It may indeed have been a problem with a nanny's taxes and immigration status that brought down Bernard Kerik, briefly nominated by President Bush to be secretary of homeland security. If so, the nation should be relieved. Kerik is a walking, breathing example of the sort of person not needed in such a critical federal government post. What in the world were the Bush administration officials doing even considering him for the job?

One thing they clearly weren't doing was properly looking into his past. This former cop, who just 11 years ago was serving as Rudy Giuliani's driver, has left a veritable trail of questionable actions that should have raised alarms long before his nomination was ever announced.

We're not talking about the nanny. Perhaps for that sort of detail the White House must rely on a nominee's word. But surely even a cursory look at Kerik would have brought to light:

• A 1998 New Jersey arrest warrant for Kerik over unpaid condominium dues. He was bankrupt in 1987, cash-strapped in 1998 and now is worth millions, made through the sale of stock options earned during 18 months on the board of Taser International, which makes stun guns sold to government (including the Department of Homeland Security).
• An illicit relationship with a subordinate while he was New York City's corrections commissioner. That relationship now has spawned a civil lawsuit.
• Allegations uncovered by a New York newspaper within days of his nomination that, as police commissioner, "Kerik accepted thousands of dollars in cash and gifts without making proper public disclosures." Many of those gifts came from an employee of a "major city contractor."
• Reports that he had homicide detectives fingerprint employees of a television network because another lover (and publisher of his memoirs) believed they had stolen things from her.
• A $2,500 fine levied against Kerik by the New York City Conflicts of Interest Board for using city detectives to do research for those memoirs.
• Unanswered questions about Kerik's behavior in Iraq. He was dispatched to oversee training of a new Iraqi police force, a job that was supposed to last the better part of a year. Just a few months later he quietly left Iraq. Why he did has never been explained, at least not in public.

The list goes on, but the picture is clear: Kerik is, to say the least, ethically challenged and monumentally arrogant. And yet not one of these red flags apparently came to the attention of those responsible for his vetting. Newspaper reporters could dig out these items but the federal government couldn't? What a comedy of errors.

On top of all that is the question of what remotely qualified Kerik to whip the ineffectual and marginalized Department of Homeland Security into shape. What he seems best at is cozying up to Giuliani, his patron in city government and now his partner in business. While Kerik won plaudits for his actions in the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, he has little of the management experience and bipartisan respect it will take to do the homeland security job.

As his replacement, speculation now centers on Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., an early promoter of the department and an author of its enabling legislation. Both Republicans and Democrats have responded positively to his possible appointment. We don't know if Lieberman is the best person for the job, but his consideration shows the Bush administration at least has started looking quite a lot higher up the food chain from Bernard Kerik.

© 2004 Star Tribune

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