Giuliani Lends His Star to Friend Simon

Bill Simon Jr., the Republican gubernatorial candidate who has lived in California for 11 years and never before has run for political office, on Thursday trotted out his not-so-secret weapon: the ex-mayor of a city 3,000 miles away.

Rudolph Giuliani, Simon’s onetime boss in the U.S. attorney’s office in New York City, lent his star to the man he called a “close friend.” Giuliani headlined a news conference and fund-raiser before shooting a commercial and preparing for another fund-raiser today.

At every opportunity, Giuliani praised Simon’s integrity, leadership abilities and work ethic, even comparing him with President Bush.

“He’s exactly the kind of person you want to step into politics at a time when Americans need to be inspired by the leaders they have,” Giuliani said at a packed news conference at a Century City hotel. “California cannot get a better man than Bill Simon.”

Before he was elected mayor of New York in 1993, Giuliani was the U.S. attorney for the city. Simon worked under him as an assistant U.S. attorney from 1985 through 1988, handling civil and criminal cases. Giuliani said Simon was instrumental in helping convict leaders of the city’s five Mafia families.

“He took on a lot of organized crime cases where it would not be an exaggeration to say his life was in jeopardy,” Giuliani said. Among his duties was using civil procedures to seize convicted mobsters’ assets.

Giuliani endorsed Simon last summer, when Time magazine’s new person of the year was just the mayor of the largest city in the U.S. Since Giuliani has become a national hero for his response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Simon campaign is hoping he can help catapult the little-known Pacific Palisades investment banker from the bottom of the polls into the lead of the Republican primary race. Giuliani is expected to return in the coming weeks for a tour of the state with Simon, campaign aides said.

But Giuliani has backed three major candidates outside of New York City since Sept. 11, and each has lost.

“I don’t think his New York magic transfers automatically to California,” said political analyst Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, who attended the news conference.

Asked what advantage Giuliani gives to Simon, Jeffe pointed to eight TV cameras in the rear of the room. “There it is,” she said. “When have you seen this at a Simon event, let alone a campaign event? ... It’s about getting Simon some exposure that he could never get. Giuliani’s a rock star.”

Simon campaign consultant Sal Russo said he was not expecting miracles--nor did he need them. “We don’t expect people to transfer their admiration for Rudy Giuliani [to Simon], but we expect voters to transfer their attention,” he said. Giuliani’s praise, Russo said, will help introduce Simon to voters who don’t know him.

Simon has yet to advertise on TV, unlike former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, who leads Republicans in fund-raising, and Gov. Gray Davis. The fact that Simon has yet to go on TV and has been reluctant to attack his rivals makes some question whether he is simply positioning himself to run for U.S. Senate or governor in the future.

Simon dismissed such speculation. “We are running a serious campaign and we are going to win the primary,” he said.

Russo said Simon could not advertise on television until Giuliani came to Los Angeles to record a commercial, which he did Thursday afternoon at a local studio. Russo said the ad would appear “in a matter of hours.” Television political ad rates are lower on Saturday.

Simon, the multimillionaire son of former U.S. Treasury Secretary William E. Simon, has trailed Riordan in raising campaign cash, though he is ahead of the third Republican in the race, Secretary of State Bill Jones. But Simon aides said they hoped to bring in as much as $1 million during Giuliani’s visit, with Thursday’s $1,000-a-plate luncheon for about 300 supporters and a pricier fund-raiser today.

The luncheon began with Simon’s 9-year-old son, Griffy, leading the crowd in the Pledge of Allegiance. Simon introduced Giuliani, speaking about how he and other federal prosecutors idolized him during their time working together in the 1980s. Then Giuliani invoked Bush in making the case for Simon.

Giuliani said that on Sept. 11 he felt sympathy for Bush’s situation, facing the worst attack on U.S. citizens in the nation’s history after only nine months in office.

Recalling Bush’s presidential race against Al Gore, Giuliani said, “The other guy had more experience ....But what George W. Bush had to call upon was his depth of character ... which allowed him to handle the worst crisis in the history of the United States. And that’s what you have in Bill Simon.”

The Californian most identified with Giuliani is Simon’s rival in the Republican primary, Riordan. Like Giuliani, Riordan captured a big-city mayor’s office with no prior political experience, and he shares the former New York mayor’s liberal streak on social issues, such as abortion and gun control. By contrast, Simon opposes abortion rights and much gun control.

Giuliani endorsed Simon before Riordan entered the race, but he downplayed ideological differences. Anyway, he added, “it wouldn’t matter who he was running against, I would be on Bill’s side.”