AD WATCH: Giuliani Can't Dodge Kerik-Gate by Exaggerating His NYC Record

Just days after Rudy Giuliani's right-hand man and protégé Bernard Kerik was indicted on corruption charges, Giuliani is trying to distract voters from the scandal today by launching his first television advertisement of the campaign season. Called "Tested," the ad follows Rudy's pattern of exaggerating his record on a host of issues while Mayor of New York City. The ad is running in New Hampshire, not surprising considering that a New York Times/CBS News Poll out today shows Rudy trailing first place by a significant margin. [New York Times, 11/14/07]

Contrary to his claims, Rudy's record as mayor was far from stellar. New York City's spending and debt actually grew under his watch, and Giuliani continues to exaggerate his role in decreasing crime and welfare enrollment in the city.

"Rudy Giuliani's first TV ad is 'testing' just how far he can stretch the truth," said DNC spokesman Dag Vega. "Instead of exaggerating his mayoral record in a paid TV ad, Rudy should answer questions about his decision to promote friend Bernard Kerik despite knowing of his shady activities. The American people are looking for a leader they can trust, not someone who will continue the Republican Culture of Corruption in the White House."

Giuliani Rhetoric: It was a city that was in financial crisis. A city that was the crime capital of America. A city that was the welfare capital of America. A city that was in very, very difficult condition when I became the Mayor

• Giuliani Reality: New York Times: Giuliani Left Budget Worse Then He Found It. Giuliani's repeated claim that he "turned a $2.3 billion deficit into a multibillion dollar surplus" is "misleading, independent fiscal monitors said. In fact, Mr. Giuliani left his successor, Michael R. Bloomberg, with a bigger deficit than the one Mr. Giuliani had to deal with when he arrived in 1994. And that deficit would have been large even if the city had not been attacked on Sept. 11, 2001." [New York Times, 8/27/07]
  
  
• Giuliani Reality: NYC Debt Got Larger, Grew To Historical Levels Under Giuliani. By virtually every measure, NYC's debt went up dramatically under Giuliani. According to data compiled by the New York City Comptroller, the city's debt went up 30% during the Giuliani years, from $28.3 billion in FY94 before his first budget went into effect, to $40.4 billion at the end of FY01 (the last pre-9/11 figure). The same data shows that the "per capita net debt" went from $3686 for FY94 to $4628 for FY01, covering the seven Giuliani budget years before 9/11. The Daily News noted that Giuliani's budgets left the highest debt in the city's history, while the editorial board of the New York Observer wrote that "The city's annual debt service has risen from $2.8 billion to almost $4 billion since he moved into Gracie Mansion." [NYC Comptroller Comprehensive Annual Financial Report FY02, p. 261-2 (http://www.comptroller.nyc.gov/bureaus/acc/CAFR-02-pdf/III_stat_sect-file3of4.pdf); New York Daily News 12/6/01; Editorial, New York Observer, 4/23/01]

Giuliani Rhetoric: By the time I left office, New York Citywas being proclaimed as the best example of conservative government in the country.

• Giuliani Reality: Spending Under Giuliani Went Up 30%. In New York City, spending went up 30% under Giuliani as mayor, or by $9.5 billion. Even stopping the tally at the end of FY01, before costs related to 9/11, finds a 28% increase, or $8.9 billion more in annual spending then before he took office. [NYC Independent Budget Office Revenue and Expenditure Summary (http://www.ibo.nyc.ny.us/iboreports/RevenueSpending/RevandExpSummary.xls)]
  
  
• Giuliani Reality: City Independent Budget Expert: Giuliani Claim On Cutting Spending "Dubious." The chief of staff for NYC's official, non-partisan Independent Budget Office, Doug Turetsky, found this to be "a dubious claim" ["Fact-Checker," WashingtonPost.com, 10/11/07 (http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2007/10/the_mitt_and_rudy_show_lies_da_1.html)]
  
  
• Giuliani Reality: After Giuliani "Hiring Spree," More Employees, Not Less. Independent Budget Office data shows that as Giuliani was preparing to leave office in the summer of 2001, there were 249,824 full-time positions in the city government - 974 more then the 248,850 in summer of 1993 before he took office and 3041 more then the 246,783 in the summer of 1994, when his first budget went into effect. The New York Times wrote that "Mr. Giuliani went on a hiring spree, in the end leaving the city work force slightly bigger than he found it." [NYC Independent Budget Office, Full Time Positions (http://www.ibo.nyc.ny.us/iboreports/RevenueSpending/FullTimePositions.xls); New York Times, 8/27/07]
  
  
• Giuliani Reality: Giuliani Claims About Fiscal Record Widely Questioned. Giuliani's claims of cutting spending have "left experts scratching their head" and "dubious" said the Washington Post's fact checkers, pointing to "unintelligible" statistics that made a "verbal smokescreen." Giuliani has variously claimed that "spending went down" 7% (with no qualifications), that it went down in relation to inflation and that it went down in relation to population growth. The reality, according to independent data and budget watchdogs? Spending increased by about 28% even before 9/11, and factoring in inflation it still increased by about 13%, outpacing inflation in five of seven years. Spending growth was also about three times the population growth. After cuts early on, his "hiring spree" even left the "city work force slightly bigger then he found it." ["Fact-Checker," WashingtonPost.com, 10/11/07 (http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2007/10/the_mitt_and_rudy_show_lies_da_1.html); Giuliani press release, 3/31/07; New York Times, 8/27/07, 10/10/07; NYC Independent Budget Office Revenue and Expenditure Summary (http://www.ibo.nyc.ny.us/iboreports/RevenueSpending/RevandExpSummary.xls); "Review of The 4 Year Financial Plan," December 2001, State Deputy Comptroller for the City of New York, p. 19 (http://www.osc.state.ny.us/osdc/rpt1002/rpt1002.pdf); NYC Comptroller Annual Financial Report for FY03 p. 280 (http://www.comptroller.nyc.gov/bureaus/acc/CAFR-FYJun03/CAFR-FY-Ending-June03.pdf)]

Giuliani Rhetoric: We turned it into the safest large city in America.

• Giuliani Reality: FBI Says Groups Misuse Its Data, Says Rankings Wrong. As FactCheck.org notes, "the FBI itself warns against drawing broad conclusions (one might even say claiming undue credit) based on these statistics. Click on its most recent Uniform Crime Report and you'll see a pop-up window that advises: 'FBI: Some entities use reported figures to compile rankings … these rough rankings provide no insight into the numerous variables that mold crime in a particular town, city, county, state or region. Consequently they lead to simplistic and/or incomplete analyses that often create misleading perceptions.'" [FactCheck.org, 10/22/07 (http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/florida_fandango.html)]
  
• Giuliani Reality: Fact Checkers: Giuliani "Exaggerates His Role" In Reducing Crime. "Rudy Giuliani touts his crime-fighting record from his days as mayor of New York, but many experts don't think he deserves all the credit he takes….independent experts and studies of the phenomenon suggest Giuliani exaggerates his role." [PolitiFact.com, 9/2/07, http://politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2007/sep/01/how-much-credit-giuliani-due-fighting-crime/]

Giuliani Rhetoric: The welfare to work capital of America.

• Giuliani Reality: NYC Lagged Behind Nation In Reducing Welfare Rolls. As of December 31, 2001, New York City had 58% less welfare recipients then it did on January 1, 1994 when Giuliani took office. This lags slightly behind the nationwide changes, which by the end of 2001 had overseen a 62% reduction from the number of recipients in 1993. ["Calendar Year: Average Monthly Recipients," US Admin for Children and Families (http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ofa/caseload/caseloadindex.htm); NY City Comptroller (http://comptroller.nyc.gov/bureaus/acc/CAFR-02-pdf/III_stat_sect-file3of4.pdf, p.267; NYC Human Resources Administration. (http://web.archive.org/web/20051108103834/www.nyc.gov/html/hra/pdf/facts1201.pdf)]

Giuliani Rhetoric: And most importantly, the spirit of the people of the city had changed. Instead of being hopeless, the large majority of people had hope.

• Giuliani Reality: Only 21% Thought City Economy Doing Better. In August of 2001, only 21% in NYC thought the economy was better then it was five years before, and 25% said it was worse. [New York Times/CBS poll, 8/5-12/01 (http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/politics/20030613_poll/20030613poll-results.html)]
  
  
• Giuliani Reality: Majority Of New Yorkers Blame Giuliani For Current NYC Budget Woes. 51% of New York City residents in a 2003 poll said that they blamed Giuliani for the city's fiscal woes, including 21% who said "a lot" [New York Times/CBS poll, 6/4-11/03 (http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/politics/20030613_poll/20030613poll-results.html)]
  
  
• Giuliani Reality: 59 Percent of New Yorkers Disapproved of Giuliani's Handling of Education. A Quinnipiac survey of 714 city voters from May 10, 1999 to May 17, 1999 found that 59 percent disapproved of Giuliani's handling of education. [Newsday (New York), 5/20/99]