WASHINGTON — As a partner in a law and lobbying firm, Rudy Giuliani has profited from his firm's work representing corporate clients before virtually every Cabinet department, exposing himself to a wide range of potential ethical entanglements.
If Giuliani were elected president, his administration would be on the receiving end of regulatory requests, contract bids and policy proposals by the same clients of his Houston firm, Bracewell & Giuliani, that have contributed toward his personal net worth of millions of dollars.
Although the Republican presidential candidate has so far declined to identify all the companies with which Bracewell and his other firms have done business over the past five years, The Associated Press identified more than 175 as part of an expansive review of lobbying records, court filings and securities reports.
Giuliani's law and lobbying clients have included Saudi Arabia, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., and chewing tobacco maker UST Inc.
Traditional procedures for government officials to prevent ethical conflicts — expressly avoiding issues directly involving their former employer — would be unavailable for a commander in chief. It is unheard of for a president, when taking office, to promise to avoid a particular policy issue.
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McCain '08? - Ya know, Benedict Arnold was a "War Hero", Too.
It is unheard of for a president, when taking office, to promise to avoid a particular policy issue.
But there are presidents who did, despite the lack of a promise. Lyndon Johnson is an example of a president who avoided dealing with the oil industry as much as possible...
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