Foxes in the Henhouse by Steve Jarding & Dave "Mudcat" Saunders

Author:Steve Jarding & Dave "Mudcat" Saunders
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2006-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

Rudy Giuliani and Bernie Kerik: Enter Rudy Giuliani. He’s America’s mayor, remember? Well, really, he was first New York City’s mayor. Before September 11, 2001, Giuliani was probably best known as the mayor who had a very public mistress. But then September 11 happened.

Rudy got reinvented. In fact, Rudy was everywhere. He stood at Ground Zero. He attended over two hundred funerals. He showed up at Yankees games—it seemed like all of them—always in the front row and always wearing New York City firefighter or New York City police baseball caps. It was so overdone it was tacky.

Rudy turned himself into the face of 9/11. It was a pretty good gig. He got a reported $3 million advance to write a book on it. He pompously and presumptuously titled the book Leadership —and put his smiling picture on the cover. Then he suggested throughout the book that he personified leadership because of what he did after 9/11. We thought he was just doing what anyone would have done—showing compassion when people are hurting, doing the job you are paid to do. But he did more than that. He started giving speeches around the country, apparently making as much as $100,000 per speech. He formed companies and made millions of dollars. He started talking about becoming president of the United States.

Some thought Giuliani was taking advantage of 9/11. The columnist Tina Brown even wrote in The Washington Post, “The city [New York] has become just a tad cranky about Rudy’s naked branding of 9/11 for his own political and pecuniary ends. Increasingly, his speeches seem to turn New York’s saddest day into shtick to dramatize his own heroism.”

We think Brown is right.

In fact, even Rudy’s handling of affairs before and after September 11, including his preparedness and leadership, came under attack. The 9/11 Commission, formed to determine what really happened on and after September 11 and to help us learn how to avoid or better prepare for future disasters, was very critical of Giuliani. Their 2004 report cited a lot of evidence suggesting that there were huge gaps in command and cooperation between New York agencies in charge of emergency response.

In fact, one of the 9/11 Commission members, the former Navy secretary John F. Lehman, who served under Ronald Reagan, blasted the city for its response. Lehman particularly criticized Bernard Kerik, who was New York police commissioner on September 11, 2001. Lehman said that Kerik played games and had turf battles with the Fire Department, which “hampered the rescue efforts.” He called these failings “a scandal” and Kerik’s leadership “not worthy of the Boy Scouts.”

Perhaps Rudy should put out a second edition of his book and title it Questionable Leadership.

It got worse for America’s mayor.

During 9/11 Commission hearings in New York in May 2004, Giuliani was heckled by outraged relatives of World Trade Center victims. One woman shouted, “My son was murdered because of your incompetence.”

Sounds like a lot of Americans would like to recall this mayor.

We think Rudy Giuliani milked the September 11 tragedy way too much.

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