In 1993 Memo, Giuliani Staff Gave Harsh Assessment of Flaws

Aides Wrote of His 'Weirdness Factor'
By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post

Sometimes in politics, the most damaging accusations come from your own staff.

Rudolph W. Giuliani learned that lesson again yesterday when a "vulnerability study," including warnings about his "weirdness factor" and other perceived liabilities, surfaced from his second campaign for New York mayor, 14 years ago.

Last month, the New York Daily News obtained a secret blueprint for Giuliani's expected Republican presidential bid that detailed concerns such as his liberal views on social issues and his messy divorce from his second wife, Donna Hanover.

The 1993 report by two aides in Giuliani's mayoral campaign was obtained by Village Voice reporter Wayne Barrett for a book on Giuliani and was posted on the Smoking Gun Web site. Giuliani went on to defeat incumbent David N. Dinkins (D) in a rematch that year and won a second term four years later.

Tony Carbonetti, a senior political adviser to Giuliani, said last night that the report was not "relevant" because of the former mayor's record of reducing crime and welfare rolls. "He made New York City not only governable but livable once again," Carbonetti said. "I have no concern over a pre-campaign strategy book because Rudy's going to be judged on his record."

The "weirdness" question involved Giuliani's first marriage, to his second cousin. He had his 14-year union with Regina Peruggi annulled on grounds that the Roman Catholic Church had never properly approved the marriage. The 1993 memo said that Giuliani had given a "wide array of conflicting answers" about his personal life, bringing "the soundness of his judgment" into question, but that any attempt to question the marriage or his fidelity "should be deflected as a shameless act of negative campaigning."

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