Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Rudy Giuliani's 12 Commitments

Since I believe that Rudy Giuliani will be the presidential Republican nominee in 2008 election and possibly the president I am going to analyze his twelve commitments he has on his web site. I am neutral when it comes to Rudy Giuliani. Now, to his commitments.

  1. I will keep America on offense in the Terrorists' War on Us.
  2. I will end illegal immigration, secure our borders, and identify every non-citizen in our nation.
  3. I will restore fiscal discipline and cut wasteful Washington spending.
  4. I will cut taxes and reform the tax code.
  5. I will impose accountability on Washington.
  6. I will lead America towards energy independence.
  7. I will give Americans more control over and access to health care with affordable and portable free-market solutions.
  8. I will increase adoptions, decrease abortions, and protect the quality of life for our children.
  9. I will reform the legal system and appoint strict constructionist judges.
  10. I will ensure that every community in America is prepared for terrorist attacks and natural disasters.
  11. I will provide access to a quality education to every child in America by giving real school choice to parents.
  12. I will expand America's involvement in the global economy and strengthen our reputation around the world.
He did not elaborate on commitments 1, 5, and 11. I don't know if will elaborate on them in the future or leave it like it is. I think he should elaborate more on those. I am glad he is going to be on the offense in the war on terror. But how? What about Iran? He says he will impose accountability on Washington. What kind of accountability? Fiscal? Could be he says he is a fiscal conservative. Or how about having Congress keep its promises to the voters? He should also expand on what does he mean by school choice. At first glimpse this might seem self-explanatory but I wonder if he is including home schooling in that choice. I hope he does. During his term as mayor he said he created a Charter School Fund.
All in all not a bad platform. Some of the ideas could be fleshed out a little more. At least he is disclosing what he wants to do. I give him credit for that. Politicians who don't spell out their platform are just cowards. They are afraid some one (like a political opponent or a voter) will find flaws in it or make them accountable to it. Well, that is the name of the game. This is a democracy not a monarchy. Say what your platform is then defend it if you have to. A presidential candidate is not appointed by God; she has to be elected. Convince me you are the best candidate. Lecture over. Back to the mayor.
I don't think if the mayor is going to be elected president he will be able to get all twelve commitments done in the first term. If he is lucky enough to be elected again, he might get all of them done. If I were him I would start prioritizing them. Here is how I would rank them according to importance from most to least: 1), 2), 10), 4), 5), 3), 9), 6), 11), 8), 7), 12). The reader may of course rank them differently.

2 comments:

blogger said...

cross posted at-

Giuliani 2008

http://giuliani2008-blogger.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

Well, all very well, but it's too easy to publish a litany of what you commit to doing, and taking credit, without explaining precisely how.

I sure would like to hear Rudy out on #3 - I will restore fiscal discipline and cut wasteful Washington spending. And I'd like him to provide credible, independent support for his ability to do so, not just rhetoric.

We all know about Rudy's radio ad claim that during his 8-year reign he turned his inherited $2.3 billion deficit into a "multi-billion dollar surplus" by 2001 when he handed over to Bloomberg.
OK,the Wall Street boom happened on his watch and some consider it the greatest economic expansion in NYC, even US history. So, given this fact and the tax income windfall his tax cuts/ broadened taxable base generated, why couldn't this self-proclaimed astute fiscal conservative deliver balanced budgets and hoard reserves? Why did Guiliani leave Bloomberg with a $4 billion deficit, twice as large as the one he'd inherited from Dinkins?
Back in March 2001, well before 9/11, he was already being critiqued for his mismanagement after City Comptroller, Alan Hevesi, predicted an upcoming $2+ billion deficit. A 3.01 article on Rudy's Fiscal Follies in the Village Voice explained; "A year from now, when a new mayor is announcing painful budget cuts and lamenting the daunting deficits that threaten his four-year term, it will become common wisdom that Rudy Guiliani mismanaged the city's golden years".
NY State Comptroller, Carl McCall, joined NY Independent Budget Office and the Citizen's Budget Commission in criticizing Rudy's management; "The most responsible use of the record surpluses of the past few years would have been to reduce the City's mounting debt burden and build a reserve fund." Hevesi had already been vocal a year prior, commenting in Feb 2000, that Guiliani's fiscal plan "violates a fundamental principle", namely "that in good times revenues should be invested for long-term purposes."
Under Guiliani, the size of City government expanded. Headcount grew by 25,000 to 253,000, the highest in history, adding $4.2 billion in personnel costs. Spending skyrocketed in other areas, such as outsourced contracts, capital expenditure, education, law enforcement, housing, elected officials' staff, etc. and annual operating deficits were temporarily covered by prior year surpluses, with no eye to the future.
After a promising start in his first term, in the second Guiliani allowed spending to escalate to where, despite budget surpluses, NYC government was incapable of living within its means.

Michael Bloomberg inherited the city's most serious financial crisis in a decade. He has managed it since by reducing the size of government, reducing wasteful spending and raising taxes. And he hasn't sacrificed quality or efficacy - some would say he's actually improved and even innovated.

So, WHY, if Guiliani was incapable of fiscal discipline and astute budget management as Mayor of New York City, does he think he can pull it off on the much larger scale of our country?

I would really like to know the answer.