So much for that Rudy Giuliani photo op!
One of the two Republicans hoping to unseat Rep. Mike McMahon (D-Bay Ridge) hastily scrubbed a planned endorsement rally with the former mayor on Friday afternoon, one day after Giuliani’s one-time key aide Bernie Kerik was sentenced to four years in prison for fraud.
The so-called “America’s Mayor” apparently still backs candidate Michael Grimm, but that support was issued in the form of a press release, not the public appearance on the steps of City Hall.
“Unfortunately, there was a snag in scheduling, but it does not change the fact that the mayor endorses Michael,” Grimm’s campaign spokeswoman Susan Del Percio told The Brooklyn Paper.
She denied that the timing of the press conference — one day after Kerik, once a symbol of Giuliani’s leadership of the city, but now a disgrace, was sentenced — had anything to do with it.
“It had to do with the mayor’s schedule,” she said.
McMahon, of course, had a different take. Hours after Del Percio had initially announced the Friday press conference, the freshman incumbent’s campaign issued a statement, saying, “It’s amusing that Rudy Giuliani would pick the day that the police commissioner he endorsed to be Director of Homeland Security gets sentenced to four years in prison to endorse a new candidate.”
McMahon’s statement also said that the incumbent “remains focused on being an independent voice who works with Democrats, Republicans, Independents and Conservatives alike to do what’s best for Staten Island and Brooklyn families.”
In his own statement issued after the scrubbed photo-op, Giuliani praised Grimm in similar terms, calling the former Marine and FBI agent an agent of change who knows that “the only way to create jobs is to lower taxes and create a good environment for businesses.”
The former mayor, who, like Kerik, failed in his bid for higher office, added that he looked “forward to campaigning with him in the upcoming months.”
