A playbook for Rudolph Giuliani’s possible presidential run–with an embarrassing assessment of his roller-coaster romantic life–was filched from an aide, copied and leaked by his enemies, Giuliani’s camp charged Tuesday.
A spokeswoman for the former New York mayor said “dirty tricks” were behind a Tuesday report in the New York Daily News detailing a 140-page briefing book that included the startling statement that “insurmountable” political and personal challenges might force Giuliani to abandon a 2008 bid. Prostate cancer forced Giuliani to quit the 2000 Senate contest against Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Giuliani spokeswoman Sunny Mindel alleged that the book, tucked in an aide’s bag, had disappeared from a private jet during one of Giuliani’s cross-country trips last year.
But she would not identify any suspects or even the victim of the alleged theft. She wouldn’t say whether Giuliani, a former prosecutor, would call for a criminal probe.
“All luggage was removed from a private plane and later put back on. … One staffer’s bag was not returned,” Mindel said. “After repeated requests over the course of a few days, the bag was finally returned with the document inside. … It is clear that the document was removed from the luggage and photocopied.”
Among the possible problems the book said candidate Giuliani might face: his divorce from second wife Donna Hanover, unspecified issues with third wife Judith Nathan Giuliani, conflicts posed by his businesses and his liberal social positions.
The analysis was “simply someone’s ideas” and not an official campaign plan, Mindel said.
Giuliani never saw the book, according to a source familiar with the situation. It was annotated by Giuliani aide Anthony Carbonetti and fundraiser Anne Dickerson, who penned a section calling for a $100 million fundraising blitz in 2007, according to the Daily News.
“It’s amazing it wasn’t locked up in the headquarters. … It was sort of naive,” said an adviser to one of Giuliani’s possible Republican opponents. “If they think this is bad, they better buckle their chin straps, because as far as a presidential campaign goes they ain’t seen nothing yet.”
