Giuliani Is Acting Like Captain Queeg

This was early in the morning, long before the dedication of Arthur Ashe Stadium. David Dinkins, former mayor of New York, had just read some newspaper stories about Rudolph Giuliani, current mayor. In these stories, Giuliani was screaming again about the city’s contract with the United States Tennis Assn., sounding as shrill and weird talking about airplanes being rerouted away from tennis as Capt. Queeg was talking about missing strawberries in “The Caine Mutiny.”

Of course, Giuliani had to explain once again why he was snubbing the dedication of Ashe Stadium.

“[Giuliani] is acting like a Grade-A jerk,” Dinkins said. “This has nothing to do with planes being rerouted and everything to do with politics. If [Giuliani] didn’t make the deal, then it can’t possibly be a good one for the city. Except that it is, and everybody except [Giuliani] knows it.”

Dinkins paused, as if reloading. He would say later than Giuliani was the one who picked this election-year fight. One week Giuliani is campaigning against Vanity Fair. This week, tennis. Maybe next week he wipes out row boats in Central Park. If he finds out Dinkins had anything to do with the boats, the current mayor may go after them with torpedoes.

“Whatever he thinks about this deal, he should have attended this event out of respect for Arthur Ashe, and for Jeanne (Ashe’s widow),” Dinkins said. “By not showing up, he insults Arthur’s memory, and he insults her. And that’s not right.”

It is not right. Maybe Giuliani, the No. 1 Yankee groupie in all of his city, is too tough for tennis, even though the US Open -- in just two weeks -- generates about two-thirds the economic activity as the Yankees (or the Mets) generate over a whole baseball season. It has been estimated by the city’s own accountants to contribute more than $300 million to the city’s economy. Giuliani doesn’t want to talk about that. Why? Because even though that is a big number, it doesn’t make him look big.

So rather than talk about the financial killing Dinkins made for New York City, Giuliani talks about planes over the US Open being diverted during the two weeks of the tournament. An outrage! Giuliani shrieks, never pointing out that while some Queens residents get more noise for these two weeks, most get less. And that most of the rerouted flights are more of a bother to residents of Nassau County, Westchester and southern Connecticut.

Argue with Giuliani about this, as USTA president Harry Marmion has, and you risk being called a liar. Dinkins, according to Giuliani, is an accomplice. Like Queeg, the mayor of New York says he can prove all this with strict geometric precision.

“Isn’t it interesting,” Dinkins says, “that (Giuliani) runs around yelling about a stadium deal paid for almost entirely by the USTA at a time when he’s trying to convince everybody that the Yankees need a new $1 billion stadium, all of it public money?”

Dinkins and Giuliani have fought before. They are bitter political enemies, to the death. Only one -- the former mayor -- showed up at the US Open. Arthur Ashe’s last book was called “Days of Grace.” The current mayor should read it sometime. And learn something.