He's nearly synonymous with New York City and often sports a Yankees ballcap, but some people think former Big Apple Mayor Rudy Giuliani's Texas ties may help him raise Texas-sized bucks for the looming presidential campaign.
That's right, Texas ties - Giuliani is a name partner in a Houston law firm...
From the Bloomberg news service:Rudolph Giuliani's alliance with a Texas law firm may help the former New York mayor gain regional appeal and cash as he prepares for a possible Republican campaign for president. It has been almost two years since the ex-federal prosecutor said he was opening a New York office for Houston-based Bracewell & Patterson, known for its energy work and political ties. The renamed Bracewell & Giuliani got a New York foothold while Giuliani gained Texas connections.
"Usually when a law firm changes its name, no one knows who these people are,'' says University of Houston political scientist Richard Murray. "But Giuliani has 100 percent name recognition among business people.''
Giuliani, who built his reputation by taking on the mob as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, has assembled a Manhattan practice of 32 corporate lawyers and litigators. They've helped bring clients that include hedge funds such as D.E. Shaw & Co. and investment banks such as Bank of New York Co. - a widening Wall Street base that may also hold political value.
"The first phase of any presidential campaign is all about fund raising, so if Giuliani can use his law firm's network to raise some quick money, it will be an asset,'' says Washington- based Republican consultant Scott Reed, who managed former U.S. Senator Bob Dole's 1996 presidential campaign.
The Houston law firm has extensive GOP ties, reports Bloomberg.
Bracewell's Houston-based managing partner, Patrick Oxford, is a former fund-raiser for Bush and has contributed at least $41,578 to Republican candidates and committees since Aug. 17, 1998, according to filings with the FEC.
Also:
David Hill, a Republican polling consultant based in The Woodlands, Texas, says the firm has always had politically connected partners. Bush, as governor, appointed Oxford to the University of Texas Board of Regents in 1997.
But Giuliani says the firm's GOP ties were not a factor when he chose to partner with the firm and open its New York office.
"My decision to join Bracewell in 2005 was based upon my desire to be involved with a high-quality law firm,'' Giuliani says. "I was impressed with the firm's culture, vision and the caliber of the practice. My decision was based on this, not politics.''
Still, it won't hurt him.
With no Texas candidate in the GOP presidential field, conventional wisdom might say Arizona Sen. John McCain might have a regional advantage in the Texas Republican primary, but I'm not so sure about that. Texas often votes for out-zied personalities - think LBJ, Ann Richards, John Connally and such.
Giuliani is that kind of personality.
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