Posted by
Michael A. Minton on Friday, December 14, 2007 6:25:00 AM
Republican frontrunner Rudy Giuliani has stepped down as chairman of his consulting firm, Giuliani Partners, after months of being hounded by the press as to whom his clients were, and exactly what role the former mayor played in the partnership. He is being replaced as chairman by childhood friend Peter Powers, according to Fox News.
Giuliani apparently earned about $4 million last year for his efforts, and will retain his equity stake in the company.
So, one may wonder, exactly who did this consulting firm consult with/for? While Critics accuse him of hiding his business dealings because he won't release a client list or describe his work at the firm, Giuliani contends that, due to the sensitive nature of the business, some companies just don’t want their names out in the public eye, so to speak.
One client of Giuliani’s consulting firm has been identified in published reports as the country of Qatar. That’s right, the very country accused of helping to hide 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Well, that is, until Qatar became a U.S. ally in the War on Terror.
The list of Giuliani’s clients also includes airlines, Purdue Pharma L. P., the makers of the controversial painkiller OxyContin, energy companies, and his firm, Bracewell & Giuliani, has even represented an American subsidiary of an oil company controlled by Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president.
And, according to the Fox News website, although aides say Rudy hasn’t been involved in day-to-day operations of the company in months, “The firm's Web site listed him as chairman as recently as last month.”
In the Fox article, Giuliani claims, "Everything I did at Giuliani Partners was totally legal, totally ethical," he said. "There's nothing for me to explain about. We acted honorably, decently." Sounding a little defensive there, Mr. Mayor. Which is understandable for a man with connections to a country with ties to terrorism, and a dictatorship who has called our president “the devil.”
Fox news quotes Democratic National Committee spokesman Dag Vega as saying, “Given that he still has a financial stake in Giuliani Partners and it's managed by his childhood friend, Rudy is not going to get away with covering up his ties to shady clients like the government of Qatar, the pharmaceutical industry, and Hugo Chavez.”