This is not a good news story if your name is Rudy Giuliani and you're running for the Republican presidential nomination.
Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani, a prodigious fundraiser who will campaign today in California, is partner in a law firm with a generous political action committee -- one that gave nearly 40 percent of its contributions to Democrats in the 2006 midterm elections, including $5,000 to then-Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco.
The 2006 donations from the political action committee of the Houston-based law firm of Bracewell & Giuliani -- known as Bracepac -- included $3,000 to Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of San Francisco and $500 to Jerry McNerney of Pleasanton, who defeated Republican Rep. Richard Pombo in the East Bay's hotly contested 11th Congressional District race, federal records show.
Bracepac contributed to 53 Democratic candidates and 50 Republicans in the 2006 election cycle, federal records show. In California, Bracepac donations went mostly to Democrats, although the political action committee also contributed $2,500 to Pombo and $3,500 to Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Redlands (San Bernardino County), who was the chairman of the powerful Appropriations Committee until Democrats took control of the House.
To be clear, Giuliani didn't give the money to Democrats, the PAC affiliated with a law firm where he's a partner did. Some political experts don't think it will be a big problem for Rudy.
If the donations were in Rudy Giuliani's name, or his wife's name, that would be a problem," said Bill Whalen, a Hoover Institution research fellow and former speechwriter to Republican Gov. Pete Wilson. "But it's the reality of modern-day politics ... and under the larger category of doing business. He's a partner in a law firm that wants to do business on both sides of the street -- so you give to Republicans and Democrats."
It's not going to hurt Giuliani much - it's too "inside baseball" for the average voter.
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