Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who's weighing a presidential run, showed up at a press event hosted in Manhattan by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, which also was attended by former Mayor David Dinkins. Gingrich, Republican, politely praised Dinkins, Democrat, for his efforts to increase police hiring in the 1990's to fight spiking crime, say folks who were on the scene.
Dinkins' successor, Rudolph Giuliani, who had a publicly antagonistic relationship with Dinkins for most of his mayoralty, was not there. Giuliani, already a declared presidential candidate, and Gingrich recently co-wrote an op-ed piece that appeared in the Wall Street Journal, discussing how lessons from improving in New York City could be applied in Iraq.
Dan Janison