Rudy may have left office reluctantly after 9/11, but that didn't mean he wasn't ready to make some cold hard cash. Apparently because he happened to be Mayor on that fateful day, people thought he could provide security information. As a former prosecutor, I just do not see the connection.
However, Giuliani Partners became a very lucrative business, earning millions upon millions each year. Now that he is running for President the public is getting curious about just who were these clients and what did he do for them. Well Rudy has stayed rather hush-hush. Of course, that doesn't mean that some people can go looking for the companies in question. Finding governments like Qatar and a data mining firm in Florida. Qatar is now old news but whats this Florida thing?
From The New York Times:
WASHINGTON — Rudolph W. Giuliani’s consulting firm was hired in 2002 to help a Florida company build its business under a contract that called for Mr. Giuliani’s firm to be paid in part for lining up work with the federal government and other clients, company records show.
Federal law prohibits payment of a commission in return for a federal contract, a standard that the firm, Giuliani Partners, said it did not violate.
Oh, well I guess we should just take them at their word. Rudy's a trustworthy guy, right?
Wrong:
The assertion the firm may have skirted federal contracting rules was first raised in an article on Thursday on the Time magazine Web site. The firm’s reliance on commissions as part of its compensation from Seisint seems to be bolstered by a copy of the minutes of the Seisint board meeting from December 2002, when it hired Giuliani Partners.
The minutes cite a contract based on a finder’s fee, saying the $2 million-a-year deal was premised on payments “on commissions to be earned for sales generated by Giuliani Partners.”
Six months after Seisint hired the firm, the Homeland Security Department gave an $8 million grant that a nonprofit group in Florida used to pay for a system to help identify potential terrorists or criminals. About $5 million of the work went to Seisint, which sold access to a large database of personal information, a spokesman for the group said.
Hmm, now isn't that interesting? How convenient that a brand new company that has access to tons of personal information could get set up with some of the biggest names in the Bush Administration, including the President's own brother Jeb within a few months. By the end of the deal, Giuliani collected $25 million from the data miner. In politics, there is no such thing as coincidence, only manipulation by lobbyists....lobbyists such as Rudy Giuliani.
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