Rangers tickets, as well as a family trip to Florida, from a vendor, an outraged Giuliani denounced his conduct as "reprehensible," particularly "at high levels in city agencies," and said that such officials had to be "singled out" and "used as examples." Hmmm. That's interesting. I used to work with someone whose father was a supervisor at the City Sanitation garage that cleans around Yankee Stadium. She told me that her dad was given free season general admission passes by the team. But that could have been before that regulation was enacted. Later

G-Fafif May 10 2007 10:48 PM

Great linkage, Gwreck. Thanks. (Nothing is too long to read if it's good.) While this certainly amplifies just about every assumption I hold about Giuliani's nature (a Yankee fan is a Yankee fan is a Yankee fan), there were at least three mistakes in the article that makes me wonder how much else of a more substantive nature may be off, which Rudy apologists could point to so as to dismiss all of it. --Yogi Berra was presented with newly minted replacements for lost rings in 1999 after he was lured back into the fold. Joe DiMaggio, on the other hand, died early that season, thus making it unlikely that he would need new rings. --The Mets were sure as shootin' trying to get a new ballpark before 2000. They began their quest in earnest in April 1998 when the retractable-field model was unveiled. --And, though this is a bit on the fan-pickiness side, the Mets were not "big-time losers" for most of Giuliani's tenure unless not winning four World Series is the same as losing big-time. They had three losing seasons followed by five winning seasons, two of which culminated in a playoff spot and three that had them contending until mid- to late September. Attendance topped 2.2 million four consecutive years, the entirety of Giuliani's second term, giving lie to the notion that Shea was regularly half-empty. There's a lot of valuable stuff in this piece, yet it always gives me the heebie-jeebies when non-baseball writers blow the baseball details.

Kid Carsey May 10 2007 10:57 PM

G: >>>(Nothing is too long to read if it's good.)<<< It was too long to read at work this morning. I read it tonight, the caricature still steals the show.

Frayed Knot May 10 2007 11:40 PM

tee-hee ... I get a kick out the wording in KC's posting level * and, on that note, mine becomes Wally B.!

Edgy DC May 10 2007 11:47 PM

Wally Backman, dwarf pyscho Met Wally Backman, puffin’ cigarettes Wally Backman I don't believe you, it can’t be true The way you drink, and cuss, and chew (Mercy!) Wally Backman, you play so dirty Wally Backman, with your boy Lenny Wally Backman You’re a Redneck, can’t you see? Just ask Darryl Strawberry (Arrrrrrrgh!) Wally Backman, so hostile Wally Backman, no hairstyle Wally Backman, rank-and-file 2B Wally Backman, porn moustache Wally Backman, when he plays Wally Backman, hits OK, for me But I need platoons, he only hits good right That snot-nosed okie, he likes to fight Wally Backman, never shuts his trap Wally Backman, tighter than shrink wrap Wally Backman… Don't walk away, hey… OK… If that's the way it must be, OK I guess we’ll trade your ass, you’re done We got Gregg Jefferies coming up … What do I see? We stink like week-old pee Yeah, we screwed up royally Oh, oh, Wally Backman

Willets Point May 11 2007 03:21 PM

Yard Work's take.

Johnny Dickshot May 11 2007 03:30 PM

whap

iramets May 11 2007 04:07 PM

Willets Point wrote: Yard Work's take. Fabulous. As New Yorkers, I believe it is our sworn duty to expose Giuliani's corruption, pettiness, mean-spiritness, self-righteousness, and, yes, his slavish and infantile devotion to glorifying Al-Janquizera and all All Things Yankee for the nation's careful consideration. What a total cunt he is. I think he's a scarier megalomaniac than Hillary, and that's saying something.