In late November 2007, "The Politico" reported that while Mayor of New York in 1999 and 2000, Giuliani had billed to obscure city agencies several tens of thousands of dollars of mayoral security expenses incurred while visiting Judith Nathan, with whom he was having an extramarital affair, in The Hamptons. Giuliani denied that he or his administration had done anything improper, and called the charges a "political hit job". Questions continued in the press not over his need for the security, but over the appearance of trying to hide the expenses in the city budget, which Giuliani aides eventually said was due to vendor payment efficiencies. Shortly thereafter, the "New York Daily News" reported another angle on the story, stating that Giuliani had ordered police department protection and chauffeuring services for Nathan in early 2000, before her relationship with him had even become public.