Attacking Candidates by Association

It's not enough to be a candidate with a decent record. If one of your associates has problems, the candidate becomes fair game. We saw that with the news over the weekend about Fred Thompson's fundraiser who had drug dealing issues 20 years ago, and the current target of guilt by association is Rudy Giuliani and his association with Bernard Kerik:

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) - Rudy Giuliani said Monday that if his achievements as president are as good as the crime-reduction results of his New York police commissioner, a man now under criminal investigation himself, "this country will be in great shape."

Giuliani, in an interview with The Associated Press, acknowledged mistakes by Bernard Kerik, who was police commissioner when Giuliani was mayor. But he said crime reduction for the city was more important.

Kerik, whom Giuliani pushed to head the federal Department of Homeland Security, is under investigation on what could be multiple felony charges. Giuliani said he hadn't spoken to his friend and one-time business partner recently and had no idea what implication a Kerik indictment or plea deal could have on his presidential campaign.

"I have no idea what's going to happen, first of all, nor do I have any idea what he's going to do," the Republican contender said.

Giuliani has accepted responsibility for his role in Kerik's embarrassing 2004 withdrawal as President Bush's Homeland Security nominee after revelation of tax problems. Ethics questions and corruption allegations also have swirled around Kerik. But the former New York mayor said the results of the commissioner's time in New York far outweigh isolated incidences.

"Bernie Kerik worked for me while I was mayor of New York City. There were mistakes made with Bernie Kerik. 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 the best in the country, 90 percent reduction of violence in the jails."

Kerik will probably be indicted, and certainly Rudy should have checked him out a little better before appointing him police commissioner and recommending him for the Homeland Security post, but his performance in office in New York was exemplary. Rudy was a good judge of talent after all. The job got done and done well.



When the indictments come (and they surely will) you won't be able to read Kerik's name without Giuliani's.