Herman: Rick and Rudy, one final, tragic act?
There's Rick. And there's Rudy. Rick is 69. Rudy's 75. Rick grew up in
Rick's dad served 30 years as a
Somehow, Rick and Rudy communicate without a translator. And somehow, despite the defining differences, their diverse political paths crossed in a way that made them a political odd couple with enough in common to create a lasting bond.
Now,
Perry is in his final days as President
But then, on
Meanwhile, it turned out that Giuliani, in addition to being Trump's personal lawyer, had become Trump's unappointed, unofficial ambassador to
That Rick and Rudy now are linked via a faraway nation that's become synonymous (at least in
Presidential campaign
In
The little-remembered Giuliani campaign crashed to a halt after he finished a distant third (behind
"When
I had caught up with Perry in
At times, Perry's campaigning for Giuliani seemed to do more good for Rick than Rudy. This newspaper ran a 2007 letter to the editor from
And there was this back then from
In
"One has a great head of hair," I wrote back then, "the other also has a head."
Despite the differences, the two remained a political couple, though Giuliani didn't endorse Perry in 2012 or 2016. To be fair, those Perry presidential campaigns didn't last long enough to pick up many endorsements.
Toll roads
Both longtime politicians now are under scrutiny for their Trump-related roles in
In May of this year, Perry, a late sub for Vice President
There's also this Rick and Rudy linkage, albeit perhaps an arms-length one: In 2007, the
"The award to Cintra, approved by the
The commission is made up of gubernatorial appointees.
Three firms had competed for the contract for the project. Cintra agreed to pay
State lawmakers, concerned that Cintra got too good of a deal, weighed in and pressured the
Bracewell & Giuliani also was involved when Cintra became the original owner of the 41-mile southern portion of the
Giuliani, who had joined the
Today, Perry and Giuliani are waiting with the rest of us to see where the impeachment inquiry goes. They're linked again, this time on the world stage as
Rick's from
And as a result of the most improbable of presidents.
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