The Politco's piece demonstrating an effort by Rudy Giuliani to evade scrutiny of an extra-marital affair will once again prove the that the cover-up is worse than the crime.
And Rudy has a lot covering up to do in his effort to appeal to the bigots and the peculiar brand of American Christianity known as the religious right.
Rudy and his team gallantly tried to spin away the scandal, but refused to dispute any of facts reported.
The trouble is you cannot be both gallant and spinning. And Rudy looks desperate and equivocating, the opposite of his polical brand.
Ben Smith reports in an update:
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and his senior aides Thursday blamed anonymous bookkeepers for his administration's practice of billing the travel expenses for his personal security detail to obscure city agencies.
But a top aide was unable to say why Giuliani’s administration and his successor's rebuffed questions from the city's top fiscal watchdog in 2001 and 2002. City Comptroller William Thompson said Thursday his auditors were “stonewalled” by the Giuliani administration when they inquired about the unusual billing procedures, which he called "disturbing." ....
Politico reported that the bills included expenses incurred on 11 trips to Southampton, where the woman who would become Giuliani’s third wife had an apartment, as well as for campaign travel during his abortive 2000 Senate run. ...
In (an) interview with CBS, Giuliani referred to the Politico account as a "totally false story."
However, neither he nor his aides have questioned any of the facts reported by Politico.
Politico editor-in-chief John F. Harris said in a statement: “This was a fair and carefully reported story. We gave the Giuliani campaign ample opportunity to dispute the story or comment on our reporting before publishing and they did not do so. Since the story ran, we have not heard from the campaign disputing any substantive aspect of the story.”
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