Giuliani, the New York Yankees and $16,000 Rings

2008 Republican Presidential Candidate, Rudy Giuliani owns four diamond-encrusted New York Yankees World Series Rings from 1996, '98, '99, and 2000. That is one for every year the Yankees won the Series while Giuliani was the mayor of New York City.

According to this weekend's Metro, publications like the Village Voice and the New York Times are curious about just how and when Mr. Giuliani obtained these rings. If he accepted the rings while still Mayor, he could have broken conflict-of-interest laws that bar public officials from accepting gifts.

Mr. Giuliani claims the rings were not gifts and that he purchased them after he left his mayoral office. On the campaign trail in Huntsville, Alabama he said, "I paid precisely what anyone else would pay." Reportedly, that was $16,000. Baseball and memorabilia experts say, however, that the four rings are worth approximately $200,000 as they have Mr. Giuliani's name inscribed on them.

Coincidentally, according to the most recent federal campaign disclosure report, Yankee executives contributed $16,300 to Mr. Giuliani's 2008 presidential campaign. Is the $16,000 amount just coincidence or is it payback?" inquiring minds ask.

A spokesperson for the Yankees, Alice McGillion of the public relations firm Rubenstein Associates, dismissed the allegation as an over-the-top theory. Mr. Giuliani's campaign had no comment.

Mr. Giuliani has reportedly had a long-standing, close relationship with the team. The Yankees President, Randy Levine, is Giuliani's ex-deputy mayor. Levine named Giuliani Security & Safety as a hired consultant on the Yankees' new stadium project. The Yankees not only lease their current stadium from New York City, but they negotiated with Giuliani for large subsidies to build their new stadium. It is a violation of state unlawful-gratuity statutes for a public official to "solicit, accept, or agree to accept any benefit" from a business that leases property from the city.

The question is not only whether Giuliani purchased or received the rings while he was in office, the question is whether he was promised them while in office or negotiated with the Yankees for a refund of their price in presidential campaign contributions.

According to Citizens for Ethics, McGillion has been vague about when Mr. Giuliani received the rings. She said that in 2003, Giuliani paid $13,500 for his 1998, 1999, and 2000 rings, and in 2004, he paid $2,500 for his 1996 ring. She said that the team had only "transmittal" documents that confirmed the payments and that, from those documents, it could be "reasonably deduced" that he didn't receive the rings until then.

According to these dates, Giuliani paid for his 1996 ring eight years later in 2004. This may be an indication that he realized it was improper to receive it while mayor, and in legal terms could be seen as "inference of guilt."

It is possible that the late payments for all of the rings may have tax implications. The IRS requires that transactions above a certain amount be reported by the donor or the recipient. Speculation that Giuliani may have been trying to keep the transaction amounts low so that neither he nor the Yankees would have to report them to the IRS has arisen.

Mr. Giuliani is accused of accepting other gifts from the Yankees such as tickets, caps, jackets, autographed baseballs and other sports paraphernalia with a possible value of over $100,000.

Rings and sports memorabilia may seem like small potatoes. The bigger picture, however, is a mayor who would lend himself to special interests may be a president who would lend himself to special interests and a mayor who would bend the rules may be a president who would bend the rules.

So far, Mr. Giuliani has not explained to the public and potential voters in the 2008 presidential election the details of when and how he acquired his New York Yankees World Series Rings. He has, however, according to the New York Times said, "I own them and I don't intend to sell them."