In The Never Ending Quest For Yes Men

OOPS

"White House officials were clearly annoyed at Mr. Kerik for not determining the nanny's immigration status before this week but said they had no evidence he had sought to mislead them. "It was Kerik's screw-up, it was that simple," the official said. "But it's a mistake you can't tolerate with someone who has oversight for immigration."

Poor old W, misled again. :wink:

Too bad. Kerik would have been excellent in the job.

anything for a strong man huh? Gee

Bi- I believed that his life history and experience made him eminently qualified for the job. Later, when I learned of his business connections to the government, I had second thoughts.



No, not ANYTHING. But I certainly would not want a Casper Milquetoast in THAT job!

No choice for him but to withdraw.

But, 'tis a shame we have become so intolerant of people not verifying the legal status of their household employees, no matter how capable a public servant they are..

Larry434- Yeah, but for that job, there would have been too much of a conflict.

I agree phoenix. Still a shame to lose such a capable public servant over such an irrelevant error on his part.

If the laws regarding hiring immigrants are irrelevant why don't we change them?

As for the man himself, I don't know anything about him except they said that he had a lot to do with running things in the aftermath of 9/11.

Why didn't bush pick Rudy himself?

Larry - I don't think it was the "nanny" problem that made him resign. There's a whole lot more to the story than that.

http://news.findlaw.com/ap_stories/a/w/1152/12-9-2004/20041209054501_26.html

I guess that answers my question about rudy.

Did Bush not know about all this before he recommended Kerik?

more about the story. I don't see what all the fuss is about, to me he was just a guy, but anyway,

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6697161/site/newsweek/

The magazine faxed documents, including the arrest warrant, over to the White House around 6:00 p.m. Friday, asking for comment. Neither Kerik nor the White House had any immediate response. At 8:30 p.m., Kerik had submitted his letter to the president

Ah, the old revolving door between government service and private industry. Those passing through it to greener pastures are rewarded generously for their insider knowledge and access.

Customary and regular it is. Why do you think so many of Bush's cabinet are siezing that opportunity after just one term at the pittance one recieves while in government service?

Boy I bet Bush is glad that guy droped out citing "nanny problems" which seems to be the same as saying "personal reasons" nowadays.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/203523_homeland13.html

Monday, December 13, 2004

Other questions surface about Kerik's past
Ties to N.J. company could have become fodder at hearings

By WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM AND KEVIN FLYNN
THE NEW YORK TIMES

While serving as New York City correction commissioner in the late 1990s, Bernard Kerik spoke to the city's Trade Waste Commission on behalf of a close friend who was helping a company suspected of mob connections try to get a license from the city, according to a former commission executive.

The conversation was part of a web of relationships Kerik developed with officials of a New Jersey construction company long suspected of connections to organized crime by New York authorities.

The company, Interstate Industrial Corp., hired Kerik's close friend Lawrence Ray, the best man at Kerik's wedding, to help with its licensing problems. Ray said yesterday that he gave Kerik more than $7,000 in gifts while he was commissioner of correction and later of the police department.

Interstate also hired Kerik's brother, Donald Kerik, after the conversation with the Trade Waste Commission executive, Raymond Casey, who was then the agency's head of enforcement, although there is no indication that the hiring was in return for the conversation.

Both Kerik and one of the owners of Interstate, Frank DiTommaso, acknowledge that they were friends, but said there was no effort to inappropriately influence the licensing process.

In fact, in January of this year, city regulators recommended denying the license, citing what they said were ties to organized crime over many years. DiTommaso said his company did not have ties to organized crime.

Kerik says he does not remember the conversation with Casey. And Casey says he cannot recall who initiated it. Nonetheless, the story of Kerik's relationship with Interstate was almost certain to be one of a mounting number of details from his past that would have been fodder for Senate committees deciding his suitability to be secretary of Homeland Security, a post to which he was nominated by President Bush last week.

Kerik withdrew from consideration on Friday and said his discovery that he had employed a nanny and housekeeper who appeared to have been in the country illegally was the sole reason.

White House officials say that the nanny matter was not disclosed during their background investigation, and that none of the other matters that they were aware of were sufficient to disqualify Kerik.

But other questions surfaced after his nomination was announced: his ties to Interstate, his huge profits from companies that do business with the Homeland Security Department, accusations that he abused his authority during an investigation of employees working for a Saudi hospital 20 years ago.

Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who recommended Kerik to the White House, now says that even if Kerik had survived the questions about Interstate at his confirmation hearings, they would have made his task much more difficult as secretary.

"I believe they would have been issues," Giuliani said yesterday. "I think he would have been able to give a sufficient answer. But I think he would have been under much closer scrutiny once he became secretary. He would have had to have been very, very careful."