the donations that were asked for by the nys republican party were monies donated to the republican general election fund, not rudy himself. when the republican party asked for it back to give to the now underdog, Rick Lazio, rudy said no and kept those funds. even though he was no longer running. i believe the reasoning given by those against rudy at that time was, while he could not toucch the 18 million, he could always use the interest generated every year. someone more savvy than us would need to look into it, as google and ddg are never going to show us the details.