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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lazarus_Long who wrote (69210)	12/20/2004 8:02:06 PM
From: SiouxPal	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

Contemplating weasels, thinking of you, ................. Feds Say Investigators Knew of Kerik Flaws Associated Press WASHINGTON - White House investigators knew of many of the flaws that have surfaced since Bernard Kerik withdrew as the nominee to lead the Homeland Security Department, President Bush's chief of staff said Sunday. "Many of the questions that have been raised in the media were well understood by the White House when they considered Bernie Kerik," Andrew Card said. Kerik, 49, withdrew his name from consideration on Dec. 10, saying he had employed an illegal alien as a nanny and had failed to submit required Social Security payments. Card did not say whether a decision was made that the former New York City police commissioner's shortcomings should be overlooked to approve his nomination. "It was Bernie Kerik's decision not to go forward," Card said. Bush had announced a week earlier that he had decided to nominate Kerik, a protege of former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, to replace Secretary Tom Ridge at the 180,000-employee department. In the interim, it had been reported Kerik had not completed a background form in 2000 when Giuliani nominated him as police commissioner; he allegedly had connections with people suspected of doing business with mobsters; and he had been accused of having simultaneous extramarital affairs with two women. The day before Kerik quit, it was reported that he had made $6.2 million by exercising stock options he obtained as a board member of Taser International, which has sold stun guns to the Homeland Security Department and is seeking more contracts. Despite the failure of the Bush White House's usual tightly controlled personnel operations, Card defended the administration's background-checking system. He was asked on ABC's "This Week" why investigators had not asked the New York Department of Investigation about its prior investigations of Kerik. "The process of vetting in the White House ... is not to telegraph to lots of people what your intentions are. But an awful lot of work had been done," Card said. He also implied that Kerik might have been somewhat at fault for the situation. "I think probably Bernie Kerik didn't understand the nature of the klieg light that would be turned on, and the nature of the scrutiny," Card said.