Kerik’s woes still bedevil Giuliani

Looming federal charges against former New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik are prolonging potential damage to the presidential bid of his mentor and former business partner, Rudolph W. Giuliani, political analysts said Saturday.

Prosecutors are weighing charges including tax evasion, conspiracy to commit wiretapping, and filing false information with the government, said a legal source familiar with the investigation of Kerik.

Kerik in recent weeks turned down a plea deal on tax evasion and wiretap charges that would have included jail time, and a report Saturday citing unnamed legal sources said prosecutors were preparing to file charges against him.

Giuliani has not been implicated in Kerik’s legal troubles. But since the start of his presidential campaign last year, Giuliani has been bracing for fallout from his relationship with Kerik.

“This is a bad story for Giuliani, and the longer it takes, the worse,” said New York Republican political analyst Nelson Warfield. It was a sentiment echoed by other analysts in New York and elsewhere.

As New York’s mayor, Giuliani named Kerik police commissioner, and later Giuliani included Kerik in his firm Giuliani Partners. Kerik left the firm in 2004.

Local and federal prosecutors began investigating Kerik after reports of scandals scuttled his nomination for Homeland Security secretary in late 2004.