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Nov 28, 2007 11:56 pm US/Eastern
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Hamptons Security Lands Giuliani In Trouble
Former NYC Mayor Addresses Issue At YouTube Debate
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
The Rudy Giuliani campaign spent Wednesday night fending off questions about the former New York City mayor's special police detail in the Hamptons, especially on how the cost was billed to the city.
"They were handled as far as I know, perfectly appropriately," Giuliani when pressed on the issue by CNN's Anderson Cooper during Wednesday night's CNN/YouTube Republican Debate.
A national debate put Giuliani in the spotlight over spotty billing practices.
Tens of thousands of dollars in security was charged to obscure city agencies, says politico.com.
"These were records that the city comptroller tried to get before and tried to get in the past but the mayor has said they couldn't be released because of security," Politico's Mike Allen said.
For example, $34,000 worth of security expenses in question are charged to the New York City Loft Board. Money was spent on the mayor's trips to the Hamptons, where then-girlfriend Judith Nathan was living.
"I had 24-hour security for the eight years that I was mayor," Giuliani said. "They followed me every place I went. It was because there were threats, threats that I don't generally talk about. Some have become public recently, most of them haven't. And they took care of me, and they handled them the way they handled them. It had nothing to do with the handling of their record."
Giuliani's campaign adding expenses like that is common practice, but the big question isn't necessarily about his security detail. It's about how the expenses were billed.
"It reinforces his biggest problem, which is not just his liberal positions on social issues, but also the fact that he's had a very messy private life," political analyst Larry Sabato said.
The billing practices reportedly drew formal attention when the city comptroller wrote to Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2002, saying one of his auditors found unexplained expenses in the loft board audit. Tthat being the security expenses in the Hamptons.
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