Nanny May Have Been Kerik's Least Problem

[UpInArms]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=326522



NEW YORK Dec 13, 2004 — Bernard Kerik's nanny problem might have proved the least of his troubles if he had pressed ahead with his bid to become homeland security secretary.

The past few days have seen news reports about a rash of possible personal and professional improprieties on the part of the former New York City police commissioner, including big stock-option windfalls, connections with people suspected of doing business with the mob, and, on Monday, allegations he had simultaneous extramarital affairs with two women.

Citing unidentified sources, the New York Daily News said Kerik had overlapping affairs with Judith Regan, the publisher of his recent memoir, and a city correction officer. He used the same New York City apartment for liaisons with the women during his 18-month tenure as head of the nation's largest police department ending in 2001, the paper said.

<snip>

Democrats also were focusing on Kerik's recent windfall from exercising stock options in a stun gun company that does business with the department. He earned $6.2 million from the options received from Taser International.

...more...

Note to Mods: First news story that pulled all the information together - thought it was worthy of its own thread. Do as you will :)
Thanks!

[KlatooBNikto]

1. I will believe the nany story only if the nanny was named Judith Regan.

[maddezmom]

2. hey, I wrote this headline a few days ago

:+

[UpInArms]

4. it's the headline that I felt should have been

on the 2-inch front page of every paper

here's a nice (/sarcasm) editorial to go with it

http://www.startribune.com/stories/561/5135331.html

Editorial: Kerik's exit/Why did he gain an entrance?

brought down Bernard Kerik, briefly nominated by President Bush to be secretary of homeland security. If so, the nation should be relieved. Kerik is a walking, breathing example of the sort of person not needed in such a critical federal government post. What in the world were the Bush administration officials doing even considering him for the job?

One thing they clearly weren't doing was properly looking into his past. This former cop, who just 11 years ago was serving as Rudy Giuliani's driver, has left a veritable trail of questionable actions that should have raised alarms long before his nomination was ever announced.

We're not talking about the nanny. Perhaps for that sort of detail the White House must rely on a nominee's word. But surely even a cursory look at Kerik would have brought to light:

• A 1998 New Jersey arrest warrant for Kerik over unpaid condominium dues. He was bankrupt in 1987, cash-strapped in 1998 and now is worth millions, made through the sale of stock options earned during 18 months on the board of Taser International, which makes stun guns sold to government (including the Department of Homeland Security).

• An illicit relationship with a subordinate while he was New York City's corrections commissioner. That relationship now has spawned a civil lawsuit.

• Allegations uncovered by a New York newspaper within days of his nomination that, as police commissioner, "Kerik accepted thousands of dollars in cash and gifts without making proper public disclosures." Many of those gifts came from an employee of a "major city contracto

<snipping out lots>

The list goes on, but the picture is clear: Kerik is, to say the least, ethically challenged and monumentally arrogant. And yet not one of these red flags apparently came to the attention of those responsible for his vetting. Newspaper reporters could dig out these items but the federal government couldn't? What a comedy of errors.

...more...

[uppityperson]

3. High moral values indeed. Thug

[eleny]

5. He reminds me of W

The talk about Kerik not putting up money but garnering windfalls from a company and then the selling of some stock before a stock tanked reminds me of GW stories.

I wondered if the hashing of those issues in the press might make people start talking about GW's past. Maybe they knew that the media was going to air these issues and decided Kerik needed to back out. It's just like the administration to be so arrogant as to appoint a rotten apple like Kerik. "In your face" is like second nature to those bastards. But some of his past mirrors Bush's.

Well, this has been on my mind lately.

[lapfog_1]

13. No, Bush was directly criminally involved

to make his millions, and while Kerik profited wildly from a unsavory
deal ( he wouldn't even be in the news if it wasn't for 9/11 ), he
wasn't in DHS when he got his sweetheart deal from the taser comp.

Bush was on the acting committee of Harkin for the whole Harkin/Aloha
scandal.

For those not in the know, Harkin did an "Enron" before Enron...

Harkin acquires Arbusto (GWB failed oil company)... awarding Bush
some stock options in Harkin as a result (plus a minor role on
various executive committees). Harkin later buys a string of gas
stations in Hawaii (Aloha Oil Company). Strapped for cash and with
a falling stock price, they cook up the following deal. A number
of Harkin insiders form a partnership and contribute some of their
Harkin stock to "fund" the partnership. The partnership "buys" the
Aloha asset from Harkin, USING the pledged stock to do the buyout!
Harkin books a sale of it's asset and writes it on a balance sheet
as "INCOME" which then makes Harkin "profitable". The newly
profitable oil company gets some action on the off wall street
markets and it's stock price rises... ding ding ding... the insiders
all sell the rest of their stock to the suckers buying into a
profitable company and the investors are left holding the bag
(no asset of Aloha, and only the investors money which isn't
siphoned off by the insiders as assets, much less than was invested
in the stock run up). Bush, holding his stock options, illegally
exercises and sells his options (even though he should have be
in a "quiet period" as both an insider and as a member of the
finance and accounting committee). Harkin goes back to losing
money and the stock tanks. Bush walks away with his first million.

If they had found ANYTHING like this with whitewater... Clinton
would have been forced to resign or LOSE the impeachment trial.

Later Enron would use this insider "shell game" (asset asset whos
got the asset) to do billion dollar deals a few years later.

[brentspeak]

6. This goon lives in the town over from mine

I was just driving through Franklin Lakes yesterday, thinking to myself "Where do these people GET all this money?" Now I know...

[Career Prole]

7. From what I see here, Mr. Kerik...

...you should fit right in here at bushco. Welcome aboard!

[Must_B_Free]

8. "the mob"

everyone knows there is no such thing as "the mob", as every mob movie shows, they were all captured at the end of the movie and the mob don't exist anymore.

[Divernan]

9. Bet reporters called him Friday for response to upcoming sex scandal story

I KNEW something beside the "nanny" story had surfaced and the "nanny story" was the administration's exit strategy - as transparent as the "I'm resigning to spend more time with my family" excuse, or a variation on the theme - Ridge's "I need to make more money for my kid's college expenses." (as an aside, although I am not a fan of Ridge's, he IS the kind of guy who would have stayed on the job if Bush wanted him to remain - all Bush would have had to say, was that the country needed Ridge.)
Returning to the sex scandal story, journalistic practise is to call the subject of a scandalous expose and give them the opportunity to reply to accusations - and this is done when everything else about the story is ready to print. I bet Kerik and the administration got calls on Friday, stonewalled the reporter and then scrambled for a bogus story to explain Kerik's exit. Ironically, ethical lapses and criminal behavior relative to business dealings wouldn't have slowed down Bush's support, but omigod, multiple extramarital affairs!?!?!?! The born-again, neocon base would have imploded!

[Mz Pip]

10. I almost think

they would have given him a pass. They have given a pass to anything and anyone that Bush approves.

Talk about sleaze. Our Governator Ahnold has nekkid pictures all over the Internet. Did that make a difference? Not in the least. He campaign for Bush and they all loved him. :puke:

Mz Pip
:dem:

[koopie57]

11. Did anyone see the media interviewing Rudy G.

It looked to me like he almost cracked up laughing for a moment.

[Pachamama]

12. Really? I thought Rudy looked nervous..that was nervous laughter...n/t