Rudy's Buddy Bernie Kerik Is Indicted for Tax Evasion

Posted by Steve Benen, The Carpetbagger Report at 3:00 PM on November 8, 2007.

This post, written by Steve Benen, originally appeared on The Carpetbagger Report

As in comedy, sometimes in politics, timing is everything. Just this week, for example, Rudy Giuliani was praising the work of his disgraced former police chief, Bernie Kerik.

"Sure, there were issues [with Kerik], but if I have the same degree of success and failure as president of the United States, this country will be in great shape," Giuliani said.

His timing was a little off.

Bernard Kerik expects to be indicted by a federal grand jury by next Friday at the latest, two sources close to the investigation tell ABC News.

The sources say Kerik has told his close friends and members of his legal team that he expects the potential indictment to come before the statute of limitations expires on Nov. 15 on charges that could include tax evasion and bribery.

The early chapters were well-documented by Kerik in his autobiographical account "The Lost Son." The final chapters have yet to be written. They will very likely include a struggle to pay legal bills that could result in the sale of his multi-million-dollar New Jersey mansion, a long stretch in federal prison and severe damage to his consulting practice, which includes lucrative contracts with U.S. ally Jordan, according to multiple sources involved in the investigation.

Giuliani, true to form, is sticking to his story, and insisting that the ends justify the means. "There were mistakes made with Bernie Kerik," Giuliani told the AP, utilizing a classic passive-voice phrase. "But what's the ultimate result for the people of New York City? The ultimate result for the people of New York City was a 74 percent reduction in shootings, a 60 percent reduction in crime, a correction program that went from being one of the worst in the country to one that was on '60 Minutes' as one of the best in the country, 90 percent reduction of violence in the jails."

On its face, it seems odd that Giuliani would argue that corruption should be tolerated if the results exceed expectations, but more importantly, those impressive-sounding statistics turn out to be ... wait for it ... a wild exaggeration of reality.

Greg Sargent did a great job scrutinizing Giuliani's claims about his and Kerik's ability to reduce crime in NYC, and found that the former mayor apparently "told three lies in one sentence."

* Giuliani claimed that Kerik reduced "shootings" by 74% -- Greg found that there are no statistics that measure the amorphous category of "shootings," but there is data that showed shooting victims in New York City fell by just 7% between 1999 and 2002. So, Giuliani was only off by a factor of ten.

* Giuliani claimed that Kerik reduced crime by 60% -- Wrong again. Greg explained, "According to FBI crime stats, in 2000 there were 288,368 police-recorded crimes. In 2001, there were 263,764. Comparing these is actually overly fair to Kerik, since he started half way into 2000. So here we see a drop of roughly 8.5% percent -- hardly the 60 percent Rudy claimed."

* Giuliani said Kerik's success in turning around NYC's correction program was touted on 60 Minutes -- Actually, 60 Minutes featured Kerik's role overseeing one specific jail, not the city's entire corrections program.

Like with most of Giuliani's bold claims, there's a kernel of truth, which he then exaggerates in order to deceive. And you know what that means -- it's time to update the big board (with a couple of additions I didn't have the last time I posted this):

* Giuliani exaggerated his alleged expertise and experience with advanced interrogation techniques.

* He exaggerated his background as a religious scholar, claiming on separate occasions, "It happens that I am a student of the history of religion," and "[Theology is] an area I know really, really well academically."

* He exaggerated prostate cancer survival-rates in order to make a dishonest ad about healthcare.

* He exaggerated how much time he spent at Ground Zero in the aftermath of 9/11, claiming to be an actual recovery worker.

* He exaggerated the responsibilities of the mayor of NYC, claiming to have the security of 8 million people "on his shoulders," basically characterizing himself as the commander-in-chief of some kind of city-state.

* He exaggerated his 9/11 record in a variety of breathtaking ways.

* He exaggerated his background in counter-terrorism, claiming to have been "studying Islamic terrorism for 30 years," a claim which quickly fell apart.

* He exaggerated his record of reducing abortions and increasing adoptions in New York City during his tenure.

* He exaggerated his record of tax cuts as mayor, including tax cuts that passed over his opposition (and counting one cut twice).

* He exaggerated his budget accomplishments, claiming to have created huge surpluses, when in fact he left Bloomberg with massive deficits.

* He exaggerated how many cops he added to the NYPD.

* He exaggerated Hillary Clinton's comments about economics.

* He even exaggerated his list of congressional endorsements he's received for his presidential campaign.

* And now he's exaggerated Bernie Kerik's record of reducing crime in New York City.

At this point, it's a Top 14 list. It's sure to get even longer as the campaign unfolds.

UPDATE: ABC News reported late Wednesday that Bush's onetime choice for Homeland Security Secretary will be indicted Thursday for tax evasion.

"Federal prosecutors are expected to ask a federal grand jury tomorrow to indict former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik for failing to pay taxes on free apartment renovations and rent," two 'federal sources' told ABC News' Richard Esposito Wednesday night.

"Kerik, according to sources involved in preparing his defense, has expected the indictment, and his associates have been attempting to raise money for a legal defense fund. Assuming the grand jury sitting in suburban Westchester County federal courthouse votes to indict, Kerik is expected to surrender to the United States Marshals Friday morning."

UPDATE:Kerik is indicted.

Tagged as: election08, giuliani, kerik, tax evasion

Steve Benen is a freelance writer/researcher and creator of The Carpetbagger Report. In addition, he is the lead editor of Salon.com's Blog Report, and has been a contributor to Talking Points Memo, Washington Monthly, Crooks & Liars, The American Prospect, and the Guardian.