Nominee's Withdrawal Could Taint Giuliani
NEW YORK — As local newspapers reported a series of new allegations against Bernard Kerik, New York political observers suggested Monday that he hadn't withdrawn his nomination as Homeland Security secretary solely because of a nanny problem.
And Democrats and Republicans predicted that former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, who had pushed Kerik's candidacy with members of the Bush administration, would take the greatest political heat for the failed nomination.
Over the last two days, the media reported that Kerik, one-time head of the city's corrections department who was police commissioner on Sept. 11, allegedly had helped a mob-linked Staten Island firm win a city sanitation contract.
Other stories suggested that he had failed to disclose thousands of dollars in gifts as required by city law and that he had carried on extramarital affairs with two women, including Judith Regan, a prominent editor who published Kerik's autobiography.
"People are going to wonder, how could the [former] mayor not have known that Kerik had all these problems?" asked Nelson Warfield, a GOP consultant. "It adds up to a highly embarrassing development for Giuliani, especially with other Republicans."
At the White House, however, officials said the failed nomination would not affect Bush's relationship with Giuliani, who campaigned for the president and has been a strong supporter.
"Absolutely not," White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said. "In fact, they are very good friends." The press secretary noted that Giuliani had offered an apology to the president when the two had dinner Sunday night, adding: "I don't think the president felt that one was necessary."
Giuliani did not comment on the controversy Monday. But his spokeswoman, Sunny Mindel, said that during the White House dinner, which had been planned several weeks ago, "the president was very gracious
Kerik withdrew his nomination Friday evening, saying that he had discovered that his family had hired an illegal immigrant to take care of his children. He explained that he had learned this when filling out forms for the confirmation process, and immediately decided to withdraw his nomination.
"What trash talk," former Mayor Edward I. Koch said in an online commentary. "Most people who can afford a nanny know what questions to ask if she is able to legally work in the U.S. Even if he were not the smartest cop on the beat, and Giuliani appointed him police commissioner, he had to know it was illegal on his part not to pay Social Security taxes on her employment."
