In a surprise move, former New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik abruptly withdrew his nomination as President Bush's choice to be homeland security secretary Friday night, saying questions have arisen about the immigration status of a housekeeper and nanny he employed.
The decision caught the White House off guard and sent Bush in search of a new candidate to run the sprawling bureaucracy of more than 180,000 employees melded together from 22 disparate federal agencies in 2003.
Kerik informed Bush of his decision to withdraw in a telephone call at 8:30 p.m. EST. "I am convinced that, for personal reasons, moving forward would not be in the best interests of your administration, the Department of Homeland Security or the American people," Kerik said in a letter to the president.
He's such a tough G. Gordon Liddy looking guy. We'll almost need to get Liddy himself to project such an image.
There were a lot of questions about whether he abused his power as Commish. The Times was running stories early in the week about him using his personal power in the wrong ways. Law enforcement is a job with too much professional courtesy and not enough everyone equal under the law.
I have had enough run ins with two-bit cops with an attitude that I'm not entirely upset that a cop is walking, but it would also be nice to have tough-as-nails guys leading this department. Are we destined to wind up with another career politician or bureaucrat?
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