Perhaps I shouldn't be surprised that Roddy Flynn is so opposed to Rudy Giuliani. I am sure he figured that this is the time for Democrats to win back the White House, with the nation largely upset with the Republican Party. Then along comes Giuliani, a proven leader before, during and after Sept. 11, 2001.
The left cannot stomach the thought of such a strong Republican candidate. That is why they have to engage in revisionist history. Flynn writes that the "National Firefighter's Union" refused to invite him to their endorsement debate. It is true that the International Association of Fire Fighters refused to consider Giuliani and have criticized him. The IAFF is only one firefighting union; there is no national union. They have had problems with Giuliani well before Sept. 11 when they got the short end of budget negotiations. They have in the past endorsed some Republicans, but most of their endorsements are of Democrats, keeping in line with their AFL-CIO affiliation. It is telling that they waited six years to complain publicly, conveniently in time for Giuliani's presidential bid.
The idea that the 1994 Crime Bill was the reason for reduced crime is ridiculous. The bill was passed in 1994. According to historian Fred Siegel, even during 1993, the year before Giuliani took office, crime fell by 7 percent. In Giuliani's first year, before the crime bill went into effect, crime fell 12 percent. In Giuliani's first term, New York accounted for more than 30 percent of the national decline in crime. If anything reduced crime, it was broken windows theory policing and the CompStat computer system that tracked criminals.
Do not let anyone tell you to not believe what you already have seen.
Chris Palko Junior, School of Public Affairs
