How’s this for strange bedfellows: Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani will co-chair Gov.-elect Andrew Cuomo’s transition committee on public safety, the Daily News has learned.

Sources in the Cuomo transition say Giuliani, along with NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly and former U.S. Attorney Zach Carter, will “recruit, review and recommend candidates for top positions in agencies” related to keeping New York safe.

It’s a fascinating gambit on Cuomo’s part.

Giuliani’s profile went from lame duck to “America’s Mayor” after the 9/11 attacks. It catapulted him far enough into national hero status for him to make a bet-it-all-on-Florida run for President that ended up a near-total failure.

There was still enough shine left on the world’s biggest Yankees fan for news shows and aspiring Republican candidates alike to keep him on speed dial. Some in the GOP begged him to run for governor this year, seeing him as the only Republican with a chance at taking down the Cuomo juggernaut.

By bringing Giuliani into the fold, Cuomo may be neutralizing the ex-mayor’s potential to be a vocal critic of the incoming Democratic gov on all things security related. After all, if Giuliani helps pick Cuomo’s public safety cabinet, how can he trash them later?

At the same time, Giuliani’s hard-line crime policies and his execution of them made him a hated figure in much of New York’s African-American community – a powerful voting bloc whose leaders were less than impressed by this year’s all-white statewide slate.

Cuomo’s team had to do a lot of work – and still does – to court that community, as evidenced in the diversity of his transition crew.

David Birdsell of the Baruch College of Public Affairs agrees bringing “lightning-rod” Giuliani on board could be double-edged, but argues that overall, Cuomo “picks up more of an upside bump from his reach across the aisle than he does to antagonize the African-Americans in his base” by making Giuliani a top adviser.

As for the former mayor, he’s happy to help, says Dan Connolly, managing partner of Bracewell Giuliani, New York. “Rudy Giuliani has a long history of public service and is proud to put his expertise in public safety to use for the benefit of all New Yorkers,” Connolly says.

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(Source: NY Daily News)