Nanny, Nanny, Nanny, Nanny, Batman!

WASHINGTON, Dec. 10 - Bernard B. Kerik, the former New York City police commissioner, abruptly withdrew his name from consideration to be President Bush's secretary of homeland security late Friday night, citing questions related to the immigration status of a former household employee.

In reviewing his personal finances this week as he prepared for confirmation hearings, Mr. Kerik said in a statement issued late Friday, he determined that a housekeeper and nanny he had once employed was not clearly a legal immigrant and that he had not properly paid taxes on her behalf.

His lawyer, Joseph Tacopina, said that Mr. Kerik called the president at 8:30 p.m. to inform him of the decision. The White House had not pressured him to withdraw, Mr. Tacopina said, but he decided he had to do so because as homeland security secretary, he would be in charge of supervising the nation's immigration laws.

Holy poetic justice, Commissioner!

I'm not sure how employment works in the US, but over here in the UK you have to provide your National Insurance Number before you can be paid - or, if you are an immigrant, you must present a work permit to prove you can legally work in the country. I assume there are similar requirements in the US.

I can't see any way in which Kerik could have hired this woman without the knowledge that she was an illegal immigrant. If he wasn't aware, he must be far too stupid to be trusted with a post as high profile as Homeland Security Secretary. If he was aware, he should be publicly flogged for being so idiotic as to hire illegal labour while he was a public official. How stupid can you be, Bernard?

I've read opinions around this here Blogosphere that this is a trivial issue that shouldn't impede Kerik's confirmation. Their opinion baffles me. Kerik as Homeland Security Secretary would oversee immigration. Allowing Kerik the job is akin to confirming a heroin addict as Drug Czar.

(Now I think about it, it's even more ridiculous. At least the heroin addict could draw on his personal experiences for the job. All Kerik could say was, 'Immigration, huh? Yep, we used to have a wetback watch the kids'.)

Anyway, I hear Kerik is on the lookout for a new nanny. I did a little digging with my sources and dug up an application for the want ads sent to the Franklin Lakes/Oakland Suburban News, Kerik's local rag in Ridgewood, NJ.



Hopefully he learned his lesson. Now, Bernard... go to your room.

Update - Bill Quick asks roughly the same question - was he an idiot, or a criminal?

...what is it about our would-be masters that leads them to believe they don't have to live by the laws they create, legislate, and enforce on the rest of us? Did this clueless police chief actually think what he was doing with his illegal alien nanny was legal? Or did he just not give a damn, and advise that the peasants should just eat tacos?

'Nother Update - Hindrocket at Powerline shares my thoughts that this baggage is too big to ignore.

Final Update, I promise - Joe Gandelman guest posting over at Dean's World has what I think is the definitive post on this whole thing, including possible Mob ties.

Also blogging - Wizbang, Backcountry Conservative, The Galvin Opinion, Poliblog, Polipundit, Blogs for Bush, Slow Play, The Moderate Voice, Diggers' Realm, PrestoPundit, Baldilocks, Atrios, Captain's Quarters and The Left Coaster.