POL v- Standoff of Rudy and Hillary

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NYDailyNews

It's State Politics as Usual In Standoff of Rudy & Hil

By MICHAEL R. BLOOD Daily News City Hall Bureau Chief

t is a relationship of cold shoulders and tight smiles.

Nearly three months after Hillary Rodham Clinton became New York's junior U.S. senator, she and Mayor Giuliani barely have shared a polite word, much less sat down together.

Their only scheduled meeting, at City Hall in January, was canceled by the mayor after President Clinton pardoned fugitive financier Marc Rich, whom Giuliani once pursued as a federal prosecutor. The mayor since has called for a federal probe of the ex-President's pardon of four men convicted of stealing federal funds in New Square, a Rockland County Hasidic community where his wife won 99.9% of the vote.

The mayor and senator attended a charity dinner this month hosted by journalists in Manhattan, but entered through different doors and never crossed paths. And they brushed past each other at a St. Patrick's Day Mass.

"There isn't really any relationship" between them, said a Democratic source close to Clinton.

As for the two meeting at some point, "There isn't a mood this must be done, or a mood we shouldn't do it," said one mayoral adviser. "Whenever it happens, it happens."

With Clinton on the outs at City Hall, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has emerged as more of a point man for the city in Washington.

Schumer and Giuliani forged a friendship while working on the 1994 crime bill, and Schumer's wife, Iris Weinshall, is Giuliani's transportation commissioner.

Just last week, Schumer was at City Hall, where Giuliani endorsed his legislation to put up money for new voting systems.

"Rudy and Chuck have had a very good relationship going many years," said one Democratic consultant. "Anything they need to get out of Washington, they can go to Chuck for."

Giuliani's frosty relationship with Clinton dates to 1998, when the mayor began gearing up for his eventual Senate bid. He relentlessly mocked Clinton and her husband, then-President Bill Clinton, and made a precampaign stop in Arkansas to paint her as a carpetbagger.

His rhetoric increased once Hillary Clinton officially declared her candidacy.

The state's history is rife with examples of testy political rivalries, whether it be former Mayor Ed Koch and then-Gov. Mario Cuomo or Giuliani and former Sen. Alfonse D'Amato.

It's not a requirement that Giuliani and Clinton like or respect each other. The mayor has managed to work with varying success with Albany for seven years despite his edgy relationship with Gov. Pataki, a fellow Republican.

But civic and business leaders agree it's better for taxpayers if a senator and the mayor of the state's largest city are at least talking. The city depends on more than $5 billion in federal cash each year, which goes toward everything from health care to mass transit to welfare.

"Given that there is such a sharp difference between the two on so many fronts, and the fact that the mayor is winding down his last several months in office, I imagine from Hillary's standpoint she's waiting out the storm," said Mary Brosnahan, of the Coalition for the Homeless.

Sources close to the senator said she was startled when the mayor axed their January meeting, and aides said requests to reschedule the date have been ignored by City Hall.

The Daily News attempted to get Giuliani's response, but his spokesmen did not respond to phone calls.

"Of course she thinks it's important to meet with the mayor of New York City, as she has met with elected leaders across the state, Republican and Democrat," said Clinton's spokeswoman, Karen Dunn.

Original Publication Date: 3/25/01

-- Anonymous, March 25, 2001


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