Today, an experiment in mash-ups. Seeing as how Rudy has been rather free with the facts in his previous radio ads, we decided to scrutinize pretty much every statement in his new television ad. I’ll give him this much: he’s learned not to use specific statistics.
A note on sources: My statistics on big cities and crime come from doj.gov. The “fair share” index is explained here (a PDF). I should note that although NYC’s “fair share index” remained constant during most of Giuliani’s term, all that means is that NYC’s burden on the total state welfare expenditures remained the same. And, at 1.7, it was not especially disproportionate (Baltimore was 4.8) — but it was on the high side compared to other large American cities (LA: 1.3, Dallas: .9, San Diego: .7, Houston: .7).