First up, Drudge of all people reports that Kerik had a non-profit police support organization blow $3000 on 30 busts of him to give to friends and visiting dignitaries. There's a nice ego for ya.
In case you didn't know, he was the NYC police commissioner for a while under Giuliani. However, he didn't just work for the well known Republican lapdog in connection with the fine city of New York, but Kerik is also a senior VP in Giuliani Partners, which is a "consulting" firm. From his bio at the site, Kerik has quite a history as an "enforcer" type. He was an MP in Korea and NoCarolina and after that, again according to his bio "spent nearly four years working on various security assignments in the Middle East."
Hm... smells like a "military contractor" to me. Of course, those of us "in the know" understand the phrase "military contractor" to mean "mercenary."
After that, he served as the "Commander of Special Weapons and Operations and Warden of the Passaic County Jail in New Jersey."
Damn--I'd hate to be sentenced to that jail!! (What kind of jail needs a "Special Weapons" commander??)
He graduated from SUNY Empire State College and is also "a member of the Academe and Policy Research Senior Advisory Committee for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Criminal Justice Advisory Council of St. John’s University in New York City."
He was in the middle of 911 on 911 as NYC police commissioner and was later appointed Iraq's interim Minister of Interior and was the Senior Policy Advisor to the U.S. Presidential Envoy to Iraq’s Coalition Provisional Authority, as well.
He did a REAL good job there, didn't he?
Kerik's bio also says that he is co-founder of Giuliani-Kerik, LLC, an affiliate with Giuliani Partners which is a management consultant firm. Back in 2002, they got a deal with the DoJ along with another firm to study the way the wars on drugs and organized crime are being fought. So, this guy is very connected.
In short, some place along the line, Kerik impressed some neo-con and he's been having his shiny bald head buffed for a position like this for years.
Here's a little something from an article the New York Daily News posted on their website back on April 22, 2004:
Ex-police commissioner and President Bush loyalist Bernard Kerik took a huge swipe at Sen. John Kerry yesterday, suggesting another 9/11 attack is more likely if the Democrat wins the White House.
Calling his biggest fear "another terrorist attack," Kerik told the Daily News, "If you put Sen. Kerry in the White House, I think you are going to see that happen ... and I don't want to see another Sept. 11."
He also penned this little diddy at the the New York Post website--here's an excerpt:
I am voting for George W. Bush because he has shown me that he has the resolve and the strength to fight and win the war against terrorism. In this year's presidential election, the first held since the attacks of 9/11, the most important election in our lifetime, these qualities have never been more critical.
OH and here's part of what NewsDay.com's Ellis Henican said about Kerik in his December 3, 2004 column:
Campaign bodyguard to Rudy Giuliani.
Errand boy for the Saudi royal family.
Energetic exploiter of Sept. 11th tragedy.
Tough-talking publicity-hound vowing to bring law and order to Iraq - then hightailing it out of there after a disastrous 14 weeks, leaving the place far less safe than he found it.
Finally, we have a bit from an obviously biased piece at the Times Online website:
SHAVEN-HEADED, foul-mouthed and hard as nails, Bernard Kerik would stand out in President Bush’s Cabinet even if his drug-addict mother had not been bludgeoned to death at 34, probably by her pimp.
OK, so in the end, we know that this guy is bad news. There may be no obvious smoking gun, but what I've written about above sure represents a warm gun barrel.
Read more about Kerik in an AP article posted at MyWay.com
Read about those busts Kerik had made of himself over at Drudge.
Read a New York Daily News article about Kerik's feelings about Bush and Kerry.
Check out Kerik's bio at the Giuliani Partners website.
Read Kerik's opinion of Bush in his own words in a column he wrote for the New York Post back on November 1, 2004.
Go read the Department of Justice press release announcing the consulting deal for Giuliani-Kerik, LLC and another company over at the DoJ website.
Read Ellis Henican's column over at Newsday.com.
From The AP and MyWay.com websites:
Kerik Named to Lead Homeland Security
Dec 2, 7:00 PM (ET)
By DEB RIECHMANN
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush has chosen former New York police commissioner Bernard Kerik, who helped direct the emergency response to the Sept. 11 terrorist strikes against the Twin Towers, to lead the Homeland Security Department, charged with safeguarding Americans from future attack, administration officials said Thursday.
Bush also announced his choice of Nebraska Gov. Mike Johanns to be agriculture secretary, selecting a dairy farmer's son who has traveled widely to promote American farm sales abroad.
In a third development, U.N. Ambassador John Danforth submitted his resignation after holding the job for less than six months. He had been mentioned as a candidate for secretary of state, a job Bush gave to National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice.
The flurry of moves came as Bush reshaped his team for his second term in office. Seven members of the 15-member Cabinet have submitted their resignations; Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson also appears to be preparing to leave.
Kerik inherits a sprawling bureaucracy from Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, who resigned last month. The creation of the department in 2003 combined 22 disparate federal agencies with more than 180,000 employees. The organization is still learning to work together and faces criticism over aspects from the coordination of finances to computer systems. Bush initially opposed the creation of the department but changed his position as its support on Capitol Hill grew.
Kerik's first anti-terrorism work was as a paid private security worker in Saudi Arabia. He joined the New York Police Department in 1986, first walking a beat in Times Square. He eventually was tapped to lead the city's Corrections Department and was appointed commissioner in 2000.
It was in that position that the mustachioed law enforcement chief became known to the rest of the country, supervising the NYPD's response to the 2001 terror attacks, often at the side of then-mayor Rudolph Giuliani. In 2003, he took on a temporary assignment in Iraq to help rebuild the country's police force. Most recently, he has been a consultant for Giuliani Partners, working to rebuild Baghdad's police force.
Danforth, 68, a Republican former Missouri senator, has been tapped by presidents of both parties as a troubleshooter. He led a Clinton-era investigation of the Waco Branch Davidian affair, and Bush named him special envoy for peace in Sudan. Danforth, who plans to retire, took over at the United Nations when Bush's first ambassador, John Negroponte, was named ambassador to Iraq.
Danforth sent the president a letter Nov. 22, saying that on Jan. 20, it was his intention to retire to his home in St. Louis.
He also said he would continue to be available for short-term projects but intended to spend time with his wife, Sally, said his spokesman, Richard Grenell. Danforth received a reply from Bush on Nov. 27, though Grenell would not disclose its contents.
If confirmed by the Senate, Johanns, a two-term Republican governor in Nebraska, will replace Ann Veneman at the Agriculture Department. Johanns, 54, who has led delegations of Nebraska's farm and business leaders on trade missions to Japan, Taiwan, China, Singapore and a half-dozen other countries, has taken a leading role in drought relief in the Midwest and has supporter ethanol, biodiesel and other alternative sources of energy, Bush said.
"As a son of Iowa dairy farmers, he grew up close to the land," Bush said in announcing his pick for agriculture secretary in the Roosevelt Room. "I know firsthand his deep commitment to a strong farm economy."
Bush's selection of Johanns to oversee 113,000 employees at the Agriculture Department caused a stir in Nebraska politics.
Johanns was expected to run in 2006 against Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson, who is on the Senate Agriculture Committee and had been mentioned as a possible candidate for agriculture secretary.
Nelson praised Bush's selection, saying that "the person who will administer the farm bill and build for the future of agriculture in America needs to be somebody with Midwestern agricultural experience."
Johanns was a Democrat when he was elected in 1982 to a county board of commissioners, which he left five years later and became a Republican in 1988. He became major of Lincoln, Neb., in 1991, won election as governor in 1988 and a second term in 2002. He was the first Republican to win re-election in more than four decades.
"In my campaign for governor, we ran a radio ad and it said, 'After growing up on a dairy farm, the son of John and Adeline Johanns, everything in life has seemed easy after that,'" Johanns said.
Copyright 2004 Associated Press
POLICE FOUNDATION SPENT $3,000 TO SCULPT 'KERIK THE GREAT'
Fri Dec 03 2004 11:25:19 ET
President Bush on Friday nominated former New York police commissioner Bernard Kerik to replace Tom Ridge as Homeland Security secretary.
During his time in NY, Kerik was immortalized for the ages in a 7-pound sculpture bust.
The NY Police Foundation, a nonprofit organization that raises funds for programs to support NYPD officers, quietly spent about $3,000 for 30 busts of Kerik in 2002.
The 7-pound busts of "Kerik The Great" depict him in uniform, with a mustache and with his department name tag. Each is mounted on a wooden platform.
Pam Delaney, the foundation's executive director, said the group, whose stated mission is to improve the quality of police services through programs that cannot be funded by the city, was asked to create the busts by Kerik's aide. They were to be given to friends and visiting dignitaries.
Kerik "meant it as a nice gesture," a foundation official explained.
NEWSDAY learned of the busts through an anonymous e-mail message that said: "There are a few in headquarters and those who have them are laughing big-time."
None of the busts were given away and most of them remain at foundation headquarters at 345 Park Ave.
And now the move is on to prevent the busts from appearing on Internet trade sites.
Developing...
Kerik: Another 9/11
By KENNETH R. BAZINET
likely with Kerry as Prez
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON - Ex-police commissioner and President Bush loyalist Bernard Kerik took a huge swipe at Sen. John Kerry yesterday, suggesting another 9/11 attack is more likely if the Democrat wins the White House.
Calling his biggest fear "another terrorist attack," Kerik told the Daily News, "If you put Sen. Kerry in the White House, I think you are going to see that happen ... and I don't want to see another Sept. 11."
He pointed to Kerry's votes to cut intelligence budgets and against spending another $87 billion on Iraq without curbing tax cuts.
After a Bush-Cheney campaign official was asked if Kerik's assertion reflected the campaign's position, Kerik called The News back to clarify his comments.
"If there's another terrorist attack, I don't want John Kerry in the White House," he said, adding he was simply trying to distinguish between Bush and Kerry.
The subtext of Bush's campaign has been that he would keep the country safer than Kerry would, but none of his surrogates has gone so far as to say electing Kerry would bring on attacks.
Kerik's comment came as he and former Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen announced the formation of the "Bush-Cheney '04 National First Responders Leadership Team." Appearing in Pennsylvania surrounded by cops and firefighters, they touted Bush's homeland security push.
An irate Kerry camp fired back, detailing Bush's alleged broken promises to first responders, as well as Kerry's votes in support of cops, firefighters, the military and the intelligence communities.
"John Kerry is a decorated war hero," said Phil Singer, a Kerry spokesman. "He's already put himself in harm's way on behalf of his country. They have no credibility to launch these political attacks."
The Bush camp's panel is designed to counter firefighters unions that are "giving the impression that every firefighter and cop in the country are with Kerry," said a Bush campaign source.
A poll out yesterday said two of three Americans believe another terrorist attack is at least "somewhat likely" before the election.
With News Wire Services
Originally published on April 22, 2004
© 2004 Daily News, L.P.
Bernard B. Kerik
Senior Vice President
Mr. Kerik is a Senior Vice President at Giuliani Partners and is Chief Executive Officer of Giuliani-Kerik LLC, an affiliate of Giuliani Partners. Mr. Kerik most recently served as Iraq’s interim Minister of Interior and as the Senior Policy Advisor to the U.S. Presidential Envoy to Iraq’s Coalition Provisional Authority.
Mr. Kerik served as the 40th Police Commissioner of the City of New York. During his sixteen month tenure, Mr. Kerik's leadership resulted in dramatic reductions in crime through innovative and creative management. Mr. Kerik was also a principal member of the Mayor’s cabinet overseeing the rescue, recovery and investigation of the World Trade Center attack on September 11, 2001. He also served as the First Deputy and Commissioner of the New York City Department of Correction.
Mr. Kerik began his professional career in the U.S. Army’s Military Police Corps serving in Korea. Mr. Kerik was also assigned to the 18th Airborne Corps at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, and he later spent nearly four years working on various security assignments in the Middle East. He went on to serve as the Commander of Special Weapons and Operations and Warden of the Passaic County Jail in New Jersey before launching a career with the NYPD.
Mr. Kerik holds a B.S. in Public Administration from Empire State College (SUNY). He presently serves as a member of the Academe and Policy Research Senior Advisory Committee for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Criminal Justice Advisory Council of St. John’s University in New York City.
© 2004 Giuliani Partners LLC. All rights reserved.
PROMISE KEEPER
By BERNARD KERIK
November 1, 2004 -- TOMORROW, America will decide who will lead our nation for the next four years. For the future of my family, my country and the principles I have based my life upon, I'm walking into the voting booth and pulling the lever for President Bush.
I am voting for George W. Bush because he has shown me that he has the resolve and the strength to fight and win the war against terrorism. In this year's presidential election, the first held since the attacks of 9/11, the most important election in our lifetime, these qualities have never been more critical.
I'm voting for President Bush because I was the commissioner of the New York City Police Department on 9/11 and I watched the planes crash into the World Trade Center, and take the lives of 23 of my cops, 37 Port Authority officers, 343 firefighters and almost 2,400 innocent civilians. And three days later, George Bush was at my side, and standing shoulder to shoulder with the grief stricken heroes still searching for survivors. He stood with us at the site of the worst attack in U.S. history and delivered a promise we desperately needed to hear — that the madmen responsible for this evil "would hear from us."
I'm voting for President Bush because he fulfilled that promise in three months, breaking the Taliban and al Qaeda's hold on Afghanistan and turning a terrorist breeding ground, responsible for training more than 20,000 fanatics, into a democracy, where the first presidential vote in Afghan history was cast by a 19-year-old woman.
I am voting for President Bush because he understands that there will be no easy victories in the war against terror.
Someone guided only by political winds, someone whose vision is narrowed by the fear of controversy and criticism — someone like John Kerry — might have closed the book with the fall of the Taliban. After all, Sen. Kerry has shown as much in his votes against liberating Kuwait in the Persian Gulf War, his vote to reduce our nation's intelligence budget one year after the first bombing of the World Trade Center, his repeated votes to slash our military and weapons systems.
But the president stood at the gravesite known as Ground Zero and saw with his own eyes the death and devastation that terrorism leaves in its wake, the children whose fathers and mothers would never come home, the parents that now had to bury their sons and daughters. And in that moment he understood what John Kerry cannot grasp — that our nation cannot endure another 9/11, that we can't afford to be defensive in the War on Terror, that the next plot might not be against our skyscrapers but our schools, that the next Madrid could be Penn Station and the next Beslan, Russia could be Bayonne, New Jersey.
I am voting for President Bush because he understands this threat, and he has responded, building from the ground up a Department of Homeland Security that links 22 agencies and 180,000 federal employees together into a single, unified effort, and an Information Network that puts them in direct contact with another 700,000 law enforcement officers nationwide.
For the first time, these brave men and women were given a national strategy to follow, one that is focused on intelligence and warning, transportation security, and defending against catastrophic events. And to make sure they had the tools to do the job, President Bush tripled the Homeland Security budget and delivered the Patriot Act, which allowed these officers to share information in a way they had never been able to before, to uncover terror cells in Lackawanna New York, and foil terrorist plots against the Brooklyn Bridge.
I am voting for President Bush because he understands that if we don't fight the enemy at their source with soldiers and tanks we will end up fighting them in our cities with cops and firefighters. John Kerry says wrong war, wrong time, but forgets to mention the thousands that Saddam Hussein murdered, the rewards he paid to the families of suicide bombers, the terrorists like Abu Musab al-Zarqawi he sponsored and harbored.
I spent four months in Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein, I saw the brutality he left behind, the hatred for America he cultivated, the threat he was building. I know our world is safer now that he is gone.
When I cast my vote, I am going to remember these moments. I am going to remember what I lost on 9/11, and how I felt on that morning. I'm going to reflect on what I would have thought on that day if I had heard someone like John Kerry speak to me about global tests, about nuisances, about how this day "didn't change me much at all."
And then I am going to vote for President George W. Bush.
Bernard B. Kerik served as the 40th Police Commissioner of the New York City Police Department and as Interim Minister of the Interior and Senior Policy Advisor to the U.S. Presidential Envoy in Iraq.
Copyright 2004 NYP Holdings, Inc.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MONDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2002
WWW.USDOJ.GOVDOJ ANNOUNCES CONTRACT AWARD FOR MANAGEMENT STUDY OF THE ORGANIZED CRIME DRUG ENFORCEMENT TASK FORCES PROGRAM
WASHINGTON, D.C.- Attorney General John Ashcroft announced that the Department of Justice has awarded a task order to the firm of Ernst & Young LLP to conduct a comprehensive management review and to develop performance and accountability standards for the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces Program (OCDETF). OCDETF is the centerpiece of the Attorney General's drug strategy and is the only nationwide drug program that combines experienced federal agents, prosecutors, as well as state and local law enforcement. OCDETF utilizes the expertise and statutory authorities of nine DOJ, Treasury Department and Department of Transportation components to disrupt and dismantle the nation's most significant drug trafficking and money laundering organizations. The nine agencies participating in OCDETF include the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the U.S. Marshals Service, the U.S. Customs Service, the Internal Revenue Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the 94 United States Attorney offices throughout the United States.
Ernst & Young LLP was selected from a competition conducted under the General Services Administration's Management, Organizational and Business Improvement Services Schedule, which enabled the Justice Department to assess a broad range of experienced business advisory firms in a timely manner. Ernst & Young LLP, which will partner with Giuliani-Kerik LLC, has extensive experience in data collection and analysis, as well as the development of management and accountability systems. Giuliani-Kerik LLC, which is headed by Rudolph W. Giuliani, has experience in the development and implementation of law enforcement performance and accountability systems. This combined expertise in performance and accountability systems, as well as their application in a law enforcement environment will be instrumental in the success of the OCDETF management review.
OCDETF has recently implemented a series of new initiatives to enhance and expand OCDETF investigations, as well as to heighten the Program's impact in reducing drug supply. Ernst & Young LLP and Giuliani-Kerik LLC will evaluate OCDETF's business model and culture. They will design management and oversight systems, performance measures and a resource allocation system to monitor and assess the impact of the OCDETF program. They will also ensure implementation of the new program initiatives.
Ernst & Young LLP and Giuliani-Kerik LLC will interview senior officials from all member OCDETF agencies. They will visit each region to identify needed modifications in OCDETF's reporting structure, operating systems, policies and data collection systems; they will also provide recommended changes to eliminate existing inefficiencies.
The results of the study, which are scheduled to be published in May 2003, will provide
OCDETF the managerial blueprint and systems to measure its effectiveness and ensure that the Program is appropriately structured to fulfill its primary mission of disrupting and dismantling the most significant drug trafficking and money laundering organizations.
December 04, 2004Bush opts for a bruiser to make America secure
From Elaine Monaghan in Washington
SHAVEN-HEADED, foul-mouthed and hard as nails, Bernard Kerik would stand out in President Bush’s Cabinet even if his drug-addict mother had not been bludgeoned to death at 34, probably by her pimp.
Yesterday, Mr Bush added some New Jersey grit to his inner circle by nominating the former New York Police Commissioner, who was almost crushed by the World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001, to run the Department of Homeland Security.
Mr Kerik, 49, who was reunited recently after 26 years with the daughter he fathered as a young military policeman in South Korea, will add unprecedented colour to a rather straight-laced Cabinet.
More Rambo than Morse, his life story reads as if he was born to lead the US War on Terror. Immediately after the American invasion of Iraq, he spent four months there rebuilding its police force. At the time he was praised for his willingness to take on the job, but since then the force has been criticised for its ineffectiveness to combat insurgents.
His ascent to fame, from what he euphemistically called the “modest streets†of Paterson, New Jersey, began with a stint in the 1970s working for a private company that ran security in hospitals for the Saudi Royal Family.
Later, at the helm of New York City prisons, he cut inmate violence by more than 90 per cent. He reduced the crime rate as commissioner of the city’s police force, although like Rudolph Giuliani, the former New York Mayor, he attracted criticism for being overzealous in his zero-tolerance approach.
Mr Kerik, a tae kwan do black belt, is married to a Syrian, a fact that may appeal to Arab Americans. He showed his political teeth by fiercely defending Mr Bush’s record on fighting terrorism at his nominating convention. “George W. Bush has my vote, and for the future and safety of this country, I pray to God he has yours as well,†he said.
His chief qualifications for the job include accidents of history that allowed him to showcase his skills at the side of Mr Giuliani, who is god- father to one of his children.
“He arrived at the World Trade Centre minutes after the first plane hit,†Mr Bush said as he listed Mr Kerik’s accomplishments. “He was there when the twin towers collapsed. He knew the faces of the rescuers who rushed toward danger. He attended the funeral of the officers who didn’t come back.â€
But he also has a reputation for a no-nonsense, up-close-and-personal management style that may breathe new life into the agency that he is being asked to lead. Its creation, a response to the 9/11 attacks, was the biggest government shake-up in half a century.
Mr Bush described his nominee as a “dedicated, innovative reformer who insists on getting resultsâ€.
While the Senate is likely to approve Mr Bush’s choice for the post, Democrats may question some aspects of Mr Kerik’s past, including the $2,500 (£1,287) fine he paid for using police officers to research his mother’s life while working on his memoirs, which are peppered with swearing from the opening sentence. He has denied any role in the dispatch of murder investigators to question employees of Fox News after his publisher suspected them of stealing her mobile phone and necklace.
“I will devote every power I possess toward fulfilling the vital mission you have set before me,†he said. “I promise you, Mr President, that both the memory of those courageous souls and the horrors I saw inflicted upon our proud nation will serve as permanent reminders of the awesome responsibility you place in my charge.â€
Copyright 2004 Times Newspapers Ltd.
Ellis HenicanKerik nomination is a ticking time bomb
December 3, 2004
Campaign bodyguard to Rudy Giuliani.
Errand boy for the Saudi royal family.
Energetic exploiter of Sept. 11th tragedy.
Tough-talking publicity-hound vowing to bring law and order to Iraq - then hightailing it out of there after a disastrous 14 weeks, leaving the place far less safe than he found it.
Oh, the bullet points on Bernie Kerik's real-life resume just go on and on. But is this really the guy we want standing between us and the terrorists?
George W. Bush apparently thinks so.
White House sources were saying last night that Kerik, the scandal-scarred former commissioner of the New York Correction and Police departments, will be named today to take Tom Ridge's job as head of homeland security.
For now, let's give the Bush folks the benefit of the doubt: Maybe they've been wowed by Kerik's shameless swing-state Kerry-bashing in Bush's behalf. ("I fear another attack, and I fear that attack with ... Senator Kerry being in office responding to it.")
Maybe they've been bullied by Giuliani's bulldog lobbying for a loyal business buddy and after-hours pal. ("OK, Karl," you can almost hear Rudy say, "I won't be attorney general, but you gotta take Bernie at homeland security!")
Or maybe it's just that the FBI background check isn't back from the field.
Whatever the reason, the White House personnel office really ought to ask some probing questions around New York. You can bet they'll get an earful of heads-up about this hard-charging, thick-necked, shaved-head lightweight.
Let this be a warning from someone who's followed the man's ladder-climbing career: He's a personal and professional time bomb the Bushies will learn to regret. Don't say I didn't warn you, guys!
That's certainly the message that smart law-enforcement professionals in New York were exchanging yesterday, as they shook their heads in disbelief at Kerik's latest career goal.
"He couldn't run the Rikers commissary without getting greedy and making a mess, in a jam," one correction veteran said. "Now he's gonna be in charge of the Department of Homeland Security? Let's just hope the terrorists don't decide to come back."
This former subordinate was referring to just one of many petty scandals that have hung over Kerik's career. When he ran Correction, nearly $1 million of tobacco-company rebates were diverted into an obscure foundation Kerik was president of. This was for cigarettes bought with taxpayer money and then sold at inflated prices to jail inmates. But this rebate money - would kickbacks be a better word? - got spent entirely outside the normal rules for public funds.
No one was criminally charged. But a whole rash of IRS rules were seemingly violated. One board member quit in protest when the foundation treasurer refused to provide him with financial reports. And no one has ever explained where all the money went.
It was a typical Kerik deal. He behaved from start to finish like normal rules didn't apply to him.
It isn't possible in so little space to give an adequate tour of the man's rise from Jersey high-school dropout to prospective anti-terror boss.
As a public service, however, let me suggest a few ripe areas of personal inquiry that someone in Washington might like to pursue.
Along the way, don't lose sight of this: The homeland security chief stands between Osama bin Laden and our good-night sleep.
Why did he pull out of Iraq so suddenly? Does he think he did a pretty good job teaching the Baghdad police how to keep order and how to behave in "a free and democratic society," to use his words at the time?
Was Sept. 11th Commission member John Lehman on to something when he called Kerik's leadership after the terror attack "scandalous" and "not worthy of the Boy Scouts."
What exactly does he do at Giuliani Partners? How's that anti-crime campaign in Mexico City going? What companies and foreign governments are on his client list?
Why did Kerik send a New York City homicide detective to rouse TV hair and makeup artists in the middle of the night when his book publisher (and workout-partner) lost her cell phone?
What new job does he have in mind for John Picciano, his perennial chief of staff? Could Picciano really pass a federal background check? What about the complaint (later dropped) that he'd beaten up his correction-officer girlfriend and waved his gun around?
There are answers for all of it, I am sure. Answers to these few questions and many racier ones.
Over the weeks to come, Kerik will have a chance to answer all of them.
I, for one, am waiting.
So are a lot of people who've gotten to know the man in New York.
© Newsday, Inc.
No comments:
Post a Comment