Romney vs. Rudy on Crime

It’s quite silly of the Romney camp to let themselves get dragged into a debate with Giuliani over their records on fighting crime, because any discussion only draws attention to Giuliani’s greatest strength.

Team Romney is arguing that their man had a good record on crime as governor because violent crimes overall dropped 8 percent. However, the mother of all violent crimes-murder-jumped 7.5 percent.

Over at NRO, Plymouth Country, Massachusetts D.A. Tim Cruz defended the Romney crime record. But his defense of Romney could actually be used to help bolster the case for Giuliani.

Cruz writes:

To address the growing murder rate in the City of Boston – what Governor Romney termed an “epidemic” and a “serious crisis” – he offered to have State Police troopers assist Boston police officers with patrol duties. He provided an immediate influx of $700,000 in state aid to faith-based and community groups working to solve this problem by diverting young people away from activities that lead to violence, particularly gang membership.

Cruz left out one crucial fact-that during Romney’s time as governor, murders in Boston jumped 25 percent, according to FBI statistics. At every stop on the campaign trail, Giuliani points out that what separates him from his rivals is that others talk about what they’re going to do, but he actually gets results. Here we have a case in which Romney called something an “epidemic” and “serious crisis” and took action to address the problem, but the problem he sought to address got far worse.

Deroy Murdock has a useful comparison of the Giuliani and Romney crime records:

While it’s tricky to compare a four-year governorship with an eight-year mayoralty, the FBI’s Uniform Crime Statistics illuminate Romney’s and Giuliani’s records on law and order. While murders grew 7.5 percent in Massachusetts during Romney’s 2002 – 2006 gubernatorial term, they plunged 66.7 percent across Giuliani’s two mayoral terms (1993 – 2001). Burglaries rose 5.8 percent under Romney and slid 68.2 percent under Giuliani. While robberies climbed 12.3 percent on Romney’s watch, Giuliani supervised a 67.2 percent reduction in robberies. As Romney saw a 32.5 percent reversal in motor-vehicle theft, such crimes cratered 73.3 percent under Giuliani. Overall, Romney’s crime index fell 8.2 percent, while Giuliani’s tumbled 56.1 percent.

The Romney campaign should find a way to change the subject, and fast.

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