Remembering Bernie Kerik

By Jeralyn, Section Crime in the News
Posted on Wed Oct 21, 2009 at 02:08:27 PM EST
Tags: Bernie Kerik (all tags)

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Michael Wolf at Newser has a good take on why the media shouldn't forget about Bernie Kerik.

Reason #1: Rudy Giuliani. The best way to keep Giuliani from becoming Governor of NY is to remind people about him and Bernie.

Like Wolf, I've never met Bernie in person, but was "befriended" by him on Facebook and we follow each other on Twitter. I've read almost every publicly available pleading in his federal case on PACER, starting with those pertaining to the disqualification of his lawyer and ending with the suggested jury instructions filed last week. During the 2008 primaries, I wrote very detailed posts about him and Rudy, Interstate, Larry Ray (more here) and so on. [More...]

As the New York Times opined in 2007:

The men have an extraordinarily close bond. Mr. Giuliani plucked Mr. Kerik from obscurity to make him correction commissioner. He made him police commissioner even though he may have been briefed about Mr. Kerik’s ties to the company suspected of links to organized crime. Mr. Giuliani also made him a partner in his security business and promoted him for the Homeland Security Department post.

Two important questions are precisely what are the mistakes the former mayor thinks he made in trusting Mr. Kerik, and how can voters be sure that he would not make them again as president, when the stakes for a disastrous appointment would be so much higher.

So my primary interest in Bernie's case, which is set for trial Monday, is more about Giuliani than Bernie. I have no desire to see Bernie convicted. In fact, as I wrote here, I'd like to see him win. But I really want to see Giuliani stay out of public office, and that's why I'll be following the Bernie Kerik trial.

Note: All of my coverage of Kerik is accessible here.

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Remembering Bernie Kerik | 14 comments (14 topical)

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OMG, thought maybe you were RIPing (5.00 / 1) (#1)
by oculus on Wed Oct 21, 2009 at 02:12:52 PM EST

Kerik. BTW, what does he Twitter?

Rudy And Bernie (5.00 / 1) (#16)
by norris morris on Wed Oct 21, 2009 at 08:11:36 PM EST

Kerik and Guilaini should not be forgotten as they epitomize the corruption and hypocrisy that stood for Rudy's governance in NYC, and his march to the White House.

Inept Rudy had a good PR machine spreading the crap that he was the next Teddy Roosevelt, if only.

And in spite of 9/11 it was easy to see through his incompetent and deplorable lack of protection. He had been urged to create strong protective systems but failed to do so. While Kerik was strutting around,screwing,taking from the mob, and whatever else, Rudy had [inspite of all advice], placed his command quarters in the WTC. Paid for with taxpayer and benefactor money.

He had been warned often to create a command center away from the Center and create good communication between Police and Fire Dept. He did neither. He built himself a huge Center within the Tower, and it went down ASAP. Rudy and Kerik had nowhere to go but run around the streets.

The lack of responder equipment and any emergency protocols were totally absent, which we all know caused hundreds of first responders to die needlessly.

The screw up and lack of preparedness by this Mutt and Jeff team was astonishingly inept.

The Fire and Police at the WTC had no means of communication, no knowledge as to the fire and emergency exits. That was just for openers. Rudy had the previous attack on WTC as a warning that good precautionary systems had to be put in place and that he should do what Bloomberg did. Place an Emergency Command Post to operate in an outer Borough, to command and communicate with respond teams, the government, etc., etc.

Since Rudy has his eyes on the Governorship of New York, it's more than important that we don't forget this duo. He's outworn 9/11 and finally thrown Kerik under the bus, but they are still both incompetent,sleazy phonies.

Remembering Bernie Kerik.... (none / 0) (#3)
by desertswine on Wed Oct 21, 2009 at 02:30:04 PM EST

Jeez, I thought that he died.

Me too (none / 0) (#5)
by ruffian on Wed Oct 21, 2009 at 02:37:25 PM EST

Thought he might have taken that revocation of bail pretty hard.


: Bullies... (none / 0) (#6)
by kdog on Wed Oct 21, 2009 at 02:49:29 PM EST

are the first to crack when they get a taste of their medicine, after all.

I sort of love Bernie Kerik. He broke (none / 0) (#7)
by tigercourse on Wed Oct 21, 2009 at 02:51:07 PM EST

nearly every single freaking law I've ever heard of, and some I had to look up. It was like he was going for a record or something. And this was the most important Police Commissioner in the country. They should have made a movie about him already. The script absolutely writes itself. The Coen Brothers or Soderberg should get right on that.

: If there were that many, (none / 0) (#12)
by Inspector Gadget on Wed Oct 21, 2009 at 03:24:35 PM EST

a tv series would be better...really explore each and every broken law.

Great title, (none / 0) (#8)
by jes on Wed Oct 21, 2009 at 02:53:14 PM EST

lovely air quotes, agreement with #1, and I'm fine with leaving the case details with you.

Heh (none / 0) (#9)
by Steve M on Wed Oct 21, 2009 at 02:54:44 PM EST

When Mr. Giuliani became mayor, he gave Mr. Kerik a job in the Correction Department. A year later, the mayor asked him to drop by Gracie Mansion.
The two men sat upstairs and shared a bottle of red wine, a gift to the mayor from Nelson Mandela. Mr. Giuliani said he planned to appoint Mr. Kerik as first deputy correction commissioner.
Mr. Kerik, who wrote of this in his autobiography, "The Lost Son," was taken aback; he was a year removed from being a police detective.
"Mayor, I appreciate your confidence in me, I really do," he said. "But I ran a jail. One jail. Rikers is like 10 jails."
Just do it, the mayor replied.
Mr. Kerik followed Mr. Giuliani downstairs to a dimly lighted room. There waited Mr. Giuliani's boyhood chum Peter J. Powers, who was first deputy mayor, and other aides. One by one, they pulled Mr. Kerik close and kissed his cheek.
"I wonder if he noticed how much becoming part of his team resembled becoming part of a mafia family," Mr. Kerik wrote. "I was being made."

Argh (none / 0) (#10)
by andgarden on Wed Oct 21, 2009 at 02:56:12 PM EST

How did NYC elect that guy twice?


: he got rid of the (none / 0) (#13)
by NYShooter on Wed Oct 21, 2009 at 05:55:47 PM EST

squeegee nuisance

More Heh (none / 0) (#11)
by vicndabx on Wed Oct 21, 2009 at 03:06:13 PM EST

Rudolph Giuliani is the godfather of two of the Kerik children, including Celine, shown in 2001 at City Hall.


Giuliani (none / 0) (#14)
by kaleidescope on Wed Oct 21, 2009 at 06:10:26 PM EST

I was in law school in New York when Giuliani was U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. What a piece of work he was. A creepy hyper ambitious pol who himself tried Stanley Friedman just to maximize the publicity he got. Giuliani was obnoxious even though he was a thorn in the side of the corrupt Koch Administration.

The surest way to get hurt was to get between Giuliani and a microphone. In the WBAI newsroom, we referred to him as "Adolph Giuliani."

criminal trials are not (none / 0) (#17)
by Jeralyn on Thu Oct 22, 2009 at 03:10:01 AM EST

a search for the truth. They are merely a testing of the evidence: Did the prosecution prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. The judge presiding over the OKC bombing trial explained this point blank in response to a motion brought by the victims. One of my favorite quotes ever.

If after a fair trial, the prosecution fails to prove its case and a not guilty verdict is returned-- or the prosecution proves its case and a guilty verdict is returned -- justice is done.

If you're searching for "the truth" you may need to look elsewhere.