Club for Growth Releases Fourth Presidential White Paper

Washington – The Club for Growth released its presidential white paper on Republican presidential candidate New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (link or see attached). 

The fourth in a series of white papers on presidential candidates the attached report provides an extensive summary of Rudy Giuliani’s economic policies during his eight years as the mayor of America’s largest city.

“Mayor Giuliani’s economic record is not perfect but he deserves credit for the remarkable nature of his accomplishments” Club for Growth President Pat Toomey said.  “In a city long accustomed to high taxes and ballooning budgets Rudy Giuliani successfully cut taxes; kept spending below the growth of inflation and population; instituted sweeping welfare reform; privatized and deregulated many aspects of the city’s bulky bureaucracy; and fought aggressively for school choice.”

The white paper emphasizes the liberal context in which Giuliani was forced to govern. 

Although the Mayor took a number of anti-growth positions—such as his opposition to NAFTA his support for McCain Feingold and his opposition to several tax cuts—he used free-market limited-government values to turn around a faltering economy in a political environment dominated by a left-wing City Council; public sector labor unions; social welfare activists; and an unfriendly media.

“Rudy Giuliani will still need to flesh out his positions on a number of federal issues and we hope he will reconsider his few anti-growth positions” Mr. Toomey said.  “But it is impossible to ignore Giuliani’s overall commitment to a pro-growth philosophy and his executive talent for implementing that philosophy in a hostile political environment.”