Implicit in most of the discussion of the Giuliani-Kerik relationship are two basic ideas of what led Rudy to promote Kerik despite all the dirty laundry and criminal conduct in his background. If you’re more sympathetic to Rudy, the idea is that Rudy’s loyal to his friends and supporters. The two bonded. And Rudy just didn’t pay close enough attention to the warning signs. If you take a darker view of Rudy, you probably figure that he heard a lot of this stuff and either didn’t want to hear or didn’t really care. Kerik was loyal and that was enough.
But I’m not so sure.
The red flags with Kerik were so numerous and conspicuous that it seems hard to believe either of these explanations really adds up. Remember that Rudy made his name as a mob prosecutor as US Attorney in New York. So you’d figure he’d have experience not just being sensitive to mob connections of city employees but also used to being suspicious of city employees with ties to organized crime figures.
So we’re digging further into this.
One thing that caught my attention is that Kerik’s period as Rudy’s chauffeur wasn’t as long as I’d understood. According to a December 24th, 1997 article in the New York Post, Kerik volunteered to be Rudy’s driver during his second (and successful) run for mayor in 1993. Then “after six weeks as an official NYPD bodyguard in the mayor’s security detail” Rudy gave him a job at the city Corrections department. Six months after that he was promoted to First Deputy Corrections Commissioner. Three years after that he was in charge of the whole place.
So a few questions. How much time did Rudy and Kerik spend together in the chauffeur phase of the friendship? How much after he got Kerik the job in Corrections?
We’ll keep at it. If you know more, drop us a line.
