[Guiliani] had actually been briefed of Kerik's alleged ties to organized crime before making him NYPD commissioner ...

Giuliani, Bush, and Kerik in Cesspool of Political Incest and Corruption | Submitted by BuzzFlash on Tue, 04/03/2007 - 2:40pm. Analysis | BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS

Ex-NYPD Commissioner and former GOP Hypocrite of the Week Bernard Kerik is beleaguered by legal and moral problems. No wonder George Bush and Rudy Giuliani liked having him around their corrupt, crony-filled administrations.

Most recently, Kerik is on the verge of being charged with multiple felonies, including tax evasion and conspiracy to commit wiretapping. The wiretapping charge stems from an incident when Kerik and Westchester County District Attorney Jeanine Pirro were overheard planning to wiretap Pirro's husband in order to catch him engaging in an extramarital affair. Ironically, this conversation took place over a line that federal law enforcement had legally wiretapped. More ironically, Kerik was himself caught having two simultaneous extramarital affairs a few years ago. (He achieved the distinction of cheating on his mistress with another woman, all while being married to a third woman.)

Giuliani (a total of six marriages for him and his current wife) and Kerik have had a tight relationship over the years. Kerik served as his driver, campaign advance man, corrections commissioner, and ultimately top police official. After leaving office, Giuliani tapped Kerik to serve as a partner in his business firm. Proving to be a loyal minion, Giuliani pushed Bush to appoint Kerik as Interim Minister of Interior of Iraq, where Kerik botched the disastrous "training" of police. But everything came to a halt when Bush nominated him to be Secretary of Homeland Security in 2004.

After just a week in the national spotlight, Kerik withdrew his nomination when forced to admit that he hired an undocumented worker as a nanny and housekeeper. Then more started to come out: big stock-option windfalls, alleged connections with the mob, and, of course, the affairs (which both took place in a rent-free apartment donated to assist the 9/11 recovery efforts at Ground Zero).

Kerik pleaded guilty last summer to improperly receiving $165,000 worth of free renovations to his residence in 1999 from a company allegedly tied to the mob.

Given the ease and quickness of the Kerik revelations, Bush and Giuliani could certainly have found out about them before the Homeland Security nomination and the other appointments. They either didn't look hard enough or just didn't care. In fact, Giuliani recently told a grand jury that he had actually been briefed of Kerik's alleged ties to organized crime before making him NYPD commissioner, which he now says was a mistake. ...