A former Giuliani administration official says he’s “sick” over reports that his little-known agency was used to hide taxpayer money that funded police escorts during the ex-mayor’s romantic rendezvous in the Hamptons.
“The cover-up of this and the explanations for it have been so disingenuous,” said Brendan Sexton, who chaired the Procurement Policy Board in 2000. The panel was charged $29,757 for travel bills racked up by then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani‘s security detail as he hung out with then-girlfriend Judith Nathan on Long Island.
“He didn’t want anybody to know what he was doing. That’s the truth. I don’t care about his personal life – it’s not shocking to me that he wanted to visit his girlfriend,” added Sexton, a Democrat who served as sanitation commissioner under Ed Koch.
“The part that’s disturbing to me is that my organization or any government organization could be used to conceal from the public how their money was being spent.”
The five-member board, which Giuliani appointed Sexton to lead during his first term, sets the rules for how city agencies buy goods and services.
It was one of several obscure city agencies billed tens of thousands of dollars for out-of-town travel expenses during Giuliani’s last two years in office.
The ex-mayor denied any effort to conceal the travel expenses. Giuliani’s aides say the agencies were billed as way to speed reimbursements to police officers who had escorted the mayor on his trips.
“At first, I thought it was humorous,” Sexton said. “I just couldn’t believe anybody would do this. After that, I was sort of sick about it.”