Political Paper Stolen, Giuliani Camp Says
By PATRICK HEALY
Published: January 3, 2007
Advisers to former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani said yesterday that someone infiltrated the Giuliani camp last fall and stole a document about his presidential prospects and political liabilities. It was then leaked, they said, as a “dirty trick” to embarrass Mr. Giuliani and highlight such headaches as his controversial former aide, Bernard B. Kerik, and one of his ex-wives, Donna Hanover.
The Daily News was given the 140-page document recently by someone “sympathetic to one of Giuliani’s rivals for the White House,” The News said in an article published yesterday. According to the article, the document proposes a $100 million fund-raising effort for 2007, names an array of potential donors, and warns that Mr. Giuliani might face “insurmountable” problems, including questions about Mr. Kerik and Ms. Hanover.
Mr. Giuliani is expected to decide over the next few months whether to run for president, his advisers say, and he has already formed an exploratory committee to raise money.
A Giuliani spokeswoman, Sunny Mindel, said yesterday that the document belonged to a staff member and did not reflect official strategy, but “simply someone’s ideas which were committed to paper over three months ago.” Ms. Mindel said the document was apparently stolen from a piece of luggage during a Giuliani political trip last fall, then photocopied and replaced in the luggage. Ms. Mindel said she did not know if her office would seek a criminal investigation of the alleged theft.
The public disclosure of the document is potentially damaging for Mr. Giuliani, not least because since 9/11, he has built a business as a private consultant on security issues while creating an image as a political leader capable of combating terrorism. Indeed, an adviser to one of his possible rivals in 2008, Senator John McCain of Arizona, half-joked yesterday that it was interesting that Mr. Giuliani’s businesses included security consulting.
“I’m surprised that something like that would ever leave the custody of a campaign, and that such raw and frank information would be around the countryside,” said the McCain adviser, John Weaver. “That said, a lot of the information was predictable.”
The document outlines a fund-raising effort to bring in at least $25 million by the end of March, and to spend more than $21 million this year. The News said it included notations that named Mr. Giuliani’s chief fund-raiser, Anne Dickerson, and a senior political aide, Anthony Carbonetti; Ms. Mindel would not say to whom the document belonged.