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The New York Times
OPINION
Indicting Mr. Kerik
EDITORIAL,
nytimes.com on the Web. November 10, 2007
Bernard Kerik’s indictment on fraud
and corruption charges is disturbing on its own, but it also raises broader
issues. It is sobering to think how close Mr. Kerik came to becoming secretary
of the Homeland Security Department, and it is also troubling that Rudolph
Giuliani, a leading candidate for president, has been so close to him for so
long, as a friend, boss and business partner.
Because of Mr. Giuliani’s role in Mr. Kerik’s life, the nation has a compelling
interest in learning more about the former police chief’s misdeeds.
Mr. Kerik has been accused of accepting renovations to his Bronx apartment from
a company that was suspected of having ties to organized crime and was seeking a
license from the city. He allegedly used his office to help the company
obtain the license. Mr. Kerik also has been accused of hiding the
renovation income on his tax returns, along with more than $200,000 in rent
payments on an Upper East Side apartment that a developer allegedly paid on his
behalf.
It is always a sad day, as United States Attorney Michael J. Garcia noted, when
a law enforcement official is accused of breaking the law. That is
especially true when the official was New York’s top jailer, the head of the
nation’s largest police department, and nearly became the chief of a
180,000-member federal department charged with keeping America safe.
Mr. Kerik must be presumed innocent. But he has already pleaded guilty to
state charges arising out of the home renovations. After he did, Mayor
Michael Bloomberg stripped his name from a Manhattan jail that had been named
for him. Even those charges were not Mr. Kerik’s first brush with the law.
He was fined by the city for sending police officers to do research on a book he
was writing. His associates have also had more than their share of
troubles. When he was correction commissioner, one of Mr. Kerik’s top
deputies was convicted of taking $142,000 from a charity he managed and another
was convicted of using department staff to work on Republican political
campaigns.
Yesterday’s indictment and Mr. Kerik’s whole troubled record raise questions
about Mr. Giuliani’s judgment. The men have an extraordinarily close bond.
Mr. Giuliani plucked Mr. Kerik from obscurity to make him correction
commissioner. He made him police commissioner even though he may have been
briefed about Mr. Kerik’s ties to the company suspected of links to organized
crime. Mr. Giuliani also made him a partner in his security business and
promoted him for the Homeland Security Department post.
As recently as this week, Mr. Giuliani made the remarkable statement that any
mistakes Mr. Kerik made were outweighed by his success in fighting crime —
presumably not including the crimes Mr. Kerik himself was committing. Mr.
Giuliani has since spoken more critically of him, but the public is entitled to
know more.
Two important questions are precisely what are the mistakes the former mayor
thinks he made in trusting Mr. Kerik, and how can voters be sure that he would
not make them again as president, when the stakes for a disastrous appointment
would be so much higher.
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