Rudy Giuliani: Making Friends in the Epicenters of Gangster Capitalism

Posted by Steve M., No More Mister Nice Blog at 5:09 AM on July 21, 2008.

Yesterday we learned that Mr. Noun Plus Verb Plus 9/11 isn't quite dead politically:

Rudy Giuliani is launching a new fund-raising committee to dole out cash to New York GOP candidates -- a move that could help him collect political chits as he weighs a run for governor, The Post has learned.

...Sources close to Giuliani said the state fund-raising venture is simply "him keeping his options open" for his future. But several sources say the former mayor is eyeing a gubernatorial run in 2010....

Today we learn that he's not exactly accompanying this return to politics with a deeper focus on effective political governance:

Entering the real estate market at a time of profound turmoil, Rudolph W. Giuliani's company is planning an investment fund based on commercial and residential properties in New York and Washington, members of the venture said last week.

...The people involved in the real estate venture said the fund would focus much of its energy luring foreign investors who see an opportunity in the continuing weakness of the dollar.

... Mr. Giuliani's company is going to form a partnership with Berman Enterprises, a family-owned company based in Rockville, Md., said Jeffrey E. Berman, one of the company's partners.

...The minimum threshold for an investor to take part in the fund, which will formally be called the Berman Enterprises Opportunity Fund, will be $25 million, Mr. Berman said.

..."When we decided to put the fund together in my family, the money we wanted to go for was overseas money, and Rudy has a lot of traction overseas," he said.

Mr. Giuliani's firm has done significant amounts of business overseas, advising clients in countries from the Middle East to East Asia. In addition, Mr. Giuliani's law firm, Bracewell & Giuliani, has an office in Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan!

Mr. Berman first met Mr. Giuliani four years ago when he accompanied the former mayor on a fact-finding trip to Russia....

So clearly this is how Rudy prepared for a run for president -- by making friends in the epicenters of gangster capitalism. He obvious thought that plus saying "9/11!" every few minutes was enough to get him elected. It probably wouldn't have taken very much expertise on top of the 9/11 invocations to get the nomination -- look at John McCain now -- but he couldn't be bothered to establish even minimal competence. He was clearly much more interested in popping Cristal with guys named Yuri and Boris.

And rolling with the international playaz is clearly how he plans to prepare for a possible gig as governor.

(Don't laugh off the possibility that he'd be elected -- a recent poll shows he'd blow Mike Bloomberg away in a GOP primary for governor, and that he's trailing David Paterson, the incumbent Democrat, by only 7 points, with 13% undecided.)

Oh, and I see Rudy's still surrounding himself with experts:

At Giuliani Partners, the real estate investment fund will be overseen by Mr. Carbonetti and Geoffrey N. Hess, another managing partner....

Yup, that's the same Anthony Carbonetti who masterminded -- I don't think that's quite the word I'm looking for -- Giuliani's presidential bid, a college dropout who was working as a bartender when Rudy gave him the first of several jobs in and out of government (including delicate negotiations involving Rudy's estranged second wife and his third-wife-to-be).

Please, voters, don't let this guy make a comeback. Republicans bitch about Obama's ties to Tony Rezko? Giuliani is Tony Rezko.

Tagged as: giuliani, rezko

Steve M. is the proprietor of No More Mister Nice Blog.