Giuliani Aide Charges ‘Dirty Trick’ with Campaign Document
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

WASHINGTON (AP) – The presidential campaign strategy for Mayor Giuliani — complete with a $100 million fundraising target for this year — is out of the bag.
The 140-page schedule for the Republican’s budding presidential bid was reported in Tuesday’s editions of the New York Daily News.
The paper said an anonymous source obtained the document after it was left behind on a campaign swing in 2006, but Giuliani spokeswoman Sunny Mindel claimed it was actually pilfered from a piece of airline luggage.
“This wasn’t left in a hotel,” Mindel told The Associated Press. “This is clearly a dirty trick. The voters are sick and tired of this kind of thing.”
Ms. Mindel said that while working on the 2006 campaign trail, a Giuliani aide lost a piece of luggage containing the paper.
“After repeated requests over the course of a few days, the bag was finally returned with the document inside. Because our staffer had custody of this document at all times except for this one occasion, it is clear that the document was removed from the luggage and photocopied,” she said.
She did not say exactly where or when the strategy paper was lost, or what was in it, but Ms. Mindel downplayed its importance, saying it is “simply someone’s ideas which were committed to paper over three months ago.”
The Daily News said the schedule includes a plan to raise at least $100 million in 2007 by reeling in big-fish GOP donors like Lew Eisenberg and Larry Bathgate, both from New Jersey, and Fred Smith, the CEO of FedEx, the paper reported. Those three are already supporting Sen. John McCain’s bid.
The document also predicts some $100 million could be spent against Mr. Giuliani to highlight political vulnerabilities like his three marriages and moderate stances on social issues including gun control and gay rights.
Mr. Giuliani is a hugely popular fundraiser for his party, due largely to his response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, for which he was dubbed “America’s mayor.”