Giuliani Responds to Personal Attacks

DES MOINES, Iowa, April 4, 2007 — -- Under fire from Christian conservative leaders for the conduct of his personal life, thrice-married former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani said Tuesday night that his professional performance indicated his personal life was sound.

"You have the right to have any position you like on my personal life," Giuliani told ABC News when asked about the criticism from Christian leaders who had assailed him for his messy divorce from his second wife, Donna Hanover, and his estrangement from their children. "That's their right."

Giuliani added that his personal life "gets best measured by my public performance -- nobody knows someone's soul, nobody knows the inner workings of someone's life. When you have a job, when you have a public job, the best way to judge it is: 'What's your public performance?'"

Giuliani Points to Political Success, Not Personal Problems

And on this, not surprisingly, Giuliani gave himself good marks, heralding his work as mayor and saying he had taken "a city that was then considered the crime capital of America, making it the safest large city in America," as well as lessening the city's unemployment and welfare rolls.

"So I think when we look at public officials' personal lives, we're trying to figure out 'How is that going to affect that person's performance in office?'" Giuliani said. "And I honestly think I've answered those questions with my performance."

Conservatives Doubt Sincerity

Giuliani spoke to reporters after addressing a crowd at Valley High School in West Des Moines.

As he made his first sojourn into the Hawkeye State as a presidential candidate this week, 100 Iowa conservatives signed a petition called "The Conservative Declaration of Independence" stating Giuliani's "liberal record as mayor, appointment of liberal judges, and the conduct of his personal life make it impossible for us to support his candidacy under any circumstances."

Even more pointedly, Richard Land, head of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, recently said, "My ethics are not flexible enough to make character a central issue with Bill Clinton, and then turn around and not have it be a central issue with Rudy Giuliani."

Land went on to ask conservatives who were considering supporting the former mayor of New York whether they could trust a candidate who had broken his marital vows in the past.

"He lied to them [his former wives]. What makes you think he won't lie to you?" Land said.

The Not-So-Merry Wives of Rudy

Giuliani's first marriage to Regina Peruggi -- Giuliani's second cousin -- lasted 14 years and ended in a divorce in 1982.

The Roman Catholic Church granted the couple an annulment in 1983, because, according to Giuliani, only then did he discover that his wife was his second cousin and they had not received a church dispensation to be married.

In 2000, Giuliani announced at a news conference that he was separating from his second wife, Donna Hanover.

"Over the course of some period of time in many ways, we've grown to live independent and separate lives," he said in an announcement that took Hanover by surprise.

Hanover publicly accused her husband of infidelity, saying, "For several years, it was difficult to participate in Rudy's public life because of his relationship with one staff member."

The mayor and the staff member in question denied any improper relationship.

More recently, Giuliani's son, Andrew, discussed his estrangement from his father with The New York Times and ABC News.

In the interviews, Andrew stated that he had "a little problem" with his current stepmother, Judith Nathan.

The same is reportedly true regarding Giuliani's daughter, Caroline, who is currently a senior in high school.

Both Andrew and his father say they are working toward repairing their relationship; Caroline has not spoken with the media.

In an interview with ABC News' Barbara Walters last month, Giuliani maintained that Nathan was not the cause of his difficulties with his children.

In an interview with CNN on Wednesday, Giuliani elaborated, saying, "My conversations with my son are very, very private. They're between my son and I. I love him, he loves me. My wife, Judith, loves all of our children. We're -- we've got issues."

Giuliani added that, "Every American family, in one way or another, I guess has issues," later concluding, "Look, I would prefer if there wasn't any scrutiny of my private life. However, I was the mayor of New York, I'm used to it, I'm ready for it."

Personal Impact on Political Fortunes

Despite Giuliani's impressive poll numbers and decent fundraising, many conservatives say that they suspect Giuliani will begin to lose support once Christian conservative voters learn more about the controversies surrounding his personal life as well as his liberal positions on abortion, gay rights and guns.

When it was noted by a reporter in Des Moines that Giuliani seldom had discussed these hot-button social issues on the stump, the former mayor responded, "I talked about the two big issues that I think are the two biggest issues facing people and that unite us -- I think the two big issues are fiscal conservativism and being on offense on the war on terror."

He said, "I think those are the two issues I emphasize when I talk to Republicans, but I answer all their questions. I think they know all my positions on everything. It's repeated over and over again."