| Topic: |
Science > Abortion |
| User: |
"james g. keegan jr." |
| Date: |
01 Jan 2005 09:38:53 AM |
| Object: |
Kerik's 'Nannygate' Was the Least of It |
This article can be found on the web at
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20041227&s=scheer1224
column left by Robert Scheer
Kerik's 'Nannygate' Was the Least of It
[posted online on December 14, 2004]
How revealing that the nomination of Bernard Kerik as Homeland Security
chief should be derailed not by the former New York City police
commissioner's alleged violations of conflict-of-interest laws, mob
connections and post-9/11 security industry profiteering but rather by
his rueful admission that he paid no taxes for his "illegal immigrant"
baby-sitter.
Since harassing, detaining and deporting productive and otherwise law-
abiding immigrants without proper residency papers has been the main
task of the Homeland Security Department, the tough law-and-order
booster of President Bush at the Republican National Convention could
have claimed his nanny connection as research. Instead of admitting that
this "lovely woman," entrusted for years with the care of his children,
was part of that essential but exploited mass of "illegal aliens" whose
drudgery permits the powerful to shirk family responsibilities and strut
unencumbered on a larger stage, Kerik could have claimed he was merely
infiltrating the ranks of the enemy.
Of course, labor law violations are to Big Business what the nickel-a-
swear-word jar is to adult visitors to Grandma's house--no big deal. But
woe to the political aspirant who doesn't remember the ghosts of
Nannygates Past: The law is the law--as Kerik's chief backer, ex-New
York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, observed in reluctantly agreeing that
Kerik had to withdraw--or at least it is once the media find out it has
been broken.
So Kerik tried to save a few bucks by hiring an undocumented worker and
has paid a certain cost. However, by bowing out now, he may have saved
himself a passel of future trouble. NYC's media have been raising issues
about potentially far more consequential legal transgressions by Kerik,
which Giuliani should have known about before recommending his protege
for the national security post.
This rough-around-the-edges high school dropout's profligate ways led to
personal bankruptcy and, ultimately, some very dubious dealings with
shady characters. Yet "America's Mayor" liked what he saw in the
undercover cop with six diamond studs in his ear--a young blood whose
wild style earned him the name "Mayhem Magnet"--and plucked him out to
be the Big Apple's top cop.
Once his act went national, however, cracks in Kerik's facade started to
look a lot worse. One of the most detailed exposes stressing Kerik's
alleged ties to New York mobsters ran in the New York Daily News on
Sunday. Why didn't those in the administration who vetted Kerik for this
job know any of this?
Giuliani told Time magazine after Kerik's withdrawal that although he
knew there were black marks on Kerik's record, "everything seemed pretty
normal, at least by Washington or New York standards." Talk about your
moral relativism! Or family values. On Monday, the NY Daily News
reported that Kerik had juggled two extramarital affairs while police
commissioner.
Bottom line: A smart guy like Giuliani should have suspected something
in 1998, when his wife and his deputy mayor attended Kerik's lavish
wedding, which was dotted with mob-connected characters. This was two
years before he appointed Kerik to head the New York City Police
Department.
To be fair, it would be only later that the Daily News reported the
wedding was paid for with money from folks with city contracts and mob
connections, some of whom were later indicted. But anyone knowledgeable
about Kerik should have known that he could not afford his sumptuous
lifestyle, given his bankruptcy and, according to Newsweek magazine, a
contempt citation for failing to pay a debt in a business dealing.
Kerik soon learned to play the game with the big boys, though. After
gaining celebrity for his prominent role during 9/11, he shot through
that infamous government/private sector revolving door into a key
position working for Giuliani's firm. Kerik also lent his prestige to
stun-gun manufacturer Taser International, which--surprise!--has a
contract with Homeland Security.
Never mind, though, as Kerik cleared out his Taser stock options last
month with a $6.2-million windfall, ready to be flipped by kingmaker
Giuliani right back onto the taxpayer payroll. Giuliani, of course, was
trading his own crucial support for Bush's campaign to give Giuliani
Partners what would have been some Halliburton-grade access to the White
House.
Why wouldn't Giuliani push his onetime chauffeur and now a senior vice
president in his firm to be Homeland Security czar, overseeing twenty-
two federal agencies with a combined budget of $37.7 billion? The war on
terror is a mother lode to be mined by those who are connected. Come to
think of it, Kerik shouldn't have been rejected by the Bushies. If they
were honest, they would celebrate him as the prototypical GOP operator,
playing the people for a profit.
.
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| User: "_" |
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| Title: Re: Kerik's 'Nannygate' Was the Least of It |
01 Jan 2005 09:54:27 AM |
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james g. keegan jr. <keegan@nycap.rr.com> wrote in message
<Xns95D16C5504380keegannycaprrcom@24.24.2.167>:
This article can be found on the web at
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20041227&s=scheer1224
column left by Robert Scheer
Kerik's 'Nannygate' Was the Least of It
[posted online on December 14, 2004]
How revealing that the nomination of Bernard Kerik as Homeland Security
chief should be derailed not by the former New York City police
commissioner's alleged violations of conflict-of-interest laws, mob
connections and post-9/11 security industry profiteering but rather by
his rueful admission that he paid no taxes for his "illegal immigrant"
baby-sitter.
Why are you posting this ***** in a Canadian politics newsgroup and abortion
newsgroups? None of which are relevant to your puerile domestic politics.
You do this all the time, you fucking *****. Are you terminally stupid,
or what? You're just another Stupid American *****-for-brains, aren't you?
.
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