Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani focuses on the economic improvements he made in New York and the drop in the city's crime rate in a new television ad that began airing in New Hampshire Wednesday.
"The world's 17th largest economy. Swimming in red ink. Record crime. Runaway taxes. A million on welfare. That was New York," an announcer says. "Until Rudy."
Giuliani faced a more than $2 billion budget deficit despite a tax rate of almost 9 percent. Giuliani said the tax rate scared away business; hotel taxes were $24 a night, compared with $8 in other major cities at the time. And in 1994, almost one in seven New Yorkers were on welfare.
In the ad, which starts in New Hampshire and Boston television markets, an announcer highlights Giuliani's response: "He cut taxes 9 billion. Welfare 60 percent. Crime in half. The most successful conservative turnaround in 50 years."
"In America's most liberal city, Rudy delivered. And he can do it again, in a place called Washington, D.C."
In his standard campaign speech, Giuliani says he cut taxes 23 times. His rivals say Giuliani opposed some reductions, and he takes credit for some at the state level rather than city level.
His campaign says he saved New Yorkers more than $9 billion and cut welfare rolls by 640,000 to the lowest number since 1966.
