WILL BERNIE KERIK'S INDICTMENT BE THE DEATH KNELL FOR GIULIANI'S CAMPAIGN?

If Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona, one Republican who could probably teach John Doolittle, Tom Delay, Duke Cunningham, Jerry Lewis and Jack Abramoff a few corruption tricks, can be "America's Sheriff" and if a two-bit thug like Rudy Giuliani can be "America's Mayor," then it's perfectly plausible for Bernie Kerik to be America's Cop. Well, it looks like America's Cop, if not America's Mayor, will soon be spending some time in prison.

The NY Times is reporting that Kerik "will surrender to authorities Friday to be arraigned on criminal charges." Who can count how many of Giuliani's closest associates have been indicted and arraigned. If not for the fact that somehow George Bush wound up in the White House, it would be unimaginable that someone of the low moral character of Rudy Giuliani would be taken seriously as a presidential candidate for 2 seconds. Just contemplating how he would staff his administration would scare off anyone with a 3 digit IQ.

The investigation of Kerik, 52, arose from allegations that while a city official he accepted $165,000 in renovations to his Bronx apartment paid for by a mob-connected construction company that sought his help in winning city contracts.

Kerik pleaded guilty last year to a misdemeanor charge in state court admitting that the renovations constituted an illegal gift from the construction firm. The plea spared him jail time and preserved his career as a security consultant, but his troubles resurfaced when federal authorities convened their own grand jury to investigate allegations that he failed to report as income tens of thousands of dollars in services from his friends and supporters.

Before the apartment scandal broke, Giuliani had endorsed his old friend and former police commissioner's nomination in 2004 to head Homeland Security. But only days after President Bush introduced Kerik as his nominee, Kerik announced he was withdrawing his name because of tax issues involving his former nanny.

A federal indictment of Kerik could complicate matters for Giuliani as the first presidential primaries draw near.

The ex-mayor frequently says that he made a mistake in recommending Kerik to be Homeland Security chief, but that might not be enough to avoid the political damage of a drawn-out criminal case involving his one-time protege.

Driving home last night I heard Giuliani claiming it didn't matter if Kerik bent a few rules because crime was down 60% in NY while he was police commissioner. That's as big a lie as all the other lies that comes pouring out of Giuliani's face. Crime in NY was down 8%, not bad-- but not close to 60%. And as far as a few rules being broken... Giuliani's administration was riddled with Mafia connections and Kerik was the go-between. A lot of rules were broken-- very serious ones-- and people are starting to call Giuliani on his penchant for compulsive lying. I suspect that Giuliani had a conniption when the star columnist in his hometown paper stated bluntly last week that "Mr. Giuliani has a habit of saying things, on issues that range from health care to national security, that are demonstrably untrue. And the American people have a right to know that."

CNN ran an interesting clip a couple days ago:




UPDATE: GIULIANI TUMBLES

With Giuliani already refusing to vow not to pardon Kerik and other cronies of his who wind up in prison for criminal activities, America's first potential Mafia-President is starting to fade. Although national polls-- which lag-- still show him ahead, the brand new Rasmussen Poll of New Hampshire voters out today shows Romney leaving him in the dust. Romney is also beating Giuliani in Iowa, a state where the "character issue" predominates in Republican caucuses.

Among likely GOP voters in New Hampshire it lines up like this:
Romney 32%
Giuliani 17%
McCain 16%
Huckabee 10%
Thompson 7%
Paul 4%
Tancredo 3%
Hunter 2%