Ties That Blinded; The controversy over Bernie Kerik's failed bid to run Homeland Security has hurt more than his reputation. Just ask his friend and business partner, Rudy Giuliani.(Interview)

Publication: Newsweek

Publication Date: 27-DEC-04

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Byline: Charles Gasparino

For 15 years, Rudy Giuliani and Bernard Kerik watched each other's back. They met in 1989 at a fund-raiser for a slain officer, grew close, and Giuliani asked Kerik to be his bodyguard and driver during his mayoral campaign in 1993. Giuliani loved Kerik's rags-to-riches story (Kerik wrote in his autobiography that his mother was a prostitute). Once in office, Giuliani named Kerik his police commissioner. They helped lower New York's crime rate, and their quick work restoring the city to order after the 9/11 terrorist attacks made them national heroes. When Giuliani left office in early 2002, he set up shop as a consultant, and quickly landed a roster of blue-chip clients like Merrill Lynch and Purdue Pharma. To add luster to Giuliani Partners, he brought in Kerik, and created an offshoot division--Giuliani-Kerik--just for security-related work. When Kerik was nominated recently to head the federal Department of Homeland Security, it seemed the ultimate reward, and it...

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