GOP

The closer Rudy gets to the GOP convention, the more info we are likely to see printed or reprinted about his relationship with Bernard Kerik. The NY Times has an article today.

And, speaking of sleazy pols, I just can’t believe the stupidity of these guys. With the Larry Craig bathroom bust barely in the past, you’d think politicos would lay off bathroom solicitation for a while, wouldn’t you?

57-year-old Mike Shallow [two-term City Commissioner and mayoral candidate in Daytona Beach] was among nine men caught in [a gay sex solicitation bathroom] sting after "sexual misconduct" in the second-floor Volusia Mall Sears bathroom was reported to police. The nine are being charged with misdemeanor lewd conduct and exposure. Signals used by the suspects to attract the attention of potential partners included tapping toes, loud zipper noises, coughing and sneezing.

  Page One Q

Mug shots are here of the perp and others busted in the sting. At a Sears restroom in a mall for crissakes.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

Rudy the Jerk Giuliani

We know that Rudy has kept crook company in the past by his offering to Bush of pal Bernard the Crook Kerik for Homeland Security chief. It seems that now another of his sterling connections has been outed. His South Carolina campaign manager just got busted on cocaine charges. Rudy says he doesn't know anything about it.

And by the way, Rudy's response to being on the Iraq Study Group without ever attending any meetings has morphed slightly. Now he says it was a mistake to begin with. It would be "inconsistent with" running for president.

I just report 'em; I don't explain 'em.

Uh-oh

As Rudolph W. Giuliani runs for president, his image as a chief executive who steered New York through the disaster of Sept. 11 has become a pillar of his campaign. But one former member of his inner circle keeps surfacing to revisit that history in ways that are unflattering to Mr. Giuliani: Jerome M. Hauer, New York City’s first emergency management director.

In recent days, Mr. Hauer has challenged Mr. Giuliani’s recollection that he had little role as mayor in placing the city’s emergency command center at the ill-fated World Trade Center.

Mr. Hauer has also disputed the claim by the Giuliani campaign that the mayor’s wife, Judith Giuliani, had coordinated a help center for families after the attack.

And he has contradicted Mr. Giuliani’s assertions that the city’s emergency response was well coordinated that day, a point he made most notably to the authors of “Grand Illusion,” a book that depicts Mr. Giuliani’s antiterrorism efforts as deeply flawed.

  NYT

Maybe Rudy should have gotten his other friend, Bernard Kerik, to pay a visit to Mr. Hauer before he started talking.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

Back in the News

I know you haven't forgotten Bernard Kerik.

On December 3, 2004, Kerik was nominated by President Bush to succeed Tom Ridge as United States Secretary of Homeland Security. But on December 10, after a week of press scrutiny, Kerik withdrew acceptance of the nomination. Kerik stated that he had unknowingly hired an undocumented worker as a nanny and housekeeper who had used someone else's social security number.

[...]

Shortly after withdrawal of the nomination, the press reported on several other incidents which might also have posed difficulties in gaining confirmation by the Senate. These include: questions regarding Kerik's sale of stock in Taser International shortly before the release of an Amnesty International report critical of the company's stun-gun product; a sexual harassment lawsuit; an affair with Judith Regan; allegations of misuse of police personnel and property for personal benefit; connections with a construction company suspected of having ties to organized crime; and failure to comply with ethics rules on gifts.[

  TPM post

David Kurtz updates us at TPM:

Federal prosecutors have told Bernard B. Kerik, whose nomination as homeland security secretary in 2004 ended in scandal, that he is likely to be charged with several felonies, including tax evasion and conspiracy to commit wiretapping.

Kerik's indictment could set the stage for a courtroom battle that would draw attention to Kerik's extensive business and political dealings with former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, who personally recommended him to President Bush for the Cabinet.

I guess that means Giuliani won't be considering Bernie when he's making up his list for cabinet members when he's president. But you never know.

....hey, do what you want....you will anyway.