Bernie Kerik to replace Ridge?

[Headache in a Suitcase]

from New York Newsday

Kerik tops list to be Homeland chief
Sources say New York City’s former police commissioner who also helped train police in Iraq may head federal Homeland Security agency

BY KEN FIREMAN
WASHINGTON BUREAU

December 2, 2004


WASHINGTON -- Former New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik is the likely choice to head the federal Homeland Security Department during President George W. Bush's second term, according to sources close to Homeland Security officials.

Kerik would replace Tom Ridge, the first head of the department, who on Tuesday announced his intention to resign once a successor is in place.

Kerik, 49, served as police commissioner for 16 months during 2000 and 2001 and gained national prominence during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. He previously was city corrections commissioner.

After leaving the police post, he undertook a mission for the Bush administration to help train Iraqi police. He earned his spurs as a Bush political loyalist by delivering a prime-time speech praising the president during the Republican convention and campaigning for him in the fall.

Speculation about a move to Washington increased recently when Kerik sold $5-million worth of stock in Taser, the stun-gun manufacturer.

The White House declined to comment on the appointment last night.

Gov. George Pataki sang Kerik's praises during remarks delivered yesterday at the World Trade Center. "Look at his record," Pataki said. "Look at his experience. He knows this country. And not only does he have tremendous experience leading New York in one of our most difficult times, he's also been involved in Iraq and in other global issues. So I think he'd be terrific."

Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford) also praised Kerik, saying he "would be a terrific choice, great for the country and great for New York. He has the organizational skills as commissioner of the largest police force in the country and the street smarts of a tough New York City cop."

King said New York might benefit from a Kerik appointment because Kerik would be attuned to the city's arguments that it should receive a greater share of federal anti-terrorism funds than it gets under current funding formulas.

If nominated to the post by Bush and confirmed by the Senate, Kerik would head a sprawling 2-year-old bureaucracy created after the Sept. 11 terror attacks to organize and lead the government's response to the prospect of domestic terrorism.

The department was born in contentiousness -- the Bush administration initially opposed creating it, then reversed course, then used the Senate vote as a political club against Democrats -- and remains the subject of controversy. Its color-coded terrorist alerts have been panned by everyone from local police chiefs to late night comics.

Staff writer Glenn Thrush contributed to this story.



i'm a big fan of bernie kerik. he would make a great choice.

 

[verte76]

I've never heard of the guy until now.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

I've never heard of the guy until now.

From the decrepit row houses of Paterson, New Jersey, to the cocaine fields of Colombia, from the razor wire of Rikers island to the streets of New York City, Kerik has focused his energies to a single purpose: to fight the injustice he sees around him. The September 11 attacks marked the latest and most visible in a series of extraordinary challenges Bernard Kerik has faced throughout his singular law enforcement career. A third-degree black belt in Tae kwon do and a background in antiterrorism who worked for years in the Middle East for Saudi royalty, returned to the US in 1986 and out of love for the city and of police work, took a substantial pay cut to become a beat cop in Times Square. As a narcotics detective, he went undercover to buy drugs in Harlem, seized millions of dollars of cocaine from the drug lords of the Cali cartel, and was awarded the police department’s Medal of Valor for saving the life of a fellow officer. He rose rapidly through the ranks, to be appointed in the 1990s the city’s commissioner of correction. In this capacity he ended the hellish violence at Rikers and transformed it into a model of its kind. Kerik would eventually ascend to the head of the NYPD - a police force of 55,000—the largest municipal force in the world.

 

[diamond]

he seems cool

 

[U2democrat]

Hopefully he'll do well. Thanks for the info, Headache. Since he was head of NYPD I'm hoping he would do well in a departmental position.

 

[Irvine511]

he certainly campaigned hard for the position, post-9/11. good for him that his efforts paid off so handsomely.

 

[Dreadsox]

I like him....he has my haircut.

 

[U2democrat]

I like him....he has my haircut.

bald is beautiful.

 

[verte76]

I'm sure he'll do a good job. That's a job I definitely would not want. It seems really thankless.

 

[A_Wanderer]

It's better than thankless, it's blamefull

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush nominated former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik to take over as secretary of homeland security Friday morning.

Bush called Kerik a "dedicated, innovative reformer who insists on getting results."

He cited Kerik's work in New York where Bush said Kerik "had great success in reducing crime in New York City."

Kerik, 49, led the New York City Police Department through the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and their aftermath.

"His broad practical hands-on experience makes Bernie superbly qualified to lead the Department of Homeland Security," Bush said.

Kerik is currently a senior vice president of Giuliani Partners, the consulting firm founded by Rudy Giuliani, who as mayor of New York appointed him police commissioner in 2000. (Profile)

In 2003, Kerik went to Iraq at Bush's request to help train the new Iraqi police force, and he campaigned for Bush's re-election, making a speech at the Republican National Convention in August. (CNN Access: Working hard | Retraining)

An administration official said that on at least two occasions Giuliani made a personal pitch to the White House that Kerik be named to succeed Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge, 59, who announced his resignation Tuesday.

A senior administration official described Kerik as a "proven crisis manager" with "credibility and firsthand understanding of the war on terror."

"The country is well aware of his courageous service in responding to the World Trade Center attack, his efforts to coordinate rescue and recovery work at Ground Zero," the senior administration official said.

New York's two senators, both Democrats, expressed support for Kerik's nomination.

"If ever a state deserves to have a citizen appointed to [head the Department of] Homeland Security, it is New York," said Sen. Charles Schumer.

"Bernard Kerik knows firsthand the challenges and needs of New York and other high-threat areas," Sen. Hillary Clinton said in a statement. "As a member of the president's Cabinet, he can make that case every single day."

New York officials have long complained that they receive an inadequate share of federal homeland security money, given the fact that the nation's largest city faces a heightened threat from terrorists.

Schumer said late Thursday that he expects the department to raise the appropriation for New York by about $100 million in an announcement Friday, which he said is an improvement but still not enough to meet New York's needs.

Kerik to be second secretary
The Department of Homeland Security was created in January 2003 as 22 government agencies were blended into the new department. Ridge was nation's first secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.

The department is responsible for a variety of functions -- from overseeing border security and immigration to responding to natural disasters and screening airline passengers. It also includes the Secret Service and the Coast Guard.

The department was charged with developing and coordinating a national strategy to protect against terrorist threats.

Kerik served three years as an Army MP before becoming warden of the Passaic County jail. He worked in the NYPD from 1986 to 1994 and before becoming police commissioner, headed the city's Department of Correction.

The Bush administration has been busy in the weeks since the election, which also have seen the resignations of Attorney General John Ashcroft, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Commerce Secretary Don Evans, Education Secretary Rod Paige, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman and Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham.

And this week, John Danforth, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, announced he will leave his post in January after less than seven months on the job. (Full story)

So far, Bush has tapped five replacements. He nominated White House counsel Alberto Gonzales to succeed Ashcroft, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice to take over at the State Department, domestic policy adviser Margaret Spellings to replace Paige and Carlos Gutierrez to be the next commerce secretary.

On Thursday, Bush nominated Nebraska Gov. Mike Johanns to be the new secretary of agriculture. (Full story)

All of the Cabinet nominees must be confirmed by the Senate.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

bernie kerik is one hardcore, tough mothaf'er, on top of being a very smart man, to boot. he's an excellent choice.

 

[strannix]

I can't help but wonder how he's actually qualified for this. He wasn't NYPD Commissioner for very long, and took that position after NYC's miracle crime turnaround was pretty much complete. Just happening to have the job during 9/11 isn't much of an accomplishment in itself. And he certainly didn't get any results training Iraqi troops.

Like all of Bush's Cabinet appointments, it appears that he got the job primarily by thinking that GWB is really, really super.

 

[indra]

A friend told me that kerik is a Czech word meaning...wait for it...little bush.

 

[MissVelvetDress_75]

I hear he did not complete high school. Is this true?

 

[verte76]

A friend told me that kerik is a Czech word meaning...wait for it...little bush.

Cool, a Czech in the Cabinet!

 

[Stonewall]

Another New Yorker in the U.S. Cabinet!

I know Commissioner Bernie Kerik. As NYCPD Commish, he went out of his way -- and without any fanfare -- to include all groups and all persuasions. Every June, he was at Mayor RUDY's Gay Pride Celebration at Gracie Mansion. Police Commish KERIK made a visible point of being at the annual Gay Pride Parade! Clearly, another Republican shuns the stereotypes. After September 11, 2001, with dozens of his police comrades murdered in the Twin Towers attackS and the worst American "police situation" in history, I do not know how he's still functioning. Bernie is a very strong, determined, knowledgeable, polite and loyal person.

Not for nothing but KERIK will far outshine his predecessor!

 

[Stonewall]

Verte knows of KERIK!

I've never heard of the guy until now.

Verte, trust me, U've not only heard of him but U've seen him on t.v. endless times. Like so many people -- myself included -- U were shell-shocked! And, there was so much going on around-the-clock and from so many quarters. Starting with the very afternoon of Tuesday, September 11, 2001, NYCPD Commish KERIK was giving new and updated reports on local, national and international t.v. channels. He was on all news channels and news shows -- frequently with "live" news conferences -- for at least 100 or more consistent days. Some days he had four or five televised on-the-scene news conferences. That's how he got to be known by ALL of the media and most of America. BERNIE was on the news second only to NYC Mayor RUDY GIULIANI -- who was very successful in seeing that BK deservedly got this Homeland Security position.

Thanks, Suitcased Headache, for the great and comprehensive photo collague of NYC's Mr. KERIK.

 

[U2democrat]

BREAKING NEWS: Bernard Kerik, President Bush's choice for homeland security chief, has withdrawn his name from consideration, a White House statement says. Details soon.

 

[verte76]

It's another so-called "nanny issue".

 

[U2democrat]

You know there's more to it than that. There always is in politics.

 

[verte76]

Oh, there is more, there was at least one other controversy mentioned in the story in my ISP's headlines. I think it had something to do with $$, which doesn't surprise me.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

There's another rumor that he had an affair w/ Judith Regan

 

[strannix]

Uh, I'd just like to congratulate the Bush administration, for nominating a man who is not only unqualified for the job in the first place, but as it turns out is hopelessly corrupt to boot.

Hopefully, this will prevent a few people from judging the next guy by how he comes across on TV.

 

[BAW]

Honestly, you would think that a man with skeletons in his closet would quietly turn down a nomination like this, knowing all of this would eventually come out.

And I've never understood the process of nominating someone for an important position first and checking into their background afterward. Its such a waste of time to nominate someone and find out later they aren't qualified or to have them withdraw when something in his/her past pops up.

 

[strannix]

Honestly, you would think that a man with skeletons in his closet would quietly turn down a nomination like this, knowing all of this would eventually come out.

This guy had enough skeletons in his closet to furnish a generation of high-school biology classes. What makes it even worse is that the White House is swearing up and down that the only thing that surprised them was the nanny!

 

[MissVelvetDress_75]

 

[verte76]

Talk about having egg in their faces.

 

[deep]

Mr. Kerik was told that skeptics in city government circles were questioning the very existence of the nanny, and he was pressed to provide any kind of evidence to document that she was real. But after taking time to consider the request, Mr. Kerik again decided to remain silent on the subject.


Most puzzled about the nanny, perhaps, are former neighbors of the Keriks and their kin. In the Riverdale section of the Bronx, where the family lived in a first-floor apartment for years before moving last year into the Franklin Lakes home they had extensively renovated, neighbors did not recall any household help. One neighbor, Dennis Doyle, noted that Mr. Kerik's wife, Hala Matli Kerik, a former dental hygienist, not only seemed to care for Celine, now 4, by herself, but that she did her own laundry as well.


In the blue-collar neighborhood of Elmwood Park, N.J., where Mrs. Kerik's mother, Zakia, lived in a rented duplex for years, neighbors reacted with surprise to questions about a nanny, and said that Mrs. Kerik's mother had moved into the Kerik home about a year ago.

"They never came around here with a nanny," said Sophie Borsuk, 55, the longtime landlady and downstairs neighbor of Mrs. Kerik's mother. "I never saw any nanny. This is the first time I heard about a nanny."