US PROSECUTORS CHALLENGE GIULIANI
Freedom Fighter
http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/
By Elizabeth Benjamin on January 24, 2008 5:09 PM
Rudy's Fellow Ex-Prosecutors Challenge His US Attny Record (Again)
The latest group of Rudy dissidents is made up of 25 New York-area former
prosecutors, who released a lengthy statement today challenging the former
mayor's assertion that he "turned around" the office of the US Attorney for
the Southern District.
"We are familiar with what goes on in New York law enforcement," wrote the
group, led off by Michael Armstrong, a former Queens DA and ex-chief of the
Southern District's Securities Fraud Unit. "We challenge Giuliani's
assessment of himself.
Giuliani's performance as United States Attorney simply does not match his
claims. In fact, we believe that the pattern of improper leaks to the media,
excessive use of publicity, and other inappropriate conduct that he engaged
in while serving as United States Attorney, together with the disingenuous
way in which he now describes his service, casts doubt, generally, on
Giuliani's credibility and judgment."
Armstrong, the contact for the group, noted similar criticisms were levied
during the 1989 mayoral campaign and subsequently picked up by Democrat
David Dinkins, who narrowly defeated Giuliani that year. He said the group
is bipartisan, although Armstrong himself is a Democrat, and also insisted
this effort isn't driven so much by politics as it is by a feeling that
Giuliani is misrepresenting the truth about his record.
"A lot of us felt that Rudy had turned the office in which we took a great
deal of pride into a public relations vehicle for himself," Armstrong said.
"He was just too interested in publicity at the cost, we felt, often of
properly following the cases."