"It's not fair to judge Rudy Giuliani by this one issue in the same way that it is to judge John McCain on the basis of the Keating Five scandal," Mastro said. "Rudy would never do that to John McCain. John McCain shouldn't be so unfair as to do this to Rudy Giuliani."
And Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said: "The fact that Rudy Giuliani shepherded the career of Bernard Kerik despite his ethical problems speaks volumes about the Republican Party and its candidates."
Giuliani is not mentioned in the 29-page Kerik indictment, and it is unlikely he will be called as a witness, according to an attorney familiar with the case. But it could prove difficult for Giuliani to distance himself from Kerik's travails.
Although Giuliani said last week that the two men had not talked recently, they were professionally and personally close. The former mayor is godfather to Kerik's daughter, and Kerik wrote in his autobiography that Giuliani had "made" him.
Press reports have indicated that before Kerik's appointment as police commissioner, a New York City official briefed Giuliani about Kerik's ties to a New Jersey waste disposal company that is at the heart of the federal indictment. Giuliani has not disputed those reports, but maintains he doesn't remember the briefings.
An official for the company, Interstate Industrial Corp., referred questions Friday to a lawyer, who did not return a phone call requesting comment. Kerik's indictment had been anticipated, and Giuliani has sought to blunt its political impact by admitting that he failed to properly vet Kerik before recommending him for the Homeland Security post.
"I think that voters should look at it, and what they should say is, in that particular case, I pointed out that I made a mistake," the former mayor said Thursday in Iowa. "I made a mistake of not clearing him effectively enough. I take the responsibility for that."
But Giuliani has continued to defend the crime-fighting record that he and Kerik compiled.
Kerik turned himself in to the FBI on Friday morning and pleaded not guilty in U.S. district court in White Plains, N.Y. He remained free on $500,000 bail. If convicted on all the charges against him, Kerik could face a sentence of up to 142 years in prison and $4.7 million in fines.
