Bush Taps Mukasey: Tacit Support of Guiliani?

[CorpGovActivist]

The following information is taken from the FEC database. Marc Mukasey - the son of Judge Mukasey - is an attorney at Bracewell & Giuliani (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bracewell_%26_Giuliani). According to his bio, Judge Mukasey is married to Susan, and his children are Marc and Jessica (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mukasey):

Individual Contributions Arranged By Type, Giver, Then Recipient

Contributions to Political Committees

MUKASEY, MARC L. MR.
NEW YORK, NY 10128
BRACEWELL & GIULIANI/ATTORNEY

GIULIANI, RUDOLPH W.
VIA RUDY GIULIANI PRESIDENTIAL COMMITTEE INC
06/28/2007 -2300.00 27930897787
06/28/2007 2300.00 27930897787
06/28/2007 2300.00 27930897786

MUKASEY, MARC MR.
NEW YORK, NY 10128
BRACEWELL & GIULIANI/LAWYER

GIULIANI, RUDOLPH W.
VIA RUDY GIULIANI PRESIDENTIAL COMMITTEE INC
12/18/2006 2100.00 27940122770
03/15/2007 200.00 27930513586

MUKASEY, MICHAEL B
NEW YORK, NY 10021
PATTERSON, BELNAP, ET AL/ATTORNEY

LIEBERMAN, JOSEPH I
VIA FRIENDS OF JOE LIEBERMAN
09/28/2006 1000.00 26020771099

MUKASEY, MICHAEL B MR.
NEW YORK, NY 10021
PATERSON BELKNAP WEBB & TYLER L.L

GIULIANI, RUDOLPH W.
VIA RUDY GIULIANI PRESIDENTIAL COMMITTEE INC
03/13/2007 200.00 27930513586

MUKASEY, MICHAEL B. MR.
NEW YORK, NY 10021
PATTERSON BELKNAP WEBB & TYLER L.

GIULIANI, RUDOLPH W.
VIA RUDY GIULIANI PRESIDENTIAL COMMITTEE INC
06/19/2007 1000.00 27930897787
07/16/2007 -1000.00 27931339534
07/16/2007 1000.00 27931339535

MUKASEY, MILDRED B MS.
NEW YORK, NY 10021
PATERSON BELKNAP WEBB & TYLER L.L

GIULIANI, RUDOLPH W.
VIA RUDY GIULIANI PRESIDENTIAL COMMITTEE INC
12/15/2006 2100.00 27940122771

MUKASEY, SUSAN MRS.
NEW YORK, NY 10021
SELF-EMPLOYED/TEACHER/ADMINISTRAT

GIULIANI, RUDOLPH W.
VIA RUDY GIULIANI PRESIDENTIAL COMMITTEE INC
12/15/2006 2100.00 27940122771
03/13/2007 200.00 27930513587

Total Contributions: 11200.00

Best,

- Dave

[Rex]

1. There ya are!

What ya been up to? Could be a nod.

http://opensecrets.org/indivs/search_hp.asp?txtName=MUKASEY%2C+MARC+L.+MR.&NumOfThou=0&txt2008=Y&submit=Go%21

[CorpGovActivist]

2. Tending to...

... my knitting.

; )

- Dave

[Rex]

5. Sweet.

:hi:

[seemslikeadream]

3. “to keep an eye on” former NYPD police commissioner Bernard Kerik’s criminal investigation.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2185757
My letter to Sen. Leahy: Concerning Mukasey's nomination, and Mukasey's son Marc
Posted by MagickMuffin on Thu Nov-01-07 04:32 PM

I started out calling everyone of the Judiciary Committee. Leahy's office was the last one I called and the person I spoke with asked me to send them an email. Below is the email I sent. This is very important information and I have not heard anything about this, not in the news, not on DU, nowhere. I could have missed it being posted here, but if I did then oops. This info needs to get out there, it needs to have the spotlight shined on it to keep this nominee just that a nominee.


Dear Honorable Sen. Leahy,

Please consider this information before confirming Michael Mukasey as the United States Attorney General. I have called everyone on the Senate Judiciary committee (Dems only of course) to get this info out there. I haven't heard much about it anywhere else. While I know that Water-boarding is a serious concern, I find this info just as concerning.

Marc Mukasey, the son of Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey, has been tasked by Rudy Giuliani to “to keep an eye on” former NYPD police commissioner Bernard Kerik’s criminal investigation.

Earlier this month, media reports said that federal prosecutors were prepared to file charges against Kerik “that will likely include allegations of bribery, tax fraud and obstruction of justice.” Kerik, whose nomination as homeland security secretary in 2004 ended in scandal, pleaded guilty last year to two misdemeanor charges of taking payments from the same company that is alleged to have bribed him.

More @ link

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/10/22/mukasey-son-giuliani /



Can you imagine someone blocking witnesses from testifying to protect another criminal? I mean come on. When will it ever end?



This is what concerns me the most:

Mr. Mukasey's clients frequently retain him for his trial skills. He has tried numerous criminal cases involving allegations of securities fraud, investment advisory fraud, mail and wire fraud, insider trading, money laundering, RICO and murder. He has also practiced extensively before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Recently, Mr. Mukasey has been successful in persuading Department of Justice prosecutors to close an antitrust investigation against a major corporation without the filing of charges, and to drop securities fraud and mail fraud investigations of his business clients.



Do we really need more cronyism at the DOJ???

Hasn't the DOJ suffered enough at the hands of the Bush regime???

I can just see it now Marc spending so much time at the DOJ and getting Daddy to block investigations concerning his clients.

The Department of Justice is in shambles because of the Bush regime politicizing it.



Senator Leahy you have the power to block his confirmation. Please help put this country back on the right track. This has got to stop. We need real leadership at the DOJ. We don't need more of the cronyism that has wrecked our great nation. You know as well as I and the rest of us non sleepers that our country is in dire straights and we need your leadership to help set the country back on the right track, especially within the DOJ.



Thank you for your service and thank you for your time.

Best Regards,


If you DUers think it is worthy of merit then help spread the word far and wide.

[seemslikeadream]

4. The Talented Mr. Kerik

Wonkette: Rudy Giuliani's Best Friend Will Be Indicted, Too
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x313973

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=2788428


DO inJ & inS
Posted by Octafish on Sun Dec-05-04 07:48 AM

Kerik's well-trained himself. The guy was "Interim Iraqi Interior Minister" for a few happy months there. From News Hounds:

The Talented Mr. Kerik

EXCERPT...

When Gibson asks him whether or not the Republicans are wrapping themselves in the mantle of 9/11, Kerik responds: "I think it should be embraced. I think it should be talked about. I think one-half of the problem in this country is that people have forgotten a lot about 9/11. They've gotten complacent and they have to realize that the threat exists as much today as it did on September 10th. So we have a President with enormous leadership in the area of combatting terrorism. He's had major changes over the last three years. Those changes have to continue. This war has to continue and, if it doesn't, we'll be back where we were on Septemer 10th of 2001, an imminent threat a day away...."

(Later) "I want to talk about it as much as possible because people in this country hafta realize each and every day going forward we have to consider there's an imminent threat against us. As long as we have Al Qaeda out there, as long as we have bin Laden out there, as long as we have Zarqawi out there and people like them, we have to take those people out and this is going to take a long time."

Comment:

On October 4, 2003 the NY Times reported the following:

"Last month the Iraqi Governing Council questioned why the American occupation authority had issued a $20 million contract to buy new revolvers and Kalashnikov rifles for the Iraqi police when the United States military was confiscating tens of thousands of weapons every month from Saddam Hussein's abandoned arsenals. On Wednesday the Iraqi council, in a testy exchange with the occupation administrator, L. Paul Bremer III, challenged an American decision to spend $1.2 billion to train 35,000 Iraqi police officers in Jordan when such training could be done in Iraq for a fraction of the cost. Germany and France have offered to provide such training free."

(later) 'The lack of transparency and competition, Governing Council members said in interviews, may be encouraging corruption. They said they believed that many contracts had been inflated beyond the reasonable cost for the work, creating opportunities for kickbacks between prime contractors and subcontractors. One council member, Naseer K. Chadirji, said: 'As the Governing Council we are in a very weak legal position. We don't have the right to investigate these contracts.' He added, 'I don't have the evidence, but I think there is corruption. This is a common grievance that people tell me.' An Iraqi executive, who made millions of dollars as an insider under the Hussein government and would not allow his name to be used, said a relative outside Iraq had asserted that a Bechtel executive was looking to become a silent partner in an Iraqi company that would be favored with subcontracts from Bechtel."

CONTINUED...

http://www.newshounds.us/2004/09/02/the_talented_mr_kerik.php

Any bets on when the "disappearances" begin in the former USA?



He broke the guy's finger because he could. Wonder how many Americans are going to die because he can kill?

Remember, one of the provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act is that Smirko McCokestroke can name anyone he pleases an "Enemy Combatant. " Thus, policiticans may get the permanent ziggy and the average American truly becomes cannon fodder. Should PATRIOT ACT II pass, the number could be astronomical.

http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=9395

http://www.alternet.org/story/15541

Homeland Security nominee was once bankrupt NYPD cop

DECEMBER 7--While a recent stock windfall has left Bernard Kerik sitting on $6 million, President Bush's nominee to head the Homeland Security department hasn't always been so flush. In fact, Kerik was once a deadbeat who declared bankruptcy when he couldn't handle his credit card bills, loan repayments, or Sears and J.C. Penney tabs. Kerik filed for Chapter 7 protection in October 1987, when he was a 32-year-old New York Police Department officer living in Greenwich Village, according to federal court records. As detailed in Kerik's bankruptcy petition, a copy of which you'll find below, he listed debts totaling about $12,000, the largest of which was a $2089.52 Visa bill. He also claimed an inability to pay a $174 Sunoco tab. According to Kerik's filing, his expenses exceeded his income by about $200 per month. Along with costs like rent ($700), food $200), and "alimony, maintenance, or support payments" ($280), Kerik typed in "Barber" on the line calling for other expenses to be listed. Those tonsorial treatments set him back $20 a month.

more…
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/1207041kerik1.html


Questions for Kerik
Is he qualified to run the Department of Homeland Security?

By Fred Kaplan
Posted Friday, Dec. 3, 2004, at 10:58 AM PT

EXCERPT...

The second question—Kerik's time in Baghdad—is a more mysterious matter, but from what's known about it, still more dismaying. In mid-May 2003, the Defense Department gave Kerik a $140,000-a-year contract to go train the new Iraqi police force. He told reporters, "I will be there at least six months—until the job is done." He came back to New York in early September, a little more than three months later, just as the insurgency began to grow, saying, "Everything that had to be done that I could possibly do, it was done."

Whatever Kerik did, it wasn't much. The Iraqi police forces were—and still are—notoriously ill-trained and ill-equipped for the gigantic challenges they face. It's not clear why Kerik left earlier than scheduled. By all accounts, he was a wash-out. One Pentagon official who was in Baghdad at the time calls Kerik's tenure "notably unspectacular." His tenure did produce some grist for scandal. Members of Iraq's interim governing council expressed loud dismay that Kerik spent $1.2 billion to train 35,000 Iraqi police in Jordan. More annoying still was his decision to buy from Jordan 20,000 Kalashnikov rifles, 50,000 revolvers, and 10 million rounds of ammunition, when he could have rounded up all those weapons far more cheaply—if not for free—from the disbanded Iraqi army.

CONTINUED...

http://slate.msn.com/id/2110638

Here's Nutjob...



(Martial Arts) Success: What role can martial arts instructors play in our country's willingness and ability to protect itself from those who would destroy us?

Kerik: Fight for what is right and always deny evil. Understand why we were attacked by these cowards -- because of freedom! Where that freedom comes from and why these extremists are so afraid of our country and the democracy in which we live.

Martial arts instructors are people that are usually looked up to, people that others will follow. Don't be afraid to stand up for this country and all the things that have made it so great.

CONTINUED NUTJOBISHNESS...

http://www.battleofatlanta.com/Test/kerik1.htm

Copy of suit follows article

By John Byrne | RAW STORY Editor

Bernard Kerik is no stranger to controversy. The son of a prostitute who fathered and abandoned a child in South Korea in the 1970s, Kerik climbed the ranks of power after being a driver for New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who subsequently promoted him quickly through the police force.

...

In a scantily reported civil suit filed in 2003 and settled for $325,000, New York City Deputy Warden Lionel Lorquet alleged that Kerik "instituted a practice of threats and retaliation if they were deemed to be 'disloyal'" to the commissioner. RAW STORY acquired a copy of the suit Thursday.

...

The practice, which appears to have continued under the two subsequent commissioners, is detailed in heavy detail in the court filing and may presage a painfully partisan future for Homeland Security. Supporters of Kerik note, however, that much of the retaliation against Lorquet came under his successors' watch.

...

Lorquet says the situation grew so dire that two corrections officers even paid a visit to his home with a video camera when it was discovered that he planned to hold a fundraising function for Green at his home in August 2001.


http://www.bluelemur.com/index.php?p=485

Lawsuit (.pdf) http://rawstory.com/images/pdfs/Lorquet_v_NYC_et_al.pdf

Security Post Would Put Kerik Atop Field That Enriched Him

By ERIC LIPTON
The New York Times
December 10, 2004

WASHINGTON, Dec. 9 - Just five years ago, Bernard B. Kerik was facing lawsuits from a condominium association and bank over delinquent payments owed on a modest New Jersey condo he owned. Today, he is a multimillionaire as a result of a lucrative partnership with former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and an even more profitable relationship with a stun-gun manufacturer.

If he is confirmed to the post of homeland security secretary, to which President Bush nominated him last week, he will oversee an enormous department that does business with some of the companies that helped make him wealthy.

The list of income sources that transformed Mr. Kerik, a former New York City police commissioner, into a wealthy man is a diverse one, including a best-selling autobiography, speeches around the United States and service on corporate boards. Mr. Kerik, who now lives in a large house in the decidedly more upscale New Jersey town of Franklin Lakes and drives a BMW sedan, even sold the right to make a feature film about his rags-to-riches life to Miramax, the film production company.

But it is the relationship Mr. Kerik has had since the spring of 2002 with Taser International, a Scottsdale, Ariz., manufacturer of stun guns, that has by far been the biggest source of his newfound wealth. That relationship has earned him more than $6.2 million in pretax profits through stock options he was granted and then sold, mostly in the last month. A White House spokesman said Mr. Kerik would resign from Taser's board and sell his remaining stock if confirmed.

Mr. Kerik benefited largely because the company's stock has surged extraordinarily. Stock options that were worth little when they were granted became extremely valuable, in part because of the sales pitch that Mr. Kerik made on the company's behalf to other police departments.

CONTINUED...

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/10/politics/10kerik.html?oref=login&oref=login&pagewanted=print&position=


Kerik's conduct in Saudi Arabia questioned

By John Mintz and Lucy Shackelford
The Washington Post

WASHINGTON — The autobiography of Bernard Kerik, President Bush's nominee to head the Department of Homeland Security, recounts a difficult time 20 years ago when he was expelled from Saudi Arabia amid a power struggle involving the head of a hospital complex where Kerik helped command a security staff.

In the book, Kerik described his discomfort at having to investigate employees' private lives but said it was necessary because of the Saudis' laws prohibiting drinking and mingling of the sexes in public. "It was challenging, negotiating such a closed, rigid system and trying to find justice in laws that, to an American, were unjust," he wrote. He was expelled from Saudi Arabia in 1984, the book said, after an altercation with a Saudi secret-police official who was interrogating him.

Since he was nominated last week to be homeland security secretary, however, nine former employees of the hospital have said that Kerik and his colleagues were carrying out the private agenda of the hospital's administrator, Nizar Feteih, and that the surveillance was intended to control people's private affairs.

Feteih became embroiled in a scandal that centered in part on his use of the institution's security staff to track the private lives of several women with whom he was romantically involved, and men who came in contact with them, the former employees said.

Kerik, who as chief of investigations was considered third in command of the security staff, surveilled some employees and at times confronted them with the results, several former employees said. He also was a lead investigator in the controversial arrest, for drinking, of a physician who was detained and deported from Saudi Arabia for the crime.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002112642_kerik08.html

Kerik has played a key security consultant's role for a number of Kerik and Giuliani clients. Among them:

-Purdue Pharma, the company that makes the narcotic painkiller OxyContin. Kerik helped the company improve security at two manufacturing plants after it experienced employee theft and found that additional security measurers were needed for the highly regulated drug. Kerik worked to improve the capacity of safes to secure the product, upgrade camera surveillance and install other security measures.

-The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the drug industry association that opposes importation of medicine from Canada and elsewhere. Kerik visited ports, reviewed prescription drug Internet sites and helped prepare a report for the industry on dangers of importation. He told a government task force in April that allowing imports could invite terrorists to purchase drugs legally and use them in a biological attack

-Entergy Nuclear Northeast, operator of five nuclear power plants. Kerik and others helped ensure the plants were operated with state-of-the-art security.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1209Kerik-Stock-ON.html


HOMELAND SECURITY

Who Is Bernard Kerik?

Over the last several years, former NYC police commissioner Bernard B. Kerik, President Bush's nominee to be the next Secretary of Homeland Security, has become "a multimillionaire as a result of a lucrative partnership with former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani." Indeed, the New York Daily News suggests, Kerik's selection was less based on merit than it was on Giuliani's "pull within the White House" and "Kerik's work on the campaign trail" for Bush. Kerik's record, however, raises serious question about his motives, ethics and ability to defend America. Kerik abruptly quit a critical job in Iraq, mismanaged rescue efforts in the aftermath of 9/11, used his official posts for personal enrichment and has been plagued by serious scandals. Here is a detailed look behind the mustache:

KERIK ABANDONS CRITICAL POST IN IRAQ TO TAKE A VACATION: The Washington Post reports that Kerik's track record on issues of national security is "spotty." Appointed by President Bush to train a new Iraqi police force in 2003, "Kerik came under criticism for inadequate screening of recruits as U.S. authorities rushed to deploy the force. It has been plagued by desertions and by allegations that insurgents have infiltrated the ranks." Worse, Kerik "quit four months into his six-month tenure in Iraq, telling New York reporters later that he needed a vacation."

KERIK CRITICIZED BY CONSERVATIVES FOR POST-9/11 OPERATIONS: A prominent Republican member of the Sept. 11 commission, former Navy secretary John F. Lehman, sharply criticized Kerik "for failures of leadership during the terrorist attacks" of 9/11. Lehman said that Kerik allowed turf battles with the Fire Department to "hamper rescue efforts" and called Kerik's leadership at the time "not worthy of the Boy Scouts."

KERIK SENT COPS OUT OF NYC TO RESEARCH HIS PERSONAL MEMOIRS: As police commissioner of NYC, Kerik used city police officers – who could have been protecting the people of New York – to help him write a book he would sell for personal profit. The Washington Post reports that the New York City Conflicts of Interest Board fined Kerik $2,500 for "sending two police officers to Ohio to help research his best-selling 2001 memoir, 'The Lost Son.'"

KERIK'S STUNNING CONFLICT OF INTEREST: Kerik has made $6.2 million dollars in profits from his relationship "with Taser International, a Scottsdale, Ariz., manufacturer of stun guns." Kerik was appointed as a director of the company immediately after he had the NYPD purchase the guns as police chief. Since 2002, Kerik has hawked Taser's products to police departments around the country. Recently the company has made an "aggressive push to enter markets either regulated or controlled by the federal government, most notably the Department of Homeland Security." Thomas Smith, the company president, said the company would "continue to go after that business" at the Department of Homeland Security should Kerik be confirmed.

KERIK'S DIRTY DOOR DEAL: Failing to follow proper bidding procedures, Kerik spent $50,000 on four security doors for the NYC police headquarters. The doors were all too heavy for the floors of the police headquarters and three are now in storage. Shortly after leaving his post as commissioner, "Kerik became an adviser to a company distributing the doors." He later renounced the post after "the door-maker's president was indicted for defrauding the city."

KERIK SHILLS FOR THE DRUG INDUSTRY: In April, the Washington Post reported that Kerik opened a high-priced consulting firm to sell his New York City police credentials to wealthy corporate bidders. The firm was promptly hired by the pharmaceutical industry's chief lobbying group to build opposition to letting American seniors purchase lower-priced, FDA-approved medicines from Canada. Without any evidence, Kerik claimed reimportation could "invite terrorists to launch a biological attack under the guise of a legal purchase."

KERIK ACCUSED OF FORCING GUARDS TO DO POLITICAL WORK: Newsweek reports that in 1999, Kerik "was named in a civil lawsuit as the architect of a system to force prison guards to work for Republicans in their off-hours." The suit, brought by a warden, claimed that Kerik would "hunt down" anyone deemed "disloyal." The suit was settled, with the warden winning $300,000 and a promotion, while Kerik's protégé was indicted in connection the scandal.

SOURCE (with a bunch o' links)

http://www.americanprogressaction.org/site/pp.asp?c=klLWJcP7H&b=100480

[CorpGovActivist]

6. You Might Find This Interesting...

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2007/09/an_astor_place_landmarkphoto_p.html

"Michael Mukasey: Giuliani’s Inside Man?"

- Dave