Don't look at my personal life or my social views, Rudy Giuliani seems to be saying to Republican presidential-primary voters. Instead, look at my management record.

Since he ended his eight-year tenure as New York City's mayor at the start of 2002, Giuliani has steadily laid the groundwork for his current presidential bid by parlaying his experience as chief executive of one of the nation's largest regional economies into a lucrative run as a consultant.

"They used to call it unmanageable, ungovernable," the candidate says of pre-Giuliani New York in a TV ad. "I believe I've been tested in a way in which the American people can look to me. They're not going to find perfection, but they're going to find somebody who has dealt with crisis almost on a regular basis and has had results."

But it's not what he did as New York's mayor that is getting attention these days. It's what Giuliani has done in the private sector—along with some long-ago issues dating before the September 11 attacks—that raise uncomfortable questions about the kind of manager he is.

Even before terrorists struck New York four months before the end of his term at City Hall, Giuliani planned a move into consultancy. As the saying goes, 9/11 changed everything—including "America’s Mayor" being hailed as a hero.

Accounting giant Ernst & Young rushed at the chance to work with him. Two weeks after leaving office, the ex-mayor opened Giuliani Partners with a rumored $3 million signing bonus in the bank. The former federal prosecutor had turned into a C.E.O. in an instant.
 
Giuliani went on to form a series of eponymous entities. He founded the Rudolph W. Giuliani Center for Urban Leadership. He leveraged a Texas Republican connection to join the Houston law firm of Bracewell & Patterson, which was changed to Bracewell & Giuliani. Giuliani Partners and Ernst & Young jointly begat Giuliani Capital Advisors (which was sold after he entered the presidential race), and that begat Giuliani Compliance Japan. Giuliani-Kerik L.L.C. was later renamed Giuliani Security & Safety, which spawned the Rudolph W. Giuliani Advanced Security Centers and Giuliani Security & Safety Asia.
 
According to Federal Election Commission filings, Giuliani's wealth has exploded since he left office. All the firms that bear his name are private and therefore not required to publicly furnish information, but Giuliani's F.E.C. disclosure shows that he earned $16 million last year. Factor in investments, and Giuliani and his wife Judith Nathan, a former pharmaceutical-sales rep, are worth between $12.7 million to $45.4 million, according to filings. By contrast, in his mayoral-disclosure forms, Giuliani reported assets of between $1.2 million and $1.9 million in 2002.
 
Political foes and public-interest groups criticized Giuliani for continuing to work for his consulting firm because of the inevitable conflicts of interest should he become president. After months of silence and unflattering news reports, Giuliani Partners finally clarified on December 2 that Giuliani no longer had management duties or client involvement. In the most extensive review of Giuliani's client list to date, the Associated Press identified more than 175 Giuliani Partners clients–among them Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and numerous government contractors.
 
Companies generally hire consultants when they are in deep financial or P.R. trouble, or when they want help navigating federal regulations. "For the most part, it's real cloak-and-dagger," says Joseph Kornik, editor in chief of Consulting Magazine, which voted Giuliani one of the top 25 most influential consultants in 2002. "When clients sign them, they sign them on the down-low," he adds. In other words, Giuliani's reluctance to disclose client information is an industrywide practice.