Q&A
Mastro's involvement in Giuliani's 1993 campaign
2:29:57
·
152 sec
Council Member Hudson questions Mastro about his involvement in Giuliani's 1993 mayoral campaign, particularly regarding the campaign's handling of the 1992 police riot incident.
- Hudson cites an internal vulnerability report that characterized the riot as racist
- She questions why the campaign never publicly denounced the racism of the riot
- Mastro maintains he had no involvement in the campaign at that time and was only involved in campaign finance issues later
Crystal Hudson
2:29:57
Mister Giuliani's own mayoral campaign knew his participation in the riot was a major liability and feared it would feed into the narrative that Mister Giuliani was a racist, which I would certainly say now given his more recent track record has proven to be true.
2:30:11
According to the Cato Institute, an internal vulnerability report titled the Rudolph Giuliani Volimability Study, prepared for the 1993 campaign devoted more than fifty pages to the 1992 police riot under the all caps heading racist.
2:30:27
The report recommended, and I quote, when dealing with direct questions about the police rally, Giuliani should acknowledge and criticize the underlying racial nature of the protest, end quote.
2:30:39
However, Mister Giuliani on the campaign never publicly denounced it, and he went on to unseat the city's first black mayor.
2:30:46
Do you agree with this characterization of the riot as racist?
Randy Mastro
2:30:52
I the way you have described it, I was not personally involved in that campaign in any way at that time.
2:31:03
So I don't recall the the specifics of it, but it certainly doesn't reflect my values or how I would have conducted myself.
Crystal Hudson
2:31:14
How would you describe that riot if not as racist?
Randy Mastro
2:31:18
I think that that particular, as I recall historically, from over 30 years ago.
2:31:27
I I I understand why it was so offensive.
2:31:35
So I'm not here to condone or explain that action.
2:31:40
I got involved in the campaign at a later point in time, and I think a lot of people in connection with that campaign regretted that that rally happened.
Crystal Hudson
2:31:48
Well, I I would say that the the gentleman who has and nominated you for this position called it racist himself as his firsthand experience was that it was so.
Randy Mastro
2:32:00
I I understand.
2:32:01
I understand.
Crystal Hudson
2:32:03
And if the campaign admitted it to be racist in its internal vulnerability document, why didn't the campaign publicly denounce this racism?
Randy Mastro
2:32:11
I have no idea.
2:32:12
I wasn't involved in the campaign at the time as I said.
Crystal Hudson
2:32:14
So you would have never pushed for there to be a public announcement of the riot at any point when you joined the campaign.
Randy Mastro
2:32:22
It it is not an issue that arose in the limited role I played as counsel for campaign finance issues.