NYT: Security Post Would Put Kerik Atop Field That Enriched Him

[kskiska]

WASHINGTON, Dec. 9 - Just five years ago, Bernard B. Kerik was facing lawsuits from a condominium association and bank over delinquent payments owed on a modest New Jersey condo he owned. Today, he is a multimillionaire as a result of a lucrative partnership with former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and an even more profitable relationship with a stun-gun manufacturer.

If he is confirmed to the post of homeland security secretary, to which President Bush nominated him last week, he will oversee an enormous department that does business with some of the companies that helped make him wealthy.

The list of income sources that transformed Mr. Kerik, a former New York City police commissioner, into a wealthy man is a diverse one, including a best-selling autobiography, speeches around the United States and service on corporate boards. Mr. Kerik, who now lives in a large house in the decidedly more upscale New Jersey town of Franklin Lakes and drives a BMW sedan, even sold the right to make a feature film about his rags-to-riches life to Miramax, the film production company.

But it is the relationship Mr. Kerik has had since the spring of 2002 with Taser International, a Scottsdale, Ariz., manufacturer of stun guns, that has by far been the biggest source of his newfound wealth. That relationship has earned him more than $6.2 million in pretax profits through stock options he was granted and then sold, mostly in the last month. A White House spokesman said Mr. Kerik would resign from Taser's board and sell his remaining stock if confirmed.

more…
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/10/politics/10kerik.html?oref=login

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Business as usual in BushWorld.

[Nordic]

2. failing upward, the Bushco way.

just another Bushco gangster.

He definitely fits right in.

We CANNOT let this guy become head of anything, much less "Homeland Security". What a fucking joke.

[LoZoccolo]

3. It's almost like they want us to get attacked and not know what to do.

This is the best guy they could find? I don't believe that at all. I am not even a LIHOPer, but I can't make sense of this at all. This does not make me feel safe.

[DeepModem Mom]

4. kick

[maddezmom]

5. Medaire, Purdue Pharma, Entergy Nuclear NE and more:::

Since May this year, Kerik has served on the board of MedAire, a Tempe, Ariz., company that provides a global medical network for travelers needing assistance and consultations for Americans living abroad who face an immediate security crisis.


~snip~

Kerik has played a key security consultant's role for a number of Kerik and Giuliani clients. Among them:

_Purdue Pharma, the company that makes the narcotic painkiller OxyContin. Kerik helped the company improve security at two manufacturing plants after it experienced employee theft and found that additional security measurers were needed for the highly regulated drug. Kerik worked to improve the capacity of safes to secure the product, upgrade camera surveillance and install other security measures.

_The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the drug industry association that opposes importation of medicine from Canada and elsewhere. Kerik visited ports, reviewed prescription drug Internet sites and helped prepare a report for the industry on dangers of importation. He told a government task force in April that allowing imports could invite terrorists to purchase drugs legally and use them in a biological attack

_Entergy Nuclear Northeast, operator of five nuclear power plants. Kerik and others helped ensure the plants were operated with state-of-the-art security.

___

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=542&ncid=542&e=13&u=/ap/20041209/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/kerik_s_stock_options

[maddezmom]

6. Kerick also headed the "Corrections Foundation"

Kerik has also dodged numerous financial scandals during his career. One such controversy involved a little-known foundation operated by the New York City Department of Corrections under Kerik authority.

According to an investigation by the New York Daily News back in early 2003, nearly $1 million from sales of cigarettes to Rikers Island inmates was diverted to the Correction Foundation, an organization created and headed by Kerik himself. The money -- which was tobacco companies provided in place of rebate merchandise that previously went to inmates -- was spent with apparent disregard for rules governing public funds, reported the Daily News. Although no one was criminally charged despite apparent IRS rules violations, one board member told the Daily News he quit in protest after requested access to the suspect financial records went unanswered.

Though Kerik has always denied any knowledge of unlawful activity in connection with the Foundation, the diverted funds remain unaccounted for to this day. Newsday reports that one of Kerik’s aides, highly-paid Fred Patrick, is now serving a one-year prison sentence for misusing tobacco funds donated to the Correction Foundation.

Kerik has repeatedly been accused of using public office for personal gain. While police commissioner, Kerik reallocated three department employees -- working on city time -- to carry out on-the-ground research for his best-selling autobiography, The Lost Son. As a result, Kerik agreed to pay a $2,500 fine to New York City’s Conflicts of Interest Board
http://newstandardnews.net/content/?action=show_item&itemid=1285