Rudy will shake up Washington
AS AN ELECTED official for many years from a bordering state that shares a major media market, it's not surprising that I've been heavily involved in many New Hampshire Republican primaries. Among others, I helped George H.W. Bush there in 1980 and 1988, and Governor George W. Bush in 2000.
Given my past participation in the presidential nominating process, most people assumed I'd jump in again this time around, and I have. But I'm doing it on behalf of Rudy Giuliani rather than my home state governor, Mitt Romney.
This was surprising to some - probably because, historically, most major candidates have enjoyed virtually unanimous support from elected officials of their party in the state they represented.
But for me it was an easy choice for the following reason: Rudy Giuliani's record of achievement in office and the fact that he is an uncommonly strong leader.
Reinventing New York City - a city that was a mess and decaying rapidly - was no small task, but Giuliani got it done. And he got it done despite having to work with, and battle with, a city council dominated by Democrats. He engineered closing a budget deficit of $2.3 billion and cutting taxes 23 times. Unemployment was cut in half with the creation of 400,000 private-sector jobs.
He reduced the tax burden in New York City by 17 percent over eight years, achieving significant broad-based tax relief including cutting the income tax. He reformed welfare, led the way to a staggering reduction in crime, cleaned the city up, and changed New York City forever in a positive way. It went from being the crime capital of the country to being one of our safest cities.
Many argued that New York City just could not be transformed. It took an extraordinarily strong leader to do so. Our country could use someone like Rudy, who will shake Washington to its core just like he did New York City.
Why not Mitt Romney? The fact is that Rudy did more, for a longer time, achieved better results, and was more fiscally conservative - something near and dear to my heart.
In four years under Romney, the tax burden in Massachusetts increased by 10 percent with no broad-based tax relief and no income tax cut. Romney promised to cut the income tax from 5.3 percent to 5 percent by the end of his term. It should have been a layup, as it was mandated by the voters in a 2000 ballot initiative, but it never happened.
And there were tax increases in Massachusetts as well, as Romney raised business taxes and vastly increased fees, amounting to billions of dollars out of the bank accounts of taxpayers and their employers throughout his term.
There is a reason the head of the free-market Club for Growth said that Rudy's economic accomplishments were "remarkable." There's also a reason the fiscally conservative
The bottom line is this: On Republican meat-and-potato issues like taxes, spending, welfare reform, and crime, Giuliani is the most conservative and accomplished candidate in this race. We need him as our party's nominee because he is a leader who has the philosophy, record, accomplishments, and consistent vision that will be needed to win the general election in November.
Paul Cellucci was governor of Massachusetts from 1997 to 2001 and US ambassador to Canada from 2001 to 2005.
