Rudy Has A Gal Pal
Another week, another bombshell from New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
A week after revealing he's been diagnosed with prostate cancer, the mayor acknowledged - sort of - that he has a relationship with a woman with whom he's been spotted around town.
Giuliani, whose 16-year marriage to actress Donna Hanover has been on the rocks for years, told a City Hall press conference on Wednesday that the woman in question is "a good friend. A very good friend."
The mayor refused to say anything more about the woman, identified by two New York newspapers as Judith Nathan, 45, of Manhattan, a business manager for a Fortune 500 drug company. The Daily News quoted aides to the mayor as saying his relationship with Nathan was an "open secret."
"They're an item," the newspaper quoted a confidant of the mayor as saying.
Giuliani said he was not bothered by reporters' questions on the touchy subject, "because this is the job I have and the life I decided to have." But, he added, "I am annoyed that people would have invaded the privacy of people who are not in that life and who have not made that choice. But, you know, you get used to it and you move on."
Giuliani declined to answer further questions, saying "I have told you everything you need to know or have a right to know about how it affects my public life. I have told you about my health. That affects my public life. There is nothing else you need to know."
Giuliani and Nathan were spotted by a New York Post photographer leaving an Upper East Side restaurant after a recent Saturday brunch.
The mayor and his wife have seldom been seen in public together in recent years, and Giuliani stopped wearing his wedding ring several months ago.
Hanover caused a stir recently when she announced she would appear in a sexually suggestive play, The Vagina Monologues, which was written by a friend and political supporter of first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, the mayor's rival in the race for the U.S. Senate.
The mayor responded to Hanover's role by saying, "My wife is independent, she leads an independent life, so do I."
Hanover subsequently postponed her appearance in the play after the mayor announced his cancer diagnosis, citing "personal family circumstances."
Since the mayor disclosed that he has cancer, New York political observers have speculated about whether he would remain in the Senate race against the first lady.
The mayor has said he would not decide whether to continue his campaign until he has discussed treatment options with doctors.
"It's not only my hope, but my expectation, that he will run," said Giuliani campaign manager Bruce Teitelbaum. "Hopefully, he'll pick a course of treatment that will give him a cure, a complete cure and then we'll be able to move forth aggressively, with a winning campaign. That's our hope, and I know the mayor shares my opinion."
Two statewie polls show the mayor and the first lady remain locked in a statistical dead heat as they have been for months, with no apparent fallout from Giuliani's prostate cancer diagnosis.
As if he doesn't have enough worries, Giuliani also picked up another Senate challenger this week - former congressman Joseph DioGuardi, who announced Monday he'll battle the mayor for the Conservative, Independence, and Right To Life party endorsements.