Big trouble springs from small agencies.
For first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, it was the White House travel office, which ordinary folks would never have thought to care about. In 2000, at the height of her first Senate campaign, the Bill Clinton-era independent prosecutor concluded she gave false information about her role in firing staffers there - which her aides then spun as an exoneration.
Under Gov. George Pataki, the New York State Canal Corp. attempted to sell private development rights to large stretches of the old Erie Canal to a single developer for a mere $30,000. The deal was killed.
For Mayor Ed Koch, it was the unassuming Parking Violations Bureau, exposed as corrupt when he ran City Hall. Prosecutions followed. For Mayor Michael Bloomberg, it was the New York City Local Conditional Release Commission - which he said he'd previously never heard of. The panel granted an embarrassing early release to a one-time Republican ally, former state Sen. Guy Velella, who'd been jailed on corruption charges. The release was revoked and the panel dispersed.
Today, as Rudy Giuliani chases the world's most powerful office, the small stuff usually known only to those inside municipal government has aroused annoyance or worse for his campaign. Last week, a tempest arose over travel costs budgeted through obscure mayoral agencies. Also on Giuliani's watch, you had embezzlement at the Housing Development Corp., theft from a little-known jail fund and other fiascoes - probed and prosecuted under Bloomberg.
Dan Janison