Ex-Mayor Repudiates McCain-Feingold Law

WASHINGTON — Stepping up his efforts to win over fiscal conservatives, Mayor Giuliani is repudiating his past support for the Mc-Cain-Feingold campaign finance law and ruling out a tax increase to save Social Security.

"It's one of the many occasions on which I could point out to you I'm not perfect," Mr. Giuliani told members of the conservative Club for Growth yesterday morning, referring to his backing of the 2002 bill that placed restrictions on campaign spending.

The bipartisan legislation was spearheaded in part by a Republican rival of Mr. Giuliani's, Senator McCain of Arizona, but it is reviled by many conservatives, including the Club for Growth, as an infringement of free speech. "I make mistakes, and that has turned out to be a big mistake," the former mayor said after a speech at the group's conference in Washington.

Mr. Giuliani also made clear he would not support a hike on Social Security taxes as part of a reform of the financially strapped retirement program, putting to rest concerns raised by the Club for Growth after he refused to eliminate that option in an Associated Press interview.

"I would rule out a tax increase for that purpose, or for any other purpose," he said. "I think a tax increase would be very damaging to the American economy."

His assurance satisfied the president of the Club for Growth, Pat Toomey, who praised Mr. Giuliani afterward for being "very specific and direct."

"That's exactly what we wanted to hear," he told The New York Sun in an interview, referring to Mr. Giuliani's answer on Social Security.

Mr. Toomey said he was also pleased with Mr. Giuliani's change of heart on McCain-Feingold. While Mr. Giuliani has backed away from his endorsement of the legislation before, Mr. Toomey said his statement yesterday "was as far as I've ever heard him go" in renouncing his support.

The Democratic National Committee sought to link Mr. Giuliani's shift on campaign finance to his association with the businessman Paul Singer, a fund-raiser for Mr. Giuliani who has invested in so-called vulture funds that are criticized for taking financial advantage of debt-ridden economies.

"Rudy Giuliani's new opposition to campaign finance reform is hardly a surprise given the vulture fund operators and the rest of the shady cast of characters bankrolling his campaign," a committee spokesman, Dag Vega, said.

Two other leading Republicans, Fred Thompson and Mitt Romney, are also distancing themselves from the legislation after supporting it previously. Mr. Romney has gone the furthest, calling for its repeal and even making it a central point of attack on Mr. McCain.

Addressing the Club for Growth later yesterday, Mr. Thompson criticized the fiscal records of both Mr. Giuliani and Mr. Romney. "While I was fighting for tax cuts in Congress, others were opposing tax cuts in New York State," the former Tennessee senator said, referring to Mr. Giuliani opposition to Governor Pataki's effort to repeal the commuter tax. Alluding to Mr. Romney's push to raise fees to close a budget gap as governor of Massachusetts, he added: "Others were claiming not to be raising taxes but were instead raising every state-mandated fee and imposing 'hidden taxes' on unsuspecting taxpayers. While others were repudiating Reagan-Bush tax policies, I was fighting for them."

A spokeswoman for the Giuliani campaign, Katie Levinson, responded with a riff on Mr. Thompson's acting career: "In the real New York City — not the one on TV — Rudy Giuliani cut taxes 23 times. But why let the facts get in the way of a good script?"

Mr. Romney's spokesman, Kevin Madden, said Republicans "want a leader with experience and a record of balancing budgets and lowering taxes." Taking a dig at Mr. Thompson's lack of executive experience, he added: "Other candidates have never even so much as managed a corner store or large organization, never mind balance a budget."

On Social Security, Mr. Giuliani said he would establish a bipartisan commission to come up with options for salvaging the fund and that he hoped it would lead to "at least the beginning of private accounts" for individuals. But in a rarity, he seemed to echo his top nemesis, Senator Clinton, in warning against offering specific proposals for extending the program past 2041, the date at which it is currently projected to go bankrupt. Mrs. Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, has drawn criticism from within her own party for adamantly refusing to discuss specific options that could compromise future negotiations. Mr. Giuliani cited the political volatility of the issue and said that if Republicans "get too far out" in making recommendations, it could allow Democrats to "sucker punch" them by scaring elderly voters into thinking the GOP would remove their safety net through privatization.

The former mayor used his speech to highlight his fiscal policy platform, which he said was centered around the idea of eliminating "overtaxing," "overspending," "overregulating," and "oversuing."

Before his speech, Mr. Giuliani picked up the endorsement of Governor Perry of Texas, who cited his executive experience, his strength on national security issues, and his record on fiscal policy.

The endorsement gives Mr. Giuliani the backing of a key big-state governor and a social conservative. The move will also add Mr. Perry to the list of potential vice presidential picks if Mr. Giuliani wins his party's nomination.