Clinton never would have let go of the bodacious Kimba Wood and replaced her with the Wookie if he hadn't been forced to.
Posted on 12/10/2004 8:09:32 PM PST by Jeff Head
In a surprise move, former New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik abruptly withdrew his nomination as President Bush (news - web sites)'s choice to be homeland security secretary Friday night, saying questions have arisen about the immigration status of a housekeeper and nanny he employed.
The decision caught the White House off guard and sent Bush in search of a new candidate to run the sprawling bureaucracy of more than 180,000 employees melded together from 22 disparate federal agencies in 2003.
Kerik informed Bush of his decision to withdraw in a telephone call at 8:30 p.m. EST. "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 the president.
The White House said Bush accepted Kerik's decision.
One administration official helping prepare Kerik for Senate confirmation, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Kerik's unexpected decision shocked senior leaders at the Homeland Security Department. This official said Kerik still had not filled out all his ethics filings — which would detail his sources of income and financial liabilities — and said the FBI (news - web sites) background investigation of Kerik was still incomplete.
But the only moderately troubling information uncovered about Kerik so far was news that Kerik had earned $6.2 million by exercising stock options he received from Taser International, which did lucrative business with the Department of Homeland Security, this official said.
Kerik said the problematic issue arose as he was completing documents required for Senate confirmation. "I uncovered information that now leads me to question the immigration status of a person who had been in my employ as a housekeeper and nanny. It has also been brought to my attention that for a period of time during such employment required tax payments and related filings had not been made."
Kerik said he feared that the disclosure of the issue would generate intense scrutiny that would "only serve as a significant and unnecessary distraction to the vital efforts of the Department of Homeland Security."
Kerik was the right guy for it. He was flushed out by the MSM. This id disgusting and unacceptable. Compare the AP article above with the MSNBC article, which goes on and on for paragraphs about the stupid Taser thing while barely mentioning the great things he did. Why did we let such a good guy go to waste?
Here is a link to the news stories re Taser International.....near the bottom of the page there is a link to "older headlines"........a quick scan of them reveals plenty including "Homeland Security"......
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/h?s=tasr
link below is to the TASR investor message board
http://messages.yahoo.com/bbs?action=t&type=r&board=yahoo.67.11.1604243305
the real answer to this event may be in the Taser saga
But, as you say, if it was years ago and he was unaware of what happened while he was off somewhere, I can see how it could easily have slipped through.
Yep...could easily have been shaping up into a conflict of interest claim during confirmation.
This might not turn out to be such a bad thing for Bush and our Country.
A)Being in charge of HS and having an "illegal" in your employ would have doomed him from the start. It isn't the "tax" issue so much as the illegal issue.
B)This guy looks like he would be great in a street fight, but HS requires a "brain" guy in my opinion. Someone who can read 80 gazillion reports, then be able to work them around in his head, come to some conclusions and act on them.
If I were Bush, I would hire the smartest, most with-it CEO I could find. Make an emotional appeal to the guys ego to get him to take the job.
The Halliburton Syndrome.
bingo, bada-bingo!
Did you see the Dennis Miller interview with Kerik?
"He might be a good man, but he is kind of a dumbass for doing this."
I totally agree with you. He should have known the Dems would do a thorough background check and cavity search of him, so that he had to be squeaky clean. But that same scrutiny doesn't apply to Dems, obviously... They can be the scummiest pigs in the world and actually RUN on that platform!
Yeah,that surprised me too. All the supposed intelligence that we have and they didn't know this?
No too comforting.
Clinton never would have let go of the bodacious Kimba Wood and replaced her with the Wookie if he hadn't been forced to.
No need for more. That was plenty.
But I trust the housekeeper had her driver's license??
Kerik did the right thing by stepping aside. The liberals were clamoring for a payback for the failed nominations of Zoe Baird and Kimba Wood by Bill Clinton to be his Attorney General for reasons of Illegal Alien nannygate. I agree that Kerik needed to go although it is a loss for us because he would have been a wonderful Secretary, but this is how it is in politics. I do not think that Giuliani will want this job since he probably has his eye on the Governorship of New York (I do not think that Pataki should run again, he will lose...New York has gone sour on him just like they did on Mario CUomo after three terms). Maybe Pataki should take Homeland Security instead.
She was from Columbia and a devout Catholic.
Are Catholics flying planes into buildings now or are you just racist?
Good riddance.
The one who looks really bad in this case is Rudy Giuliani, who made such a big deal about recommending him in the first place.
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