Rudy Giuliani making the case for Joe Lhota's candidacy for mayor. (Photo: Jacob Kornbluh/YouTube)

At a fund-raiser last night for his one-time deputy mayor Joe Lhota, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani not only came out swinging against Democratic officials' counter-terrorism policies, he blasted this year's crop of Democratic mayoral candidates, saying neither they--nor President Barack Obama--had ever held a real job.

Mr. Giuliani, one of Mr. Lhota's biggest backers as he seeks the Republican nomination for City Hall's top job, touted his former attack dog's record in the private sector and as the city's once-budget director.

"That's exactly what we need. Not these career politicians who have never really held a job. Like our President, who never really held a job,” he said, to laughs, according to footage of the speech at the Excelsior Grand in Staten Island, captured by blogger Jacob Kornbluh.

Mr. Giuliani went after the Democratic candidates for being too closely aligned with local labor unions, whose endorsements are expected to play a key role in the race.

“The Democratic candidates are going to be owned by the unions,” he said, according to the footage, pointing to the fact that all of the city's unions are now operating without contracts, waiting to strike more sympathetic deals with the next administration.

"What they’re signaling to us is they want a lot more money than they think Mike Bloomberg would give them,” said Mr. Giuliani, warning that, with the wrong person in charge, the city could easily endure a repeat of the fiscal crisis of the 1970s, when the city was on the verge of bankruptcy. “What they are threatening to do is to take that crisis into ruination which will result in ridiculously high taxes and the fleeing of business from Nee York City."

Mr. Giuliani also did his best to woo the  Staten Island crowd, touting Mr. Lhota's "obsession” with the borough, which Mr. Giuliani carried to Gracie Mansion when he first won.

“You are the hard-core middle class and upper-middle class of this city. We need a mayor who understands that this city is not all about Manhattan,” he said, in a not-so-subtle shot at the current mayor. “You haven’t had that, really, since I was the mayor."

In fact, Mr. Giuliani appeared to have a generally gloomy view of the city under Mayor Bloomberg, lamenting that things just can't get any worse.

"With all the crime and all the deficits and all the unemployment and all of the welfare, my slogan was, ‘Vote for me, you can't do any worse,'" Mr. Giuliani said of his own campaign platform. "Well you know something? That slogan applies today. You can't do any worse. And in fact you will do worse, a lot worse, if you don't elect Joe Lhota.”

Still, he acknowledged that Mr. Lhota is facing an uphill battle for the mayoralty. While Mr. Lhota leads his fellow Republicans, he remains far behind all of the major Democratic candidates in recent polls. Mr. Giuliani urged the crowd to pony up contributions to make him a viable candidate.

“We cannot give this city back to a bunch of Democratic machine politicians,” he argued.

We reached out to the Democratic candidates, but did not immediately receive any responses.

Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani (Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who led the city through 9/11, accused some in Washington of being in "denial" about the risks posed by terrorism and said that Democrats too preoccupied with "liberal ideas" are putting public safety at risk.

Speaking at a fund-raiser for Republican mayoral candidate Joe Lhota last night, Mr. Giuliani, who made an unsuccessful bid for the White House in 2008, said that New York City remains a target, and that government must be ever-vigilant to stave off the next attack.

“There are some people in Washington who--when we captured Bin Laden--thought that the War on Terror was over. They even announced that. I believe that some of these attacks that have taken place have taken place now because there is in Washington a process of denial, a process of not really understanding what is against us,” Mr. Giuliani told attendees at the Excelsior Grand in Staten Island, according to video of the remarks captured by blogger Jacob Kornbluh.

Mr. Giuliani said that New York City remains the No. 1 terror target in the country and needs a mayor who understands that risk.

“We need a mayor who is going to be very, very strong about this. We need a mayor who is not gonna be confused by so many of these liberal ideas that say, 'Oh I don't know, maybe we shouldn't classify this person as an Islamic extremist terrorist. Maybe that will offend somebody if we do it,'" he said, criticizing the way the government handled the Fort Hood shooting, in particular.

Mr. Giuliani also slammed critics who want to do away the police department's controversial with stop-and-frisk policy, and pointed to Chicago, with its far higher murder rate, as an example of what might happen if police tactics change.

“What we do that Chicago doesn’t do… [is] we aggressively enforce our laws to take guns out of the hands of criminals,” he said. “They, instead, are very, very careful. They’re very frightened. They’re very worried, very worried about rights: this right, that right, some other right. The only right they're not thinking about is the right to be safe in your city,” he said, vowing that Mr. Lhota would keep current NYPD policies in place.

He argued that the same aggressive police tactics have also helped protect the city from terrorism--and guessed that police officers would have been stationed in the mosque that the elder Boston Marathon bombing suspect attended, listening to what was said as part of the NYPD's controversial Muslim surveillance program.

"Another mayor of that other party might not have the courage to do that. Their political thinking is very different," he said.

He further pointed to Mass. Governor Deval Patrick, whom he said had been "giving welfare" to the alleged bombers (the two brothers had reportedly received benefits as children, while the older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, his wife and daughter had been on welfare until last year)--something he said would never have happened under his or Mr. Lhota's watch. And he slammed Mr. Patrick for refusing to release certain records of suspects' benefits "because he wants to protect the privacy of the terrorist murderers."

"What kind of warped thinking is that?” he asked.

“When you start thinking like that, like this administration does, like many Democrats do, that’s what leads to the mistakes that then result in something like Boston, or something like Fort Hood, or something like the almost-attack on Times Square. When we don’t categorize these people properly, when we don't say we’re going to have to put a lot of focus on them, and make sure that we keep our city safe," he said.

He said that that kind of hesitancy puts people at risk.

"We realize most of these people are honest, decent people. But by the same token, we also realize that it isn't just a few people that are Islamic extremists, it's more than a few people," he said.

“If we did that, who knows? Maybe people would be alive today that aren’t alive now," he said. "That's the kind of mayor we need."

Mr. Giuliani touted Mr. Lhota's performance in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, when he said Mr. Lhota was by his side “virtually every day for 40 days” after the planes hit, playing an integral role in every decision they made.

“Joe is a man who has a lot of guts. And he’s got a lot of calm when things are tough. And he’s someone who will keep this city safe from Islamic extremist terrorists and keep this city safe from criminals," he said.

The governor's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Democratic candidates sparred during their first televised debate. (Photo: NY1)

Longshot mayoral candidate Erick Salgado wants to bring Mayor Rudy Giuliani back to City Hall-- this time as the new police commissioner.

Mr. Salgado, a socially conservative reverend, said he’d love to keep current Police Commissioner Ray Kelly on as the city’s top cop, but has at least one back-up choice in mind.

“I would consider Ray Kelly if he’s available. If he’s not interested, maybe I ask Rudy Giuliani to come and serve as police commissioner,” he said during the campaign’s first televised debate, which was held at John Jay College and sponsored by NY1.

The mayoral hopefuls have been asked repeatedly about their thoughts on Mr. Kelly, who remains one of the city’s most popular officials, despite criticism over many controversial policies, including stop-and-frisk.

The idea got a thumbs-down from at least one of the other candidates.

“I oppose Rudy Giuliani as the Police Commissioner for the City of New York,” said Bill Thompson, eliciting the first loud applause of the night and a round of laughs from his fellow candidates.

After the debate, Mr. Salgado explained that he wanted to see the best person in the job to keep the city safe, and had a lot of respect for the former mayor.

“Maybe if he doesn’t want to be a mayor any more, maybe you want to come and do a tremendous job,” he explained..

“It would be Salgado and Rudy Giuliani. That would be a good team.”

Dan Halloran. (Photo: Facebook)

A name familiar to millions of New Yorkers could enter a volatile Queens City Council race.

Rudy S. Giuliani, chief of staff to Republican Councilman Eric Ulrich and second cousin to the former mayor of the same name, is mulling a run for indicted GOP Councilman Dan Halloran's seat, multiple sources told Politicker.

"If there's a special election, it'd be hard to pass up," one Queens Republican insider said. "That's how he's framed it to me."

Mr. Giuliani is perhaps the only candidate who could keep the seat in their party's possession, two GOP sources argued, since Mr. Halloran was arrested two weeks ago for participating in an alleged bribery scheme and the Republican Party lacks a deep bench in the northeastern Queens district. The sources said Mr. Ulrich is encouraging Mr. Giuliani to run for the seat if Mr. Halloran does not seek re-election.

A special election, which would automatically occur if Mr. Halloran resigned or is convicted of a felony, could present a unique opportunity for a Republican candidate. A crowded field Democrats are already vying for the competitive seat, and as councilmanic special elections are non-partisan, a unified Republican front would be hard to defeat.

For his part, Mr. Giuliani denied interest in the race when Politicker reached out yesterday evening.

"Listen, as far as I'm concerned, there's still a sitting councilman. Anything else is premature right now," he said. "There's still a councilman."

Dennis Saffran, a Republican who ran against Mr. Halloran's predecessor, Democrat Tony Avella, in 2001, may also be weighing another run for the seat. Last year, Mr. Giuliani passed on his own bid against Mr. Avella, who's now in the State Senate.

Mr. Halloran has denied all wrongdoing.

The scene right before John Liu arrived.

Across the breadth of policy issues, the Democratic candidates for mayor this year tend to share similar viewpoints. However, there are some notable exceptions, and at a debate sponsored by The New York Observer and 92Y, another one was revealed last night: their mayoral role models.

The first two candidates to speak, former Comptroller Bill Thompson and Council Speaker Christine Quinn, couldn't choose just one mayor. Rather, the pair saw themselves as pulling from the best attributes from four and cited Ed Koch's spirit, David Dinkins's compassion, Rudy Giuliani's toughness and Michael Bloomberg's vision.

"I've been asked that question before and I've made sure that I haven't alienated former mayors," Mr. Thompson joked. "Look, I think as you look back at the mayors we've had as mayor of New York--at least in my adult life--we've had mayors that have represented a number of different things and I think that's what you try to take away. ... You want to take parts from and emulate them and that's the type of mayor that I would be--the best of all worlds, if you will. The best."

"There are things you'd want to take from all of them in different ways," said Ms. Quinn. “You want to take all of that together and find the best ingredients."

Not every politician on stage wanted to sample the full mayoral palate, however. To wit, Comptroller John Liu--who arrived from another event in the middle of this question--directly stated his admiration for Mr. Dinkins.

"When I got out of school, Mayor Dinkins was running for mayor and I volunteered on his campaign," he said. "I would take him as my role model mainly for the reason that he expanded opportunities for so many people who didn't have opportunities before. I think that's something we need to get back to."

Mr. Liu nevertheless offered some humorous support for Mr. Giuliani's famous crusade against the city's squeegee men, as well as some more sincere praise for his leadership in the wake of the World Trade Center attacks.

"Rudy Giuliani was able to get, I guess, ... people to stop washing their windshields," he explained. "For some reason a lot of people liked that. I appreciated that because it was always difficult to get going once the light turned green until Rudy came along! And then I do certainly admire his management after 9/11."

Like Mr. Liu, the final two candidates could cite just one former mayor--Fiorello LaGuardia in their cases--as an administration they would hope to emulate.

"Fiorello LaGuardia ... is my ideal of a mayor because he was truly independent," former Councilman Sal Albanese said. "He took on party bosses, he put together a fusion ticket of citizens around the city and got to City Hall without being indebted to special interests. That's why he had such a great tenure as mayor. ... And he's someone that I would consider a role model."

"I'm going to say the greatest mayor I think we've had--I wish I met him, I never got to--was Fiorello LaGuardia," Public Advocate Bill de Blasio contended. "I don't think it's even close. Look, Fiorello to me was the exemplar because he epitomized an activist government and a government that got things done but with a compassion and a sense of fairness."

Mr. de Blasio was also the lone candidate to offer an anti-role model of sorts, as he suggested some of his opponents were wrong to want any piece of Mr. Giuliani's mayoralty in their own.

"I got to say to my colleagues, I respect your even-handedness, I just don't have a lot good to say about Rudy Giuliani, who I think profoundly divided us," he said, again touting the LaGuardia administration's inclusiveness. "In the case of Rudy, I think, sadly, his legacy is a lot of division that took a long time to overcome."

Rudy Giuliani (Photo: Getty)

In an interview with DNAInfo, Republican mayoral candidate John Catsimatidis claimed former Mayor Rudy Giuliani told him he has a far better chance of winning the mayor's race than Joe Lhota, who was a deputy mayor in Mr. Giuliani's administration and is widely assumed to have the ex-mayor's support. However, this morning Mr. Giuliani told Politicker he didn't tell Mr. Catsimatidis he has a better shot at a victory than Mr. Lhota.

"I never told John Catsimatidis that Joe Lhota would have a harder time winning," Mr. Giuliani said. "What I told him is a fact: it's difficult for any Republican to get elected in New York City. That's a political fact."

Mr. Giuliani added he gave this same message to both Mr. Lhota and Mr. Catsimatidis.

"What I was conveying to John Catsimatidis was the same that I conveyed to Joe Lhota," he said. "I want them to be realistic about their chances. A Republican, whether it's Joe or John or anyone else, will have a difficult time winning."

Though Mr. Giuliani said he told both men they will have a "difficult" path to City Hall, he also said he pointed out both he and Michael Bloomberg won on the Republican line. He described these victories as evidence this year's crop of Republicans may have a shot by proving they are "more independent" than their Democratic opponents.

"On the other hand, the city has five times in a row gone for the more independent candidate," said Mr. Giuliani. "That's something that both of them should look to."

Additionally, Mr. Giuliani, who is widely assumed to be supporting his former deputy, said both Mr. Lhota and Mr. Castimatidis are "friends of mine" and predicted "either one would be better for the city" than the Democratic candidates.

Additional reporting by Ken Kurson

Ed Koch standing in his Midtown office on January 18. (Photo: Emily Anne Epstein)

Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch died earlier this morning at the age of 88 after being hospitalized for congestive heart disease. Mr. Koch served as the 105th Mayor of New York City for three terms from 1978 until 1989. With a larger-than-life personality, Mr. Koch relished a position that allowed him to become something of a national ambassador for New York City.

Though critics accused Mr. Koch of worsening racial tensions in the city and not doing enough to fight the AIDS crisis that was particularly devastating to the gay community, Mr. Koch was fiercely proud of  his legacy, specifically, what he saw as his efforts to save New York from the financial crisis of the late 1970's, his vast expansion of public housing and programs and efforts he saw as bringing a more meritocratic approach to local government. Politicker conducted one of the final interviews with Mr. Koch on January 17, just two weeks before his death, and he characterized his administration as paving the way for his successors.

"I'm proud of what I did," he said. "I also believe that both Giuliani and, particularly, Mike Bloomberg have made tremendous contributions to this city. ... And I look upon what I did as laying the groundwork and the foundation on which they could build, and without what I did, they couldn't have done what they did. So, I'm proud of my contributions."

In his later years, Mr. Koch remained involved in politics and, as he was throughout his time in office, engaged with the press. He penned movie reviews online, wrote books and newspaper columns, endorsed in many local and national elections up until his death and served on a panel of political "Wise Guys" on NY1's nightly political program Inside City Hall. Today, a documentary about his life, Koch, premieres in theaters. When we spoke with Mr. Koch last month, we joked with him that, with his memoirs once turned into a musical and, his appearances in television, books, the web and, now, the film, he was something of a mayoral "king of all media." Mr. Koch clearly enjoyed the suggestion.

"I never thought of it that way, but you could say that," he said with a laugh and huge grin.

Mr. Koch got his start in politics in 1963 as a district leader by defeating Carmine DeSapio, the last boss of the notorious Tammany Hall political machine that dominated city politics from the late 18th century until the 1960's. He went on to serve in the City Council and for four terms in the House of Representatives.

(Photo: Emily Anne Epstein)

In his later years, Mr. Koch became something of a mayor emeritus, a man whose face and name were once almost synonymous with the five boroughs and allowed him to enjoy continued life in the public eye until his final days. One of his proudest moments came in March 2011 when the Queensboro Bridge was renamed in his honor--a move that was not without opposition in City Hall. The new documentary about his life features many scenes in which Mr. Koch seems to have almost paternal feelings about the city, including one in which, while driving past the bridge he lovingly refers to it as "my bridge." We asked him whether it would be accurate to say, as a mayor in winter, it would be accurate to describe him as feeling "protective" of the city he once ruled. He laughed and pointed to another scene in the film.

"You know, the film opens with me coming back from Washington when I was a congressman and I say as I look out the plane window, 'And this all belongs to me.' It's a very exciting moment and it happened every time I rode either way and came back at night," he said. "So do I feel something very special about the city? Of course."

Mr. Koch became mayor after the 1977 election, a campaign in which he was decidedly an underdog. As a bachelor and a man with a shrill voice that consultants and vocal coaches urged him to correct, Mr. Koch was in many ways an improbable choice for the city. However, by emphasizing a desire to restore order after the riots that followed the 1977 blackouts and a bombastic, combative approach to campaigning, he was able to earn a victory.

"The very fact that I became mayor in 1977 conveys how you can't figure out what the people will do," he told us.  "Nobody thought I would be elected. When I entered I got four percent of the vote in the first poll, four percent."

Throughout that first election and his administration Mr. Koch was known for rather gleefully sparring with his opponents and the reporters who covered him. He seemed to enjoy bringing what he agreed was a "New York attitude" to governance.

"I was not afraid of the press or the militants," he said. "It was uncomfortable, but I was not afraid. With respect to the press, I knew I knew more than they knew about city matters. With respect to the militants, I understood it. I mean, everybody believed in those days that they were being screwed, you know, that somebody was getting ahead of them."

Mr. Koch said his love of political sparring was cemented during an incident during his mayoralty where he confronted opponents on a picket line in his inimitable style and best-known catchphrase.

"There was this huge picket line of the union people with signs saying, 'Koch must go, Koch must go,' and they're yelling, just really angry," said Mr. Koch. "As I walked through the line to get to the entrance there were two women, one white, one black, and they were yelling, 'Koch must go! Koch must go!' And I couldn't help myself, so I turned to them and I said, 'How'm I doing?' Honest to god, they both said, 'You're doing wonderful, wonderful.' And then, as I walked further, then it began again, 'Koch must go!' So, it was at that moment that I realized that 75 percent of all the attacks are simply theatrics, drama, fun in a way. And it reduced the pain."

His critics felt he ignored their concerns, particularly as AIDS ravaged the city, when he shut a hospital that was beloved by the black community in Harlem and when he appointed a longtime associate with questionable credentials to head the Health and Hospitals Corporation in the mid-1980's. However, Mr. Koch argued he simply couldn't keep all New York's diverse constituencies happy while doing an honest job overseeing the five boroughs and fiercely defended his efforts to "run the most merit-situated government that we've ever had." Particularly, he viewed reforms he brought to the city's judicial system as one of his signature achievements.

"I'm very proud of--I changed the judicial system so that I no longer searched for candidates and fulfilled political obligations, which prior mayors had done using the appointments--the mayor appoints criminal court and family court judges," Mr. Koch said. "I created a committee in which the judicial agencies ... had as many delegates on there ... as I did. And then, in addition, we took the deans of three law schools and they were given the responsibility of finding candidates for each vacancy."

His system endured beyond his term although Mr. Koch notes one of his successors, Rudy Giuliani, "kept the system, but violated it." Mr. Koch and Mr. Giuliani's relationship varied wildly over the years. In 1989, when Mr. Giuliani first ran for mayor Mr. Koch supported David Dinkins. As a Jew, Mr. Koch's support was instrumental in helping Mr. Dinkins become the city's first African-American mayor at a time when tensions between Jews and blacks ran high. Mr. Koch had previously inflamed this rivalry when he attacked African-American presidential candidate Jesse Jackson for referring to New York as "Hymietown." After four years, Mr. Koch backed Mr. Giuliani in his successful effort to unseat Mr. Dinkins.

"When David had a terrible single term with Crown Heights as his legacy--nice man, but unsuccessful mayor--I then supported Giuliani against David," explained Mr. Koch.

In his former role as U.S. Attorney, Mr. Giuliani prosecuted many officials involved in corruption scandals that were seen as stopping his effort to run against Mr. Dinkins and secure a fourth term. In the end, Mr. Koch noted he was never directly implicated in the scandals.

"If Giuliani thought I was corrupt, you could have been sure he would have gone after me. You know, they always were after what they referred to as the 'big fish' and the danger in all these things is that the people they go after will lie and say, 'No, no it was the mayor,' in order to be able to get out from under," said Mr. Koch. "You had a U.S. Attorney who was very competent and who, ultimately, wanted to be mayor, so he was going to certainly try to destroy the then current mayor and he didn't."

Despite his eventual support for Mr. Giuliani, Mr. Koch became an opponent of his administration and began harshly criticizing him in a series of late 1990's Daily News columns. He eventually compiled the columns into a bluntly-titled book, Giuliani: Nasty Man, that he republished when Mr. Giuliani  attempted to run for president in 2007. However, in the end, Mr. Koch referred to Mr. Giuliani as simply, "a good mayor."

(Emily Anne Epstein)

Before his death, Mr. Koch had already made his endorsement in the next mayoral election and, even the upcoming 2016 presidential campaign, clear. For him, one of the most important national issues is the country's relationship with Israel. He described his backing of Israel as stemming from a desire to see his fellow Jews protected.

"I'm an American, this country's given me everything. I love this country. My support of Israel is, in part, similar to the support of a Polish-American who loves the fact that Poland stood up to the Russians," Mr. Koch said. "That is not due loyalty, which is often charged falsely, it is that I know that every night there is some Jewish community in the world that's under attack by the people in the same country in which they're citizens and the government's not protecting them. ... It's so important that there be a secure Israel that can accept them and give them sanctuary. It's happened before, it'll happen again. Regrettably, Israel didn't exist when the Nazis were in power, because Hitler offered to let the German Jews go if there was a country that would take them. No country would take them."

Mr. Koch also framed his support for Israel in terms of its importance to American security.

"Israel is the only Democratic state [in the Middle East] it's the only one we can rely on," said Mr. Koch. "You look at the Islamic states and what is their goal? The destruction of western civilization."

One of the items that was on display in Mr. Koch's Midtown office up until his death was a framed photo showing him on a visit to Jerusalem being hit with a rock thrown by Palestinian protesters. The picture was accompanied by a letter from former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir thanking Mr. Koch for being the "first eminent American to be standing in the Old City." Mr. Koch said he received nine stitches after being wounded by the rock.

"If it had hit my eye, it would have taken my eye out," he said. "That's why I have such a low opinion of Tom Friedman, because he urged the third Intifada. He told the Arabs to throw stones."

Mr. Koch's views on Israel largely defined his relationship with President Barack Obama. Though he endorsed President Obama in 2008, he later backed Republican Bob Turner in his 2011 congressional campaign in a rebuke of the Obama administration's stance on Israel. Though Mr. Koch and Mr. Obama later reached a rapprochement, the former mayor said he's still worried about how President Obama will handle the situation in the Middle East.

"He has a philosophy which is different than mine and his philosophy is that somehow or other, he is the guy who can bring the Islamic states together with the United States and western civilization," said Mr. Koch. "I think he's dead wrong and, in order to do so, I believe he concluded earlier that that means lessening the ties with Israel. And then, as the result of the response from people like me, he decided he would change on that. How long that change lasts, I don't know. People generally, in deeply held philosophical positions, ultimately revert to them in time."

Though Mr. Koch was more than comfortable in the public eye, he was never comfortable discussing his personal life. After a lifetime as a bachelor, he faced persistent rumors he was gay that added to the anger directed at him during the AIDS crisis. Though Mr. Koch thought the documentary about his life depicted him as a "lonely" man. It also showed scenes of him with the family who surrounded him at his death.

"I wanted the world to see my family and my sister's grandchildren in particular, who I adore," said Mr. Koch pointing to a group of framed photos displayed prominently at the front of his desk in Midtown. "There are seven of them. They're all there."

As a man who led New York City for twelve years and remained relevant for decades after, one would think Mr. Koch might have left the world with some words of wisdom to pass on to his successor Mayor Michael Bloomberg about how to confront the post-mayoral period he will begin next year. However, Mr. Koch told us he had no advice for Mr. Bloomberg about the next chapter in his life.

"We have never talked about it and he doesn't need any advice from me," Mr. Koch said. "With $20 billion, you can buy the services of people who are much smarter than I am to provide the advice on this issue. So I could well understand why he doesnt need any advice from me."

(Photo: Getty)

Yesterday afternoon, Joe Lhota, who recently emerged as a leading contender for the Republican nomination in the mayor's race, sat down with Politicker and discussed his campaign's future and challenges moving forward, as well as a number of hot-button policy issues. Throughout the interview, Mr. Lhota emphasized his experience while stressing he was not planning to be a clone of former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, whose administration he served in, and that he is not defined by his year running the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, a job that raised his profile in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.

Mr. Lhota, who formally announced his candidacy this morning, said he first seriously thought about making a bid for the city's highest elected office last year.

"In all honesty, when I thought about running for mayor, it could go back years ago. I don't think you could be a deputy mayor without thinking [about it] some day. I was even acting mayor a couple times. I started giving serious consideration to this in the middle of 2012," he answered, sipping coffee. "Post-Sandy, it crystallized for me, because I saw an avenue to win; I saw an avenue to get the nomination ... I looked at the candidates running for mayor and I said, 'You know what? I have the leadership skills necessary to get the job done.' The city doesn't need management, it needs leadership."

However, given the city's Democratic bent, Mr. Lhota's quest won't be easy. After all, we pointed out, he doesn't possess a personal bank account as massive as Mayor Michael Bloomberg's to invest in the effort. Though he has Mr. Giuliani's support, the ex-mayor's base, which was built some 15 years ago, may have substantially eroded due to the five boroughs' demographic shifts.

"I'm going far beyond the Giuliani coalition," he answered, adding he expects to be able to scoop up many Democratic and unaffiliated voters. "There's not a community in the city that I won't go to. There's not a community in this city that I won't try to get their votes. This idea of tying me to Giuliani is quite unique. I know Rudy Giuliani. I like Rudy Giuliani. I worked with him during his administration. But we're completely different people. "

On the "social issues," Mr. Lhota said he was "much more progressive than Rudy is, and that's where really differences lie." Unlike Mr. Giuliani, Mr. Lhota said he backs same-sex marriage, and in an interview with Capital New York, he expressed support for marijuana legalization. In the same piece, he described himself as a "libertarian."

Despite his desire to distance himself from Mr. Giuliani, Mr. Lhota doesn't want to fully embrace the libertarian brand.

"The 'libertarian' thing was a mistake on my part for saying it, but I am," he mused when we brought up the term.

Another possible obstacle for Mr. Lhota's mayoral aspirations is that the most recent item on his résumé was managing the M.T.A., a financially troubled state agency he left after just one year. Despite praise he received for his post-Sandy recovery efforts, Mr. Lhota was forced to enact an unpopular fare hike right before announcing his resignation, something he described at the time as a "profile in courage."

"The idea that they're fiscally worse off today than they were a year ago is just false," Mr. Lhota said of the agency he once led, placing the blame for the M.T.A.'s woes on forces beyond his control and claiming he did much to improve the situation. "That being said, there is a systemic structural balance problem at the M.T.A. The paradigm that was created in the 1960s, when the M.T.A. was created ... has reversed itself. The commitments on the part of the state government and the city government have gone in a different direction."

Nevertheless, it's possible many New Yorker voters only notice the M.T.A. when they're frustrated by it and not when things are going smoothly. We asked Mr. Lhota if he thought late or dirty trains could hurt his political brand, even through no fault of his own. Although admitting in our conversation that the agency has "been used as a piñata for a long time," Mr. Lhota proceeded to challenge the premise commuters may associate him with their frustrations.

"I actually think when--the trains are late? Tell me how do you know the trains are late?" he asked.

We responded by explaining, whatever the reason, some city residents might find subway service was not as fast as they would like it to be.

"They come much more frequently than we used to," he countered. "Depending on what line you're on, you can look up at your countdown clock or in other stations where we don't have countdown clocks, we make announcements ... We do that to provide all kinds of information. You know, it's interesting, when you go down into the subway, depending on the time of the day. There's normal [times], trains are separated by 5 or 6 minutes apart. If you just miss the train and the next one comes 5 or 6 minutes later, everybody we talk to says, 'The trains are late.' But it's really not. That's the schedule it's on."

Though he defended the agency's performance, Mr. Lhota emphasized his candidacy isn't based solely on the single year he spent governing the M.T.A..

"It also doesn't define me," he said. "It's not the predicate of why I'm running for mayor. It really isn't. I think my experience in City Hall is much more significant. I think my experience in the private sector is significantly more significant than the M.T.A.. The M.T.A. was just the last stop."

Mr. Lhota's background as an administrator and a Harvard Business School alumnus was apparent as he discussed a variety of issues with a focus on the numbers behind the policies. This approach was particularly evident when we asked for his take on the NYPD's stop-and-frisk tactic, which has been criticized by all of the main Democratic mayoral candidates.

"The reality is, what you need to do is to actually see a correlation trend between the stop-and-frisks--which are all noted down in forms filled out by the patrol people who do it--and combine that, and look at that in comparison to what victims of crime describe their assailant as," he argued. "As long as you see a strong correlation between the two, stop-and-frisk is [a] tool that should continue. If you see it go awry--if, all of a sudden, you see one group questioned more and the crimes aren't there connected with it, that's when you have to look at it and say, 'What's happening here?' It's a little more of a scientific way of doing it, but it's the way it should be done."

Most importantly of all, Politicker asked Mr. Lhota about a more personal statistic--the recent decrease in his famed Twitter output. We wondered whether it was intentional and due to the demands of his campaign for Gracie Mansion.

"You know what?" he said. "I think as I started to ramp up the campaign, I have had significantly less free time. I'm not reading as much as I used to and I'm going to back to that. I'm clearly not watching as much television as I used to, and I'm not tweeting as much as I used to."

With Mr. Lhota planning to spend the next few months introducing himself to voters in neighborhoods all over the city, it's not likely he'll be returning to his social media and entertainment regimen any time soon.

Ed Koch (Photo: Getty)

Former Mayor Ed Koch has already committed to supporting Christine Quinn in the 2013 mayoral race even though she has yet to officially announce her campaign and the potential entrance of MTA Chairman Joe Lhota into the race is not going to change his mind. In an interview with the Post, Mr. Koch said he won't back Mr. Lhota because he has fundamental disagreements with the "philosophy of" former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who Mr. Lhota worked for as deputy mayor for operations.

"I don’t believe that the city will elect a Republican at this time, which is what Joe Lhota is, because his philosophy is that of Rudy Giuliani, who antagonized a lot of people when he was mayor because of his pugnaciousness," Mr. Koch told the Post.

Mr. Koch went on to say he believes that "antagonistic" approach "permeated" the Giuliani administration.

"The philosophy of Giuliani that permeated his administration was ‘My way or the highway,’ and I think that anyone endorsed by Giuliani or who worked for his administration would conclude that that is the philosophy of the Giuliani wannabes," said Mr. Koch.

Mr. Koch, who was a Democrat, endorsed the Republican Mr. Giuliani when he first ran for mayor in 1993.  Mr. Giuliani is supporting Mr. Lhota's campaign and some of his other ex-aides are expected to work for the MTA boss' mayoral bid.

(Photo: Getty)

Veteran New York Post gossip columnist Cindy Adams has written quite a bit on New York City politics over the years, and last night, NY1's Inside City Hall invited her on to share her thoughts on next year's mayoral race, which she did in her own inimitable way.

Ms. Adams was particularly displeased with Comptroller John Liu's prospective candidacy. Mr. Liu, who majored in Mathematical Physics and went on to work at PricewaterhouseCoopers, is usually criticized for the fundraising scandal surrounding his campaign, but Ms. Adams chose to insult his intelligence.

"He's an imbiot (sic). Imbecile. He's an idiot. So we have to forget him because even he forgets him," she explained.

Ms. Adams next moved on to Council Speaker Christine Quinn, the frontrunner to replace term-limited Mayor Michael Bloomberg.  The columnist was entirely focused on Ms. Quinn's sexuality and wedding this year to another woman, Kim Catullo.

"But I went to Christine Quinn's wedding and I was standing there with Mayor Bloomberg, by the way, and we were trying to figure out what do you call Christine's husband or wife, if she were to becomes mayor? Is this the First Person? The First Whatever? What do you call her?...You can't call her the First Lady, I don't know, it doesn't seem right."

Asked to elaborate further on the mayoral field, Ms. Adams addressed two non-candidates, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer. Mr. Stringer dropped out of the race to run for Mr. Liu's comptroller position instead and Mr. Giuliani's spokesperson shot down a rumor that he was interested in a comeback campaign, an idea first raised by one of Ms. Adams' columns.

"The charter allows him to do it. He's not going to do it. He's not going to do it," Ms. Adams said of the former mayor. "Everybody else is running; everybody but my housekeeper is running. They've all been to my house. The only one I feel really badly about is Scott Stringer, because he came over for tea to my house. We gave him everything and the best cookies that I had, I gave him. Now he's not running and I've wasted the best cookies. What a total waste and he's not even running! I wouldn't give cookies to a comptroller!"