Hey, Rudy, you need a new ‘best friend’
Friday, October 26, 2007
STEVIE LACY-PENDLETON
STATEN ISLAND ADVANCE — If you are known by the company you keep, Rudy Giuliani is in very deep trouble.

The ex-mayor of the greatest city on earth has a laundry basket full of soiled, controversial items he has been busy either pooh-poohing, denying, or deliberately ignoring.

Few outside of New York City know Giuliani — the real Rudy. On Sept. 10, 2001, New Yorkers had had their fill of Rudy, and frankly couldn’t wait for him to exit the door of Gracie Mansion. They had plenty of reasons: His tawdry affair with Judith, and the flaunting of it in the very public eye even though he was still married and had children old enough to read the headlines.

Then it was the very shameful way in which he told his wife, Donna, that he planned to divorce her. He didn’t break that news beforehand in the privacy of their home. Nope, he did it on television, an avenue of visual communication the ex-mayor truly loves.

There were other things, i.e. he had made race relations in this city even worse, if that was possible; after filing numerous lawsuits — losing each and every one, ironically, considering his adulterous behavior — he had gained a reputation for being a “moralist.”

Anyway, 24 hours before the planes hit our beloved Twin Towers, Rudy Guiliani had very few friends and plenty of enemies.

The rest, as they say, is history. He has used the tragedy to transform himself into the self-labeled “America’s mayor,” and launch a presidential bid by frankly captializing on what he was paid to do back then: Lead at a time of crisis.

Now the truth — in drips and dabs — is beginning to bubble to the surface about how many mistakes “America’s mayor” made that might have cost hundreds of brave first responders, cops and firefighters their lives as the 9/11 horror was unfolding.

But let us not linger, and get to the point: Rudy Giuliani has an accused sex pervert on his staff and he won’t fire him.

Monsignor Alan Placa was suspended by the Rockville Centre Diocese after he was identified as “Priest F” in a 2003 Suffolk County, N.Y., grand jury report. Placa was accused by the grand jury of both molesting boys and covering up others’ abuse.

Placa, a very close friend of Giuliani’s — his BFF (best friend for life), is also employed by the former mayor’s high-profile company, Giuliani Partners. As the Pulitzer Prize-winning newspapers Newsday and The New York Times, along with Salon and others have reported, the grand jury report accuses Placa of sexually abusing children, as well as helping cover up the sexual abuse of children by other priests.

Salon reported that Placa, was described as “cautious, but relentless in his pursuit of victims,” according to the grand jury.

“There’s ample evidence showing that Placa consistently protected predators, shrewdly deceived victims, and covered up horrific clergy sex crimes,” said David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, in a statement, The ASSOCIATED PRESS reported.

Charges were never brought against Placa because by the time anyone came forward, the statute of limitations had expired. According to experts, at least 90 percent of child molestation victims don’t come forward and when they do, it is years after the abuse, which was the case with allegations against Placa. Nevertheless, the church took the right action, ordering Placa to stop performing his priestly duties in 2002.

And what does the man who bills himself “as the law-and-order” Republican candidate have to say about his BFF?

Giuliani, who has a reputation as not only being “mean-spirited,” but as stubborn as a Kentucky mule, has defended Placa, saying that his “good friend” has been “unjustly” accused.

Right, and there is a bridge in Brooklyn I own I can sell to you cheap.

Just last week, activists again demanded that Giuliani cut ties with his BFF and employee.

Giuliani says he’ll do no such thing.

Giuliani and Placa have been friends since childhood; they went to the same Brooklyn high school, college and were in the same fraternity. Placa was a chief aide to Giuliani during his first term as mayor, and was best man at the mayor’s first marriage in 1968. Placa helped Giuliani get an annulment in 1982, and then officiated at Giuliani’s second wedding in 1984.

Suspended by the diocese and no longer permitted to perform priestly duties, Placa received special permission to officiate at the 2002 funeral of Giuliani’s mother, and later at the mayor’s father’s.

Last week, Giuliani tried to convince conservative religious leaders at their convention that he was indeed the man to be their “moral values standard bearer.” He told them that they had “nothing to fear from me.”

Well, the same can’t be said about his BFF.

Stevie Lacy-Pendleton is the deputy Editorial Page editor and an Advance senior news columnist. Her column appears on the Advance editorial page every Wednesday and Friday. Her e-mail address is lacy@siadvance.com.