Rudy Giuliani

I thought this was going to be a simple one to write. I hadn't heard much about Giuliani and the poor, other than that he is not the most compassionate person and that he instigated a crackdown on crime that included a crackdown on the homeless. When I started doing research, however, I found that there are two sides to the story, and his work in addressing poverty issues while in office was more significant than I had been led to believe. That doesn't mean he did the right thing, or that he even really cares for the poor. Just that I judged quicker than I should have.

But I'll let you decide for yourself.

What does Rudy Giuliani think about helping the poor?

Political History

Rudy Giuliani was Mayor of New York City for two terms, from 1994 to 2001.

• Started a “workfare” program even before national welfare reform was passed. In the first year of reform 20% of welfare recipients were cut off due to fraud. Over the course of reform the number of New Yorkers on welfare was reduced from over 1,100,000 to under 500,000.¹ All welfare offices were converted into job centers and able-bodied recipients were required to work at least 20 hours/week to get benefits. According to some sources, 100,000 welfare recipients are finding jobs every year.² Many opponents saw the improvements as cosmetic and felt that real opportunity did not occur for those in the workfare program. ³
• In 1999, began a crackdown on homelessness, increasing police activity against homeless people who were breaking the law and requiring able-bodied, mentally stable adults in shelters to work. Some activists complained of massive harassment without cause of the homeless population.⁴ Giuliani defended the police work as a compassionate program to address the specific needs of the homeless.⁵ Some sources claimed that homelessness decreased, and gave credit to Giuliani’s reforms in city programs and shelters.⁶ Others claimed that the homeless population in NYC increased by 50% from 1998 to 2002.⁷
• Despite the major downturn in welfare enrollment, the poverty rate did not change significantly while Giuliani was in office. However, certain segments of the population may have become less vulnerable to falling back into poverty.⁸
• Set up Heath*Stat in New York City, a program designed to ensure that everyone who was eligible for health care would actually get it. In the next year, 140,000 New Yorkers were enrolled in health care programs as a result.⁹
• Strongly defended the “zone of protection” for all undocumented immigrants in New York who were seeking the protection of the police, receiving medical care, or trying to enroll their children in school.¹⁰
• Reformed foster care system to increase local control, campaigned for permanent homes for foster kids, and took credit for a 65% increase in adoptions that occurred in his second term.^{11 12}
• Final State of the City address included plans for a new foster parent drive, new adoption goals, several funded initiatives for increasing enrollment in health care plans, subsidized jobs for people whose welfare time was expiring, and a $1.2 billion housing plan.¹³

Statements About the Poor

"When I was running for Mayor of New York City in 1992, thinking about the things that I would do, I remember seeing a report that New York City had 1 million or 1.1 million people on welfare and there was a projection that the number was going to go to 1.5 million people. And here was the answer of the City of New York, there wasn't a single suggestion about what to do about it except one thing, go to the federal government and get more money for it. In other words, let's accept that there will be 1.5 million people on welfare. Let's not consider the damage done to them. Let's not consider the damage done to our society. But let's go get the money and subsidize it and support it. We felt that we had to do something about it, that we had to do something to address the problem and to say, maybe we're doing it because we're so guilty we don't know how to deal compassionately and lovingly as mature adults with a social problem because we need a group of people dependent on us. I really don't know, but there is something perverse about this."¹⁴

"The way we approach welfare reform in New York City has two components…First, we make sure that somebody is actually, honestly qualified for the benefits and isn't cheating or exaggerating. If you are qualified for the benefits, you'll get the benefits. The second thing we do is say, if you are able bodied, and you don't have very young children, and you can't find a job, we will put you to work. We will find work for you."¹⁵

"We've got to re-establish over and over again, the social contract, for every benefit an obligation, that for everything you get there is something you have to give back. We have got to be willing to treat social problems as if everyone is your child, everyone is your relative. You wouldn't just want them to be dependent the rest of their lives. You would want to get them back to work."¹⁶

"Whatever the case, letting people lie there so that they're problems get worse is not the answer. It's not compassionate, and it's not humane. We need to reach out to these people and help them address their problem. That's what a compassionate society does. It doesn't let people lie deteriorating on the streets and say, like we did in the 1980s and much of the 1990s, 'People have a right to sleep on the streets.' Where does the right to sleep on the streets come from? It doesn't come from anywhere. It isn't in the Constitution of the United States. It certainly isn't a right you would invoke if one of your relatives were sleeping on the streets. You wouldn't want your relative to sleep on the streets. If one of your relatives were sleeping on the streets you'd do something about it. But if it's some person you don't know, it's easier to just pass by and think to yourself, 'Well, they have a right to sleep on the streets.'"¹⁷

"But we think differently. When the Police-because they are the people the City has out on the streets every day-see someone lying on the street, they should engage that person and try to help them. Despite the propaganda you've been hearing, that is precisely what they're doing. Your Police Department is doing for homeless people what this City should have been doing for homeless people in the 1980s and in the early 1990s, and for a long time before."¹⁸

"We have limited government in America, we're not supposed to intrude into people's family lives and personal lives, and it's worked really well and we shouldn't change it. But something here has broken down really, really bad. 70 percent of long-term prisoners and 75 percent of adolescents charged with murder grew up without a father. So, I guess if you wanted a social program that would really save these kids, a lot better than the City of New York, the United States Congress, the Social Welfare Agency and Administration for Children Services, I guess the social program would be called fatherhood."¹⁹

Private Life

• In 1982, argued as the Associate Attorney General that there was no political repression in Haiti under their “president-for-life” Jean-Claude Duvalier and that Haitian refugees should be returned to their country.²⁰ Duvalier was overthrown by a popular uprising three years later.
• Most of his wealth is in private holdings that he has not disclosed, so it is unclear what his net worth is. He earned $16 million last year, mostly from speaking fees, his investment firm, and his law and lobbying firm.²¹ He has recently sold his bank, which may have been worth as much as $100 million.²² His charitable giving is unclear. Giuliani critic Wayne Barrett claims that his tax returns from the 80s show almost no charitable deductions,²³ but I haven’t found corroborating evidence (and it’s clear that he has donated to charities on occasion since then).
• In 2005, Giuliani publicly stated that he was donating $20,000 to the South Asian tsunami victims while speaking at a fundraiser for that cause. It was later revealed that he was being paid $100,000 to speak at the fundraiser.²⁴ Under pressure, Giuliani later donated another $60,000 of the money to the charity. Giuliani has often accepted large speaking fees and other perks to speak at charity events, sometimes earning more than the net intake of the event.²⁵
• Supports Tuesday’s Children, runs the Twin Towers fund, works with Changing Our World, Inc. and helps raise support for the St. Vincent’s Medical Centers.²⁶ There has been controversy over his management of the Twin Towers fund.²⁷

Because of the ferocity of opinions of both sides, I suggest you take a look at a few of the sources to see why people are so divided over Giuliani. Is he finding the best solutions to really help people, or destroying their lives? Does Rudy Giuliani hear the cry of the poor?


^[1] "Transforming Welfare and Expanding Opportunity", Mayor's Weekly Column, July 9, 2001.
^[2] "Giuliani the Conservative", Wall Street Journal editorial, Feb. 27, 2007.
^[3] "Workfare and the Nonprofits?", www.sullivan-county.com, Dec. 1997
^[4] "Giuliani's Message To Homeless -- No Room For You On City's Streets
", Pacific News Service, Nov. 23, 1999.
^[5] "Addressing, not Ignoring, Homelessness", Mayor's Message, Dec. 5, 1999.
^[6] "Rudy's right and Rosie's wrong", Salon.com News, Jan. 4, 2000.
^[7] "Homelessness in America", Safety Net, Spring 2002.
^[8] "Poverty in New York, 2002", Community Service Society, September 30, 2003.
^[9] "Building on our Record of Success in Public Health", Mayor's Weekly Column, August 20, 2001.
^[10] "Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity
Reconciliation Act of 1996", Speech delivered on Sep. 11, 1996.
^[11] Biography of
Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, www.nyc.gov.
^[12] "Honoring Our City's Foster Parents", Mayor's Weekly Column, May 22, 2000.
^[13] State of the City Address, Jan. 9, 2001.
^[14] State of the City Address, Jan. 14, 1999.
^[15] "New Urban Agenda", speech delivered on Sep. 29, 1997.
^[16] State of the City Address, Jan. 14, 1999.
^[17] State of the City Address, Jan. 13, 2000.
^[18] State of the City Address, Jan. 13, 2000.
^[19] State of the City Address, Jan. 14, 1999.
^[20] "U.S. Official Finds No Repression in Haiti ", The New York Times, April 3, 1982.
^[21] "Rudy Inc., or Rudy sink?", New York Daily News, Jan. 7, 2007.
^[22] "Giuliani sells bank in presidential campaign move", www.msnbc.msn.com, Mar. 5, 2007
^[23] Rudy!: An Investigative Biography of Rudolph Giuliani, 2000.
^[24] "Giuliani fee for speaking at tsunami charity: $100k, private jet", www.rawstory.com, Feb. 16, 2007.
^[25] "Giuliani speaking fees draw scrutiny", Chicago Tribune, Feb. 7, 2007.
^[26] "Giuliani Town", Manhattan Society Report, Nov. 6, 2005.
^[27] "Giuliani to Give Money Quickly In Shift on Twin Towers Charity ", The New York Times, Feb. 27, 2002.