CLEAN BABY CLEAN....Rudy wants to clean up the mess in NY

(John Avlon-Dailybeast)...A recent poll showed that 20% of New Yorkers want to leave the state amid rising taxes, poverty and unemployment rates, and parallels to the bad old days of the 1970s. At least one guy’s not buying it: “Once you say something’s ungovernable,” Rudy Giuliani told me, “You remove accountability.”

“Once you say something’s ungovernable,” Giuliani told me, “You remove accountability.”

Rudy’s back, doing what he does best: proposing how to clean up the mess. He’s hitting the airways and pumping out op-eds in The New York Times. With regard to New York State, Giuliani is calling for a state constitutional convention centered on systemic fixes such as gubernatorial budget authority, term limits, campaign-finance reform and redistricting reform. “The state needs to be fundamentally modernized,” Rudy says. “Many of these suggestions have enjoyed bipartisan support in the past. What’s been missing is action.” He wants to begin a larger debate: “If you have a better way of reforming state government, then come up with it. Just don't sit back and say ‘I can't do anything about it.’” His efforts are being met with speculation that he’ll run for governor in 2010.

New Yorkers know Rudy Giuliani does best in a crisis. I’ve seen that up close, working with him in City Hall. And the Empire State is wrestling with two huge problems with long-term ramifications.

First, the mess in Albany, where corruption and scandal have left only one out of four statewide elected Albany officials where the voters put them less than three years ago. Second, the state economy is a mess: New York has lost 1.5 million people this decade and 195,000 private-sector jobs in the past year. The number of upstate manufacturing jobs has declined by 24% and the only sector growing north of the Hudson River Valley is the government.

Some people see parallels to the shape of New York state today and the shape of New York City when Rudy ran for mayor.

When I asked Rudy whether he’s decided to run for governor, he said he hasn’t decided. I know him: Believe it. But polls in New York show an interesting opportunity. The Marist poll’s hypothetical head-to-head matchups show Rudy defeating Governor Paterson by 56% to 32%, while trailing Attorney General (and son of Mario) Andrew Cuomo. What’s most revealing is a look at the cross-tabs showing Rudy winning the support of 38% of Democrats, 54% of moderates, and 56% of independents, as well as 58% of voters who make less than $50,000 a year. Republicans realize that he might be their last shot in a state that is down to two GOP congressmen from 13 a decade ago. “Rudy Giuliani has proven time and again that he commands the leadership skills to bring order and prosperity out of chaos and dysfunction,” says Michael McCormack, GOP chairman in FDR country, Dutchess County.

Whether he leads a state constitutional convention or runs to lead the Albany statehouse itself, a Rudy resurgence has the potential to be bigger than just turning the tide in New York. A cleanup there could show the national Republican Party a path out of the wilderness, with a focus on fiscal responsibility, effective governance, political reform, and economic growth—a big-tent prescription based on the principles that Republicans used to stand for.