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

Bernard Kerik may have a nanny problem.
But is that the only reason he’s bowed out of the Homeland Security
job?

By Mark Hosenball
Newsweek


It’s hard to know what was the last straw.

Ever since President Bush announced on Dec. 3 that Bernard Kerik was
his choice to replace Tom Ridge as Secretary of Homeland Security,
official circles in Washington and New York have been buzzing with
stories about Kerik’s potential liabilities.

A hard-charging former New York City police commissioner, Kerik made
many enemies and seemed to be dogged by minor scandals.

He was a rags-to-riches story whose climb may have been a little too
precipitous; in any case, his tangled personal life caught up with
him.

On Friday night, Kerik abruptly informed the White House that we was
withdrawing from the nominating process, citing potential problems
with the immigration and tax status of a former nanny.

"I am convinced that, for personal reasons, moving forward would not
be in the best interests of your administration, the Department of
Homeland Security or the American people," Kerik said in a letter to
President Bush.

But there may have been other issues at play.

Kerik, who recently made millions in the private sector, once filed
for personal bankruptcy as a New York cop.

And just five years ago he was in financial trouble over a condominium
he owned in New Jersey.

More serious trouble than anyone realized:

NEWSWEEK has discovered that a New Jersey judge in 1998 had issued an
arrest warrant as part of a convoluted series of lawsuits relating to
unpaid bills on his condo.

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.

Sources close to Kerik and the White House insist the arrest warrant
was not the reason Kerik withdrew.

The immediate cause was the nanny problem, the sources say, the same
issue that took down Bill Clinton’s nomination of Zoe Baird to be
Attorney General in 1993.

Kerik explained to the White House that while he was preparing
documents for his Senate confirmation hearings, he uncovered
information "that now leads me," he wrote, "to question the
immigration status" of someone he had been employing as a housekeeper
and nanny.

For a period of time, Kerik reported, "required tax payments and
related filings had not been made."

According to a Kerik associate, having this kind of nanny problem
would have been untenable for the head of the Homeland Security
department, which oversees the government's immigration agencies.

The lawsuit relating to Kerik’s apartment stems from his failure to
pay maintenance fees.

A court found that Kerik owed about $5,000 on the unit.

When Kerik failed to comply with a subpoena related to the unpaid
bill, a judge on Aug. 24, 1998 issued a warrant for Kerik’s arrest.

It is unclear whether the warrant was ever served or withdrawn.

Court computer records indicate that the lawsuit remains open, but
there was some confusion on Friday over the location of the full
record.

Kerik was also coming under close scrutiny for his windfall profit
from stock options in Taser International, a company that makes
high-voltage stun guns.

He netted more than $6 million on the options, without ever having
invested any of his own money.

Kerik joined the Taser board after leaving his police commissioner’s
job in 2002 .

New York City was a purchaser of the stun guns, as was the Department
of Homeland Security.

Kerik sold the stock in early November, shortly before an Amnesty
International report charged that there had been more than 70
Taser-related deaths since 2001.

Kerik's biggest booster for the job was former New York City Mayor
Rudy Guiliani.

Last night, an aide to Guiliani told NEWSWEEK that Kerik had made "the
proper judgment" to withdraw.

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I somehow can't imagine a thug like Kerik having a nanny.