[Mb-civic] scoop on latest Bush cabinet nominee

[ean at sbcglobal.net]

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1203-02.htm
Published on Friday, December 3, 2004 by the Long Island, NY 
Newsday 
Kerik Nomination is a Ticking Time 
Bomb 
by Ellis Henican 
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! 
hat'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. 
                   Copyright © 2004, Newsday, Inc.
                                 ###

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