'Politico' Gets Scoop on Giuliani: He Charged Visits During Affair to NYC

By: E&P Staff His friend Bernie Kerik had his Ground Zero "love nest." Now Politico, the D.C. newspaper and Web site, reveals today that as New York mayor, Rudy Giuliani "billed obscure city agencies for tens of thousands of dollars in security expenses amassed during the time when he was beginning an extramarital relationship with future wife Judith Nathan in the Hamptons, according to previously undisclosed government records.

"The documents, obtained by Politico under New York?s Freedom of Information Law, show that the mayoral costs had nothing to do with the functions of the little-known city offices that defrayed his tabs, including agencies responsible for regulating loft apartments, aiding the disabled and providing lawyers for indigent defendants. At the time, the mayor?s office refused to explain the accounting to city auditors, citing "security.'

"The Hamptons visits resulted in hotel, gas and other costs for Giuliani?s New York Police Department security detail."

An excerpt of the lengthy Ben Smith article follows. It is all at www.politico.com.
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Many of the receipts are from hotels and gas stations on Long Island, where Giuliani reportedly began visiting Nathan?s Southampton condominium in the summer of 1999, though Giuliani and Nathan have never discussed the beginning of their relationship.

Nathan would go on to become Giuliani?s third wife, but his second marriage was officially intact until the spring of 2000, and City Hall officials at the time responded to questions about his absences by saying he was spending time with his son and playing golf.

The receipts have languished in city files since Giuliani left office, apparently in part because of City Hall's decision to bill police expenses to a range of little-known city offices.

"There is no really good reason to do this except to have nobody know about it," Carol O'Cleireacain, a Brookings Institution senior fellow who was budget director under Giuliani's predecessor, David Dinkins, said of the unusual billing practices.

A Giuliani spokeswoman, Sunny Mindel, declined to comment on any aspect of the travel documents or the billing arrangements.

A Giuliani aide who would speak only on the condition of anonymity denied that the unorthodox billing practices were aimed at hiding the expenses, citing "accounting" and noting that they were billed to units of the mayor's office, not to outside city agencies.

The aide declined to discuss Giuliani's visits to Long Island.