Tee-hee:

Former Police Commissioner Bernard B. Kerik is under federal investigation for possible financial improprieties unrelated to the crimes he pleaded guilty to last month in state court....

The federal investigation began about a year ago and has focused on a foundation affiliated with the city’s Department of Correction during Mr. Kerik’s tenure as its commissioner, from 1998 to 2000...

Last month, Mr. Kerik pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors in State Supreme Court in the Bronx. Under an agreement that allowed him to avoid jail time and a felony conviction, he admitted accepting $165,000 in apartment renovations from a company accused of having ties to organized crime; he agreed to pay $221,000 in fines.

The foundation at the [new] center of the federal inquiry first came under scrutiny in early 2003....

In July of that year, a former high-ranking Correction Department official was arrested and later pleaded guilty to mail fraud charges, admitting that he stole more than $137,000 from the fund.

But hundreds of thousands of dollars of the foundation's money, which came from rebates on cigarettes purchased for inmates, was apparently never accounted for....

And yes, this does involve the guy from NYC who's already measuring the drapes in the Oval Office:

...The sole signatory on the foundation's accounts was Frederick J. Patrick, who pleaded guilty in 2003 to looting the nonprofit corporation. Its stated purpose was to finance programs and activities to strengthen the department.

Mr. Patrick held high-level posts in the department from 1994 until 1998, during the administration of Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani. Mayor Giuliani went on to name him to a series of higher level posts, including commissioner of juvenile justice and deputy commissioner of community affairs in the Police Department.

Mr. Patrick, who spent the stolen money on collect calls he accepted from inmates in city jails and state prisons, some of which officials have said involved phone sex, was sentenced in June 2004 to a year and day in federal prison. He was released in July 2005....


I had a conversation last night with someone who believes the theory that the Bushies appointed Kerik to embarrass Giuliani and slow Rudy's political progress. I don't see it -- if the Bush people wanted to do that, why would they need to hang him around their boss's neck? Why not just launch a federal investigation and bump it up the news food chain via friendly journalists? No, this was frat-boy Bush digging a guy who seems as tough as W. thinks he is himself; this was just more of the same fine judgment and devotion to detail we've come to know and love from Team Bush.

Besides, the Bushies love Giuliani -- Rove wants Rudy on the '08 ticket. And he's certainly kissing everything he's asked to kiss in the wingnut fraternity hazing process (hello, Ralph Reed....)