Bernie, We Hardly Knew Ya
“Everything seemed pretty normal, at least by Washington or New York standards.”
-- Former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, speaking to Time magazine last week about Bernard Kerik, the former New York police commissioner whom Giuliani had reportedly pushed for Homeland Security secretary. Kerik withdrew his nomination Dec. 10, admitting that he may have employed an undocumented immigrant as a nanny.
“I said to myself, ‘Hey, that’s Bernie Kerik.’ It was surprising. But then I thought, ‘Well, maybe he keeps a place down here because he’s involved with security and 9/11.’ ”
-- Resident of a ground zero-area apartment building where Kerik reportedly carried on an affair with publisher Judith Regan. Quoted in the New York Times.
“When you go through the vetting process you do a lot of independent research yourself. You also look to the candidate to provide you with the information you need to complete that vetting process.”
-- Scott McClellan, White House spokesman, defending the Kerik review reportedly overseen by White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales, President Bush’s attorney general nominee.
“I’m not perfect.”
-- Kerik to reporters on Monday.
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