Trinidad and Tobago News Blog
www.trinidadandtobagonews.com/blog
THE EDITOR: When VS Naipaul states “we pretended to be real, to be learning, we mimic men of the third world’s third world” in reference to our post-colonial middle class elites he surely hit the nail on the head. Let’s look at the latest fiasco.
Jack Warner with much fanfare brings Bernard Kerik to T&T. The “international crime consultant” flies in from Guyana where he is a consultant to Bharat Jagdeo’s government. He meets with the Minister of National Security to discuss anti-crime measures. What is really going on? Who is this Bernard Kerik who is described in the New York Post of Wednesday January 3rd 2006 as: “…disgraced former [New York] police commissioner Bernard Kerik.”
That newspaper goes on to say: “Kerik pleaded guilty earlier this year to misdemeanor charges of taking money from contractors with alleged mob ties, when he was the city’s corrections chief. He was also President Bush’s choice to head the Department of Homeland Security, but the nomination was scrapped after questions arose about his background.”
According to the New York Times of December 30 2006:”Several agencies began investigating Mr. Kerik’s relationship with Interstate Industrial, a New Jersey construction company that investigators said was connected to organized crime, a charge the company has always denied. He pleaded guilty last summer to two misdemeanors, including accepting $165,000 in renovation work at his former Bronx apartment from “the Interstate companies or a subsidiary.” Mr Kerik was fined $215,000, in a plea deal with New York City ‘s juridical authorities.
Bill Van Auken writing on the WSWS.org website on 1 July 2006 said: “It appears that the plea deal involved a political decision by the city administration of billionaire Republican Mayor Michael Bloomberg to drop all other probes by the city’s department of investigation into possible wrongdoing by Kerik. There were several such active investigations involving everything from charges of mismanagement of funds derived from the sale of cigarettes in the city’s jails to suspect contracts, suspicion of credit card abuse at the police department, and the apparent use of city employees on work time to perform private tasks for the commissioner.”
NEWSWEEK of December 19th 2004 stated: “…a New Jersey judge in 1998 had issued an arrest warrant [for Kerik] as part of a convoluted series of lawsuits relating to unpaid bills on his condo.”
According to the web site The Progress Report (americanprogressaction.org): “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.”
It goes on to say: “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.”
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.”
Other unsavoury dealings with which Mr. Kerik has been associated include a prominent Republican member of the Sept. 11 commission, former Navy Secretary John F. Lehman, sharply criticizing him “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.”
I think the point has been made. What is a man like this doing hanging around our already highly-porous national security bureaucracy? Maybe our political hustlers recognise a kindred soul and believe in the saying it takes a thief…
Gerry Kangalee
15 Turton Street
San Fernando
Trinidad and Tobago News Blog’s URL for this article:
www.trinidadandtobagonews.com/blog/?p=159
Well, Mr. Warner brought him as part of the UNC commitment to crime. Not so? Warner should have done more background checking. Maybe they don’t have internet in Guyana, so they could not check, but certainly if Mr. Warner’s internet access in TnT was too expensive, he could have used his Canada address to check on this guy.
Is there a kickback scheme in the works? We ask Scotland Yard for help, and Bernard Kerik? Next thing you know we might have to hire a set of forensic investigators to investigate our consultants. My country could do better than this.
Reminds me of the time when the wife of a US Drug Enforcement Official was caught smuggling cocaine from South America to New York.
Send him packing.
It is with great dismay that Mr. Warner would even hesitate to consult with Mr. Bernard Kerik and contract him to participate in any crime solution policies. Mr. Kerick has no college education, he was appointed as Commissioner of Prisons befor being Commisioner of Police. Prior to these appointments he was a detective in NYPD before being the driver for then Mayor Rodulph Guilliani. He was never promoted to Sergent or further more travelled through the ranks. It should also be noted that the NYPD was already on a elevated level of productivity and professionalism as a result of the former leaders like Mr. Brown and Raymond Kelly during then Mayor David Dinkins administration, which followed Mr.William Bratton. Recently he pleded guilty in New York court for crimes. The New York city department of Corrections had almost $1 Millions missing from a fund which he chaired.and as the above writer noted several other alleged wrong doings. Please Mr. Warner dont pee on our legs and tell us its raining. This country needs people with integerity, not criminal records.
Excerpt from Linda Edwards
Maybe they don’t have internet in Guyana
Of course there is internet access in Guyana, and of course the Government is aware of the track record of Mr Keric. Their selection of him is consistent with their tendency to seek help in Law Enforcement from those who themselves are tarnished with the broad brush of criminality. Roger Khan, a twice convicted felon in the US, an escapee from drugs and weapon charges in Vermont, and in custody in the US facing drug trafficking charges, claimed that he helped the Guyana Government in Law Enforcement. This help, as everyone knows, revolved around the vigilante torture and killing of young black men suspected of being involved in crimes.
We have an old saying in Guyana. It says that you do not see things in broad daylight and then wait unti night to take a torchlight to go look for it. Clearly there is a shared purpose and outlook between those in Guyana and those in Trinidad and Tobago who are unruffled by the baggage of Mr Keric, or just maybe, are enthused by it.
Thanks for clarifying, or attempting to clarify my puzzlement, Kieth. Now, clear this up for me if you can. People have been calling for years, for the community to get involcved, and assist the police in solving crimes. So, one young woman in Laventille is seen talking to police, and is shot dead a few hours later. A young man from a village in Central hears a scream for help, and rushes to aid a woman who is being attacked by the village’s “sticky hands”. Other villagers jump in, and “tap him up” and hold him until the police can respond. They get their guy.The intervener is hailed as a hero.(Report from Express papers of Jan. 6, 2007) On the same day, the Guardian carries a piece in which the Chaguanas City Counsellors say they are not police informants or stooges. This in response to Mayor Rambachan’s appeal for helping the police with the Naipaul kidnapping. Mr. Nagessar, who as Mayor had called for alowing all businessmen to carry guns, is suddenly not wanting to get involved. So am I to understand that poor people like Mr. McLeod, father of four daughters, can jump in spontaneously to aid a woman in distress, and the City Counsellors will not in the same situation? Or am I to interpret this as they know something, but are not telling, or if they knew, which they don’t, they still won’t tell? The Chaguanas-un-heroes are to be pitied. There is always a danger to being involved.I hope the criminals are too busy with crime to read the Guardian, because if they did, they will draw much aid and confort from that article. What’s the good of the Keric import, with all his baggage, if the big town in Central(UNC TO DE BONE) has a lot of counsellors hiding under their beds? Give me your thoughts, people, to encourage the Mcleods of the world.
The is typical of Trinidadians. We collect the rubbish that no one else wants – just like foreign used cars and tires that are supposed to be dumped. Even foreign used appliances and power tools. Now we consulting with a foreign used police commisioner that was ‘dumped’ by the city for which he worked.
To add to Linda’s comment, Trinidadians are some of the most uncaring people out there – Somewhere a little better than New Yorkers. I saw a man collapse outside a bank in broad daylight and some people formed a circle around him and others stepped over the man to get into and out of the bank. A friend of mine called the EHS while I helped the man sit up. This happened while everybody saying somebody should call the ambulance but nobody actually doing anything. Almost everytime there is a vehicular accident on the Beetham or sometimes on the Foreshore Highway, people run like rats and vultures to rob the victims. I was once hit head-on by a car who came into my lane and everybody came out onto their balconies to look. When I approached one householder to ask if she would give a statement about the position of the cars (only if case the driver lied at the police station) her response was,”I eh want to talk to no police! I eh see anything!” Everyone else went inside when they saw. So we have a country full of “maccos” who are not willing to do what I consider basic acts of humanity.
Mr. McLeod is a rare breed in Trinidad. It’s people like him who deserve to get a Medal from the President. Maybe Trinidad needs a Good Samaritan Law like some cities where it is illegal for an onlooker to do nothing if a they see a crime being committed or someone in distress (even it’s at least calling 999 or 911).
One more point Linda, it’s not only the UNC councillors refusing to help, it’s also the PNM ones – go back and read the Guardian article. Let’s not politicize the issue of crime as our idiot paliamentarians do.
Other than to say that Guyana is not falling into a cesspool as Trinidad and Tobago, I would not address the pathetic juvenile argument of Ms. Edwards any further for fear of giving it legitimacy and diginity. I have yet to see any writing on these blogs that’s so lacking in journalistic appeal. It’s apparent that Linda Edwards submits an article aka Gerry Kangalee then moves to censor and dominate the debate by publishing her own comments and those favourable to the article. As usual, she uses innuendoes, sarcasm, hearsay, and fairy tales to villify, denigrate, hurt, and embarass her targets. This behavior is not only unethical, it’s immoral. Where are the contradictory opinions on the aforementioned article, Ms. Linda Edwards aka Gerry Kangalee?
Have I missed something here? I don’t think Ms Edwards is able to censor anything on this site. I don’t agree with her half the time but some of your accusations are false. Who is Gerry Kangalee? I haven’t seen anything written by him/her. I must have missed something.
quote:
“As usual, she uses innuendoes, sarcasm, hearsay, and fairy tales to villify, denigrate, hurt, and embarass her targets”
I have read some of your comments and the same can be said of you.
Ok I did miss something…this article was written by Gerry Kangalee (It showed up as “News” being the author at the top and I’m sleepy…look at the time of this post and yes, I have no life).
Pardon me, Mr. Williams for “Villifying sarcastically” etc. that being your opinion. I read the articles in every major Trini paper, every day. I found it astonishing that one paper is hailing a guy from Central for “jumping into thr fire” as it were, and another gives major coverage to a group from Central, the City Fathers(they did mention one PNM counsellor) which states categorically that they are not getting involved in helping the police.(Both papers are accessible directly from this website. The web connects us all.)
They went on, in the Guardian article, to comment on not being paid, on their pension plan, and on all sorts of extraneous issues. The Government(police) had simply asked them to ask around, and see if they find out anything. The civics lesson was missed. You apparently missed it too.
The irony you also apparently missed was that The UNC aka Jack Warner, invited Mr. Keric to come in and make comments on crime. The man has no credentials to talk to us on the issue, unless one wants to use getting one’s own crimminal background into the public eye. At the same time that the UNC is villifying the government about crime, and calling for outside help, and Mr. Dookaran’s group is trying to establish itself as a group concerned about crime, worthy Counsellors(ADVISERS, CHIEFS) of the Chaguanas City Council, are saying pubicly that they are not helping the police. If the city fathers won’t help, who will support the Mr. McLeod’s when the crimminals come for him? Who will be an eye witness for what is right? If this is not a political issue, what is, I pray you?
I always introduce extraneous matter. I cannot see any useful purpose in going on and on, on an issue, unless new light can be shed on it. In the twenty-three years I have been writing publicly on issues in Trinidad(since Jan.1984, in The Express) I have always had my own vision and viewpoint. I do not think a blog, read internationally, should be anything but analytical. I do not call people offensive names. I call their actions stupid, misguided and traitorous when I think they are. If a police officer was to respond to my cry for help, it will not matter what party loyalty if any, he has, nor me; and it should be so with all, everywhere. But when the same man who calls for businessmen to be armed, is one who says he will not help the police, then I will comment on that. Just as my comment on his statement at the time was: OK. so arm all the women who may be beatenor murdered by their husbands, arm all the children in case they get sexually assaulted etc. I think my work and position are consistent. You do the research, and decide, but please do not confine yourself to this issue. Range far and wide on what I write.
My aim is to help produce a better Trinidad and Tobago.
Now people are free not to find that astonishing. They are free to disagree with me. That is where I stand and I am not moving.
BIRDS OF A FEATHER
Newsday Editorial
January 7 2007
The presence in Trinidad and Tobago of former New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik is little more than a public relations stunt for the Opposition United National Congress. Mr Kerik is being paid by the UNC’s multi-millionaire Deputy Political Leader, Jack Warner, to come to TT once a month over the next year as he oversees a commission set up to analyse the country’s crime problems and make recommendations. But what can the American, whose background is in a different policing system and in a city of 10 million persons, tell us that we don’t already know?
The answer is, very little. But that is not the main reason Kerik has been hired. After failing to support an extension of the Bail Bill in Parliament last month, the UNC found itself in a position of having to fend off accusations that it put petty party politics above the national interest — especially given that the Bail Bill is directed against kidnappers and it is wealthy Indo-Trinidadians who have been mainly targeted by kidnappers. So the UNC’s first strategy was to accuse the Government of reneging on their promise to bring back the Equal Opportunities Act as a condition of UNC support for the Bail Bill. This reasoning did not persuade the general public, however, who are far more concerned about runaway crime than they are about supposed discrimination.
Full Article @ newsday.co.tt
There are many Trinis (born and raised) who are American Law Enforcement Professionals. They are honest, hardworking and highly respected by their peers. Some of these professionals were once residents of areas in Trinidaad now described as dangerous. In fact when Prime Minister Panday visited Boston in 1996 his security was managed by a U S Secret Service Agent who was born in Trinidad. He was assisted by ten Boston Police Officers who were also Trini born. It is disgusting how those in political control (PNM UNC) disregard the talent and ability of their own people for the whiteman’s rejected garbage. Kerik is nothing more than a henchman. Please refrain from exposing our leaders of the future to the colonial experiences of the past. If you look hard enough you will find a Trini with intellect, integrity, personality and a knowledge of the Trini people, willing to commit him or her (self) to reducing crime in Trinbago.
Ex-NYPD Chief Makes Tearful Guilty Plea
Bernard Kerik Faces Up To Two and a Half Years In Prison
The former New York City Police Commissioner and one-time nominee for Secretary of Homeland Security, Bernard Kerik, pleaded guilty today to eight felony counts related to actions that included lying to the White House and failing to report income and loans.
Kerik, 53, appeared contrite and spoke softly as he replied to federal judge Stephen Robinson’s questions.
As the judge assured Kerik he would take into account not only the crimes, but the whole of Kerik’s life, tears began to roll down the former commissioner’s cheeks. This prompted Robinson, who has been harshly critical of Kerik’s past actions, to say “I think it’s all a very sad day.”
Full Article : abcnews.go.com