Romney Campaign Press Release - "Giuliani Takes Liberties On His NYC Record"

"[B]oth the Citizens Budget Commission, a pro-business watchdog group, and the Independent Budget Office, a city-funded fiscal watchdog organization, said Giuliani left his successor, Michael Bloomberg, a projected budget deficit equal to or larger than the one Giuliani inherited from David Dinkins, the previous mayor." (Brian C. Mooney, "Giuliani Takes Liberties On His NYC Record," The Boston Globe, 11/16/07)

FACT: Mayor Giuliani Proposed Using Billions Of Dollars In City Funds To Build Sports Stadiums:

Giuliani Pledged Almost $2 Billion In Taxpayer Dollars To Private Stadium Building Projects For Pro Sports Teams Around New York City. "Moreover, Giuliani had a large blind spot in his Republican tax-cutting orthodoxy - publicly subsidized stadiums for professional sports teams. In 1998, he did an about-face on his plan to phase out the nation's only tax on commercial rent and proposed an extension of it to provide almost $600 million to subsidize construction of new stadiums for New York's Major League Baseball teams, the Yankees and Mets. A year later he proposed building a publicly assisted $1 billion domed stadium on Manhattan's West Side to lure back the Jets football team from New Jersey, but did not spell out the amount or source of the city's contribution. Under Giuliani, the city built ballparks in Staten Island and Coney Island for minor-league affiliates of the Yankees and Mets - at a total cost of about $110 million, the Independent Budget Office calculated." (Brian C. Mooney, "Giuliani Takes Liberties On His NYC Record," The Boston Globe, 11/16/07)

- New York City Contributed $325 Million In Taxpayer Dollars Toward The Building Of Two New Baseball Stadiums. "The Jets stadium idea died in 2005, and under Bloomberg, both the Yankees' and Mets' stadiums are under construction near the ballparks they will replace, with a total city contribution of about $325 million, the city's Independent Budget Office calculates. That's about one-fifth of the total cost of the stadiums." (Brian C. Mooney, "Giuliani Takes Liberties On His NYC Record," The Boston Globe, 11/16/07)

FACT: Mayor Giuliani Opposed A Privately-Funded Stadium Deal That Generated Hundreds Of Millions Of Dollars For New York City:

At The Same Time, Giuliani Attempted To Kill A Private Tennis Stadium Deal That Cost Taxpayers Nothing. "Paradoxically, while Giuliani was willing to put up city funds to ensure the city's two Major League ballclubs stayed in New York, he was eager to undo a major privately funded sports stadium deal, engineered by Dinkins in the waning days of his administration. Fearful New York would lose the US Open tennis tournament, a major two-week international sporting event that generates hundreds of millions of dollars annually for the local economy, Dinkins reached agreement with the US Tennis Association on a 99-year lease of city parkland if the USTA paid for a new $250 million stadium and tennis complex near the Mets home, Shea Stadium, in Flushing, Queens. Giuliani objected to the project, he said, because of a provision that could make the city liable for fines of up to $325,000 per tournament if too many aircraft from LaGuardia Airport passed over the center during matches at the US Open. That provision has never been invoked." (Brian C. Mooney, "Giuliani Takes Liberties On His NYC Record," The Boston Globe, 11/16/07)

- "While The Privately Built Tennis Stadium Went Forward, Giuliani Refused To Attend A Single Tournament While He Was Mayor." "While the privately built tennis stadium went forward, Giuliani refused to attend a single tournament while he was mayor. A few months after he succeeded Giuliani as mayor, Bloomberg applauded Dinkins for enacting 'the only good athletic sports stadium deal, not just in New York, but in the country' and ended what newspapers termed the mayoral 'boycott' by giving a welcoming address at the tournament." (Brian C. Mooney, "Giuliani Takes Liberties On His NYC Record," The Boston Globe, 11/16/07)

FACT: Mayor Giuliani Incorrectly Claims That He Cut Taxes 23 Times As Mayor Of New York:

Giuliani Actually Opposed One Of New York City's Largest Tax Cuts. "Giuliani often suggests that he alone was responsible for cutting 23 taxes, but seven of those moves were state initiatives, according to the city's Independent Budget Office. Of the remaining 16 tax reductions, Giuliani actually opposed the largest cut, which was due to come with the expiration of a 12 1/2-percent surcharge on the city's personal income tax. Giuliani proposed extending the levy, generator of several hundred million tax dollars a year, but backed down in a clash with the City Council and the tax relief took effect. (Brian C. Mooney, "Giuliani Takes Liberties On His NYC Record," The Boston Globe, 11/16/07)

FACT: Mayor Giuliani Left New York City With A Massive Budget Deficit:

Giuliani Left New York With A $2.8 Billion Dollar Deficit, Pre-9/11. "Giuliani and his campaign often say that he 'turned a $2.3 billion deficit into a multibillion-dollar surplus.' But both the Citizens Budget Commission, a pro-business watchdog group, and the Independent Budget Office, a city-funded fiscal watchdog organization, said Giuliani left his successor, Michael Bloomberg, a projected budget deficit equal to or larger than the one Giuliani inherited from David Dinkins, the previous mayor. 'Even before 9/11, the Giuliani administration was projecting the next mayor would be facing a deficit of $2.8 billion the following fiscal year that would have to be remedied,' said Ronnie Lowenstein, director of the Independent Budget Office. 'Because of 9/11, it climbed to $4.8 billion.'" (Brian C. Mooney, "Giuliani Takes Liberties On His NYC Record," The Boston Globe, 11/16/07)

FACT: Mayor Giuliani Allowed Spending In New York City To Skyrocket:

"City Spending Soared Well Above The Inflation Rate" During Giuliani's Second Term. "But in the final years of his second term, as city coffers brimmed with taxes generated by the stock market boom, city spending soared well above the inflation rate and nearly all of the surplus in his last year was spent." (Brian C. Mooney, "Giuliani Takes Liberties On His NYC Record," The Boston Globe, 11/16/07)