Bernard Kerik
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Bernard Bailey Kerik, (born September 4, 1955) is an American law-enforcement officer. Kerik was Police Commissioner of the City of New York (2000-2001). In December 2004, George W. Bush nominated Kerik as Secretary of Homeland Security. A week later, Kerik withdrew his acceptance, explaining that he had employed an illegal immigrant as a nanny; subsequently, numerous allegations of extramarital affairs and past conflicts of interest surfaced, which would have led to a difficult confirmation battle at any rate.
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Personal
An Army veteran, former undercover narcotics cop and black belt in tae kwon do, Kerik published in 2001 a memoir, The Lost Son: A Life in Pursuit of Justice, in which he described how he came from a broken home in Newark, New Jersey. In the book, he said his parents divorced when he was 3 and his mother, an alcoholic and prostitute, was murdered when he was 4.
Kerik was declared bankrupt in March 1988, but today he is a multimillionaire, the result of a lucrative partnership with former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and an even more profitable relationship with a stun-gun manufacturer.
His relationship since 2002 with Taser International, a Scottsdale, Ariz., manufacturer of stun guns, has by far been the biggest source of his newfound wealth, earning him more than $6.2 million in pre-tax profits through stock options he was granted and then sold, mostly in November 2004.
Military and police experience
Kerik spent three years in the U.S. Army as a military policeman (MP), assigned to Korea and to the 18th Airborne Corps, where he trained Special Forces personnel at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
Kerik worked from 1982 to 1984 as chief of investigations for the security office at King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Riyadh, one of the kingdom's premier hospitals, where members of the royal family are treated. Six members of the hospital security staff, including Kerik, were fired and deported after an investigation in 1984 by the Saudi secret police. (reported by the Washington Post)
Kerik served with the New York Police Department (NYPD) from July 1986 to May 1994, in both uniformed and plain clothes duty. He was later assigned to the most substantial narcotic investigations in the history of the department, resulting in the conviction of more than 60 members of the Cali Cartel. His rise to fame followed his assignment as personal bodyguard to NY Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani.
Before joining the NYPD, Kerik served as Warden of the Passaic County jail, the largest county adult correctional facility in New Jersey, in 1986. There, he also served as the Department's Training Officer and Commander of the Special Weapons and Operations Units. In December 1997, Mr. Kerik was appointed by the Mayor to the New York City Gambling Control Commission. Mr. Kerik also chairs the Michael Buczek Foundation's annual fund-raiser that honors law enforcement across the nation.
Commissioner of NYC Department of Correction
Kerik served as Commissioner of the New York City Department of Correction, a position to which he was appointed on January 1, 1998. He previously served for three years as the Department of Correction's First Deputy Commissioner and, prior to that, as the agency's Executive Assistant to the Commissioner and Director of the Investigations Division. He is credited with dramatically improving the safety of the city's jail system, reducing inmate-on-inmate violence by 93% over a 5 year period, and staff use of force by 76%. His tenure was also marked by greatly improved agency efficiency, including a 44% reduction in agency overtime expenditures and a 31% reduction in staff sick leave. In 2000, his Total Efficiency Accountability Management System (T.E.A.M.S.) was a finalist for the prestigious Innovations in American Government Award sponsored by Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
New York City Police Commissioner
Kerik was appointed the 40th Police Commissioner of the City of New York by Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani on August 21, 2000. He left office at the end of Giuliani's term in December 2001. As the leader of the largest municipal police department in the United States, Commissioner Kerik oversaw a uniformed force of more than 41,000 officers, a civilian force of more than 14,500 which included the 3,500 member School Safety Division and 2,000-member Traffic Control Division, and an annual budget of more than $3.2 billion. Kerik was serving as Police Commissioner during the September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center, and oversaw the law-enforcement response. His work in the wake of the attacks prompted his following appointments to positions in the Bush administration, as well as being made an honorary Commander of the British Empire (CBE) award by Queen Elizabeth II.
Consulting work
Following his departure from the New York City Police Department, he was employed by Giuliani Partners, a consulting firm formed by the former Mayor of New York, Rudolph Giuliani. He served as a Senior Vice President at Giuliani Partners and as Chief Executive Officer of Giuliani-Kerik LLC, an affiliate of Giuliani Partners. Kerik resigned from these positions in December 2004. Following the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Kerik served from May to September 2003 as Iraq’s interim Minister of Interior where he oversaw the training of the new Iraqi police force.
Nomination as Secretary of Homeland Security
On December 2, 2004, Kerik was nominated by President Bush to succeed Tom Ridge as United States Secretary of Homeland Security. But on December 10, after a week of press scrutiny, Kerik withdrew acceptance of the nomination. Kerik stated that he had illegally hired a foreign worker as nanny and housekeeper and that he had failed to pay taxes required for her employement. Similar violations of immigration law had previously caused the withdrawal of the nominations of Linda Chavez as Secretary of Labor by G.W. Bush and of Zoe Baird as Attorney General by Bill Clinton.
Shortly after withdrawal of the nomination, the press reported on several other scandals which might also have posed difficulties in gaining confirmation by the Senate. These include outstanding arrest warrant from 1998 stemming from unpaid bills on the maintenance of a condominium (documents regarding this warrant were faxed to the White House less than three hours before Kerik submitted his withdrawal of acceptance to the President), questions regarding Kerik's sale of stock in Taser International shortly before the release of an Amnesty International report critical of the company's stun-gun product, two simultaneous extra-marital affairs, a sexual harassment lawsuit, allegations of misuse of police personnel and property for personal benefit, connections with a construction company suspected of having ties to organized crime, and failure to comply with ethics rules on gifts.
Quotes
"Political criticism is our enemies' best friend." - (Newsday), October 20, 2003
"If you put Sen. Kerry in the White House, I think you are going to see that another terrorist attack happen ... and I don't want to see another Sept. 11." (New York Daily News, April 22, 2004)
References
- This article was originally based on information from New York City's official website [1] (http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/om/html/2000b/pr332-00).
- Newsday article, May 23 2003 announcing Kerik's appointment to post in Iraq [2] (http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/manhattan/nyc-nykeri163287559may16,0,7051520.story?coll=nyc-manheadlines-manhattan)
- Tom Brokaw MSNBC Interview July 14 2003 [3] (http://www.msnbc.com/news/938727.asp?0bl=-0)
- Only In America (http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/20041205-113427-4677r.htm) - biographical article by Arnaud de Borchgrave in The Washington Times, December 5, 2004
- Security Nominee Got Rich on Tasers (http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/12/10/MNG1BA9Q1U1.DTL) Eric Lipton, NY Times Dec. 10, 2004
- Kerik's Surveillance Activity in Saudi Arabia Is Disputed (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45175-2004Dec7.html), John Mintz and Lucy Shackelford, Washington Post, Dec. 10, 2004
- Kerik Nomination is a Ticking Time Bomb (http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1203-02.htm), Ellis Henican, LI Newsday, December 3, 2004
- Homeland Security Nominee Withdraws (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A56247-2004Dec10.html)
- Why Did Bernard Kerik Really Bow Out? (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6697161/site/newsweek/) Newsweek, Dec. 11, 2004.
- Bernard Kerik problems (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4087505.stm)
Bibliography
- War Stories: Behind the Silver and Gold Shields Thomas J. Ward, Bernard B. Kerik (Looseleaf Law Publications, 2002) ISBN 1889031585
- The Lost Son: A Life in Pursuit of Justice Bernard B. Kerik (Regan Books, 2001) ISBN 0060009012 (autobiography) [4] (http://seaburn.com/blackbooknews/biography.htm)