New Charges On Kerik, Bernie Failed to Report $450k in Bribes - McCAIN QUESTIONS RUDY JUDGEMENT

A defiant Bernard Kerik, the former New York City police commissioner, pledged Friday to fight a 16-count federal indictment, setting the stage for legal proceedings that could cast a shadow over the presidential campaign of his friend and former mentor, ex-Mayor Rudy Giuliani, deep into the 2008 campaign.

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There are also new elements to the indictment that was unsealed Friday, including charges that Kerik failed to disclose a $250,000 loan financed by an unnamed Israeli businessman and did not report as income more than $200,000 in rent paid by a developer on an Upper East Side Manhattan luxury apartment.

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In a sign of the political problems that Kerik's case could pose for Giuliani, the campaign of Arizona Sen. John McCain, a rival for the Republican nomination, seized on the indictment to criticize Giuliani for ignoring warning signs about Kerik.

"A president's judgment matters, and Rudy Giuliani has repeatedly placed personal loyalty over regard for the facts," said Rick Davis, McCain's campaign manager.


MORE: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/11/10/MNFOT9VD2.DTL

(HANOVER said) for "several years," it was "difficult to participate in Rudy's public life because of his relationship with one staff member." Her mouthpiece then identified the staff member, Cristyne Lategano, and specified the nature of the relationship: "intimate."...

As damning as Donna's porn-on-the-payroll charge was, she leveled a second count in her felony indictment. The lady whose four-member, city-financed, personal staff has refused to supply reporters with copies of her résumé, much less answer legitimate questions, announced that she and Rudy had "reestablished some of our personal intimacy through the fall." Coital positions were promised as part of the next budget release...

Donna's account of the recent calendar, juxtaposed with the news stories about Rudy's summerlong sallies to Southampton, left Rudy looking like any one of the Godfather characters he mimics and invokes: fully entitled to his public goumada on the side. Stir-crazy reporters from the Post and News assigned to weekend duty at City Hall were pressing his office about why there was never anything on his weekend schedule last spring, summer, and early fall. That's when they started using 14-year-old Andrew as the beard, claiming Rudy was back to being papa, taking the kid to the links. Rudy sure knew how to turn a minus into a plus.."


DAILY NEWS:

Former NYPD Commissioner Bernard Kerik conducted two extramarital affairs simultaneously, using a secret Battery Park City apartment for the passionate liaisons, the Daily News has learned. The first relationship, spanning nearly a decade, was with city Correction Officer Jeanette Pinero; the second, and more startling, was with famed publishing titan Judith Regan. His affair with Regan, the stunningly attractive head of her own book publishing company, lasted for almost a year. Dramatically, each woman learned of the existence of the other after Pinero discovered a love note left by Regan in the apartment.

The revelations about Kerik's private life come as repercussions over his suitability to be nominated for the post of secretary of homeland security. Kerik, 49, married with two children from his current marriage, withdrew his name from consideration in a sudden and unexpected call to the White House on Friday night. Kerik said that questions about the immigration status of his family's former nanny and failure to pay taxes prompted his decision to walk away from the job. But speculation has continued that there were deeper and more controversial reasons.

Yesterday, The News reported that a six-month investigation showed Kerik had accepted thousands of dollars in cash and gifts without proper disclosure, and had ties to a construction company that investigators believe is linked to the mob. Now revelations about his private life also cast a shadow on his suitability for one of the administration's highest-profile cabinet positions.

Asked about the affairs and the secret love nest yesterday, Joseph Tacopina, Kerik's attorney, said Kerik and Regan had denied the affair in the past. Tacopina said Kerik's "friendship" with Pinero ended in 1996. He would not comment on the apartment. Regan could not be reached for comment. But sources with intimate knowledge of both affairs painted a picture of passionate, and sometimes volatile, liaisons.