Bernard Kerik, the former NYPD commissioner who served during 9/11 and was President Bush’s first choice for Homeland Security secretary, will report to prison today to begin a four-year sentence. In February, Kerik pleaded guilty to lying to White House officials during his DHS vetting process and to charges of tax fraud.
Yesterday, Kerik, who has been under house arrest since his sentencing, reflected on the past 10 years in a lengthy blog post titled, “It is time to move forward.”
He called the length of his sentence a “gross injustice” and vowed to continue fighting it in appellate court. He said he was been “a convenient target of personal and political attacks” because of the challenges he has faced over the years, and cited his “otherwise unblemished record of service to this country dating back more than 30 years to my days as a young GI in Korea.”
He also reflected in a more personal way.
Elisabeth Kubler-Ross once said, “People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.” I’m not exactly a stained-glass window, I don’t think I’ve sparkled or shined, and I certainly don’t claim to be beautiful, but I do think there is a light within me!
That light is my love for my wife, my children, and my country. It is a light that they ignited; they sustain, and will guide me through the dark times ahead.
Kerik will serve his term at the Federal Correctional Institute in Cumberland, Md.
