Giuliani Camp’s Intellectual Roots Lie in California

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.

The New York Sun

PALO ALTO, Calif. — A search for the intellectual center of gravity behind Mayor Giuliani’s presidential campaign leads not to his hometown of New York, nor to the nation’s capital, but to a conservative think tank here amid Stanford University’s mild climes and mission-style roofs.

At least a dozen policy advisers to Mr. Giuliani’s campaign hail from or have active connections to Stanford’s Hoover Institution, a number that appears to outpace other right-leaning research centers such as the Manhattan Institute, the American Enterprise Institute, and the Heritage Foundation.

The former mayor’s policy team is divided into four general areas: domestic, foreign, economic, and homeland security. Mr. Giuliani’s chief economic adviser, Michael Boskin, is a senior fellow at Hoover and a former aide to President George H.W. Bush. The campaign’s top foreign policy expert, Charles Hill, is a diplomat in residence at Yale University and a research fellow at Hoover.

“It turns out that two of the four boxes are headed by people who have a longtime affiliation with Hoover,” Mr. Giuliani’s chief policy adviser, William Simon Jr., said. In an interview with The New York Sun, Mr. Simon took pains to deny any favoritism toward Hoover. “We haven’t skewed towards any one think tank, but we’ve tried to make sure we get the leading experts, and Hoover obviously has more than their fair share of experts,” he said.

Mr. Simon, a Los Angeles banker who was the GOP nominee for governor of California in 2002, is in a good position to know Hoover’s scholars, as he sits on the Stanford-based think tank’s board of overseers and finance committee.

Other Hoover notables involved in Mr. Giuliani’s presidential bid include an economic and defense adviser to several presidents, Martin Anderson, and a former federal judge and State Department official, Abraham Sofaer. The ex-mayor’s advisory team on education is headed by a Stanford professor and Hoover fellow who is a devoted advocate of school vouchers, Terry Moe.

“There’s quite a following here,” Mr. Boskin said. “I would say Rudy certainly has the largest following among people who are active.”

Supporters said Mr. Giuliani closed the deal with many Hoover scholars at a meeting in San Francisco in the summer of 2006. “He made a very strong impression,” Mr. Boskin said. “Every time he was pressed about a particular issue you got a terrific response. … Perhaps most importantly, his policy proposals are right in Hoover’s sweet spot.” To establish Mr. Giuliani’s intellectual beachhead on the West Coast, early Giuliani converts then did a bit of proselytizing. “In the end, it’s sort of a networking kind of thing,” the education expert, Mr. Moe, told the Sun. “People like Michael Boskin know people like me.”

Asked what convinced him, Mr. Moe said it was the former mayor’s approach across the board, not solely on education. “He was the most moderate Republican and I was in great agreement with his position on social issues,” the professor said. He also said Mr. Giuliani deserved credit for improving education and fighting crime in New York, in the face of what many viewed as “a virtually impossible situation.”

A recent article in the New York Observer highlighted Mr. Giuliani’s long-standing ties to t h e Manhattan Institute, including a dinner the research group threw in the former mayor’s honor in 2006. While Mr. Giuliani is highly regarded there, the roster of Manhattan Institute scholars formally advising the ex-mayor’s presidential bid is shorter.

To be sure, some top Giuliani campaign players have links to the Manhattan think tank. Mr. Giuliani’s chief domestic policy adviser is a former Indianapolis mayor who holds an emeritus post at the Manhattan Institute, Stephen Goldsmith. Another senior adviser to Mr. Giuliani, James Piereson, is a senior fellow who studies universities at the Manhattan Institute and sits on its board, though he also sat on Hoover’s board for six years.

“We still have a very close relationship with Giuliani,” a spokeswoman for the Manhattan Institute, Lindsay Young Craig, said. “We talk to their policy people a lot.”

A former adviser to Mr. Giuliani, Fred Siegel, said the campaign’s apparent decision to look west is a logical consequence of how a presidential candidate’s policy needs differ from those of a mayor. “Once you operate at the national level, you’re going to have to bring in a much broader range of people,” Mr. Siegel, a former editor of the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal, said. “There is no Boskin or Martin Anderson at the Manhattan Institute. They don’t do international economic policy. There’s no Abe Sofaer. They don’t do international law.”

As for the mayor’s new Hoover ties, Mr. Siegel said, “My sense is that Simon is the conduit here.”

“At different points in time, the different think tanks have different expertises,” Mr. Simon said. He said he has become familiar with all the major conservative ones through a foundation his father founded. “We’ve been supportive of Heritage, AEI, Hoover, and the Manhattan Institute. They’re all first rate,” the adviser said.

Usually, the intellectual heft is all upside for Mr. Giuliani. However, on occasion, high-level adviser-related gaffes have caused headaches for his campaign.

Guests at a house party held by Hoover’s Mr. Sofaer in September were asked to donate $9.11 to the mayor’s presidential bid. The campaign called the September 11 theme “unfortunate.” Mr. Sofaer said he did not approve the solicitation.

Critics also challenged a radio ad Mr. Giuliani released in October claiming that men stricken with prostate cancer are far more likely to survive in America than in Britain. The numbers came from a City Journal article written by a Giuliani adviser at the Manhattan Institute, David Gratzer. Press reports said the statistics were misleading, but Dr. Gratzer and the campaign stood by the claims.

Former Mayor’s Policy Advisers

HOOVER INSTITUTION
Annelise Anderson Economy
Martin Anderson Economy/Defense
Dr. Scott Atlas Health Care
Peter Berkowitz Economy
Michael Boskin Economy
Robert Conquest Foreign Relations
Charles Hill Foreign Relations
Daniel Kessler Health Care
Terry Moe Education
Kori Schake Foreign Relations
William Simon Jr General
Abraham Sofaer Foreign Relations/International Law
MANHATTAN INSTITUTE
Herman Badillo Education
R.P. Eddy (Not Exclusive to Giuliani) Homeland Security
Stephen Goldsmith Domestic (Emeritus at Institute)
Dr. David Gratzer Health Care
Walter Olson Tort Reform
James Piereson General
Sol Stern Education

The New York Sun

© 2025 The New York Sun Company, LLC. All rights reserved.

Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. The material on this site is protected by copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used.

The New York Sun

Sign in or  Create a free account

or
By continuing you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use