Posted on 12/14/2004 11:13:15 PM PST by Cableguy
An apartment in Battery Park City that former Police Commissioner Bernard B. Kerik secured for his personal use after Sept. 11 was originally donated for the use of weary police and rescue workers who were helping at ground zero, according to a real estate executive who has been briefed about the apartment.
After the cleanup had settled into a routine that fall, the executive said, Mr. Kerik, who was still police commissioner, asked to rent the two-bedroom apartment for his own use. During his use of the apartment, Mr. Kerik and Judith Regan engaged in an extramarital affair there, according to someone who spoke to Mr. Kerik about the relationship. Ms. Regan published his best-selling autobiography in 2001.
Rescue workers were combing through the World Trade Center rubble around the clock when Mr. Kerik called Anthony Bergamo, a well-connected vice chairman of the Milstein family real estate company and a police buff, and asked for help finding a place for the workers to rest during breaks, the executive said.
The family owned Liberty View, a 28-story yellow brick tower two blocks southwest of the trade center at the corner of West Street and Third Place.
According to the executive, who knows Mr. Bergamo, the vice chairman arranged for Mr. Kerik to have the use of an apartment there. Several apartments in the buildings had been used by rescue workers on breaks, and by Red Cross staff who were treating them, in the months after 9/11, according to a real estate executive.
Mr. Bergamo, founder of the Federal Law Enforcement Foundation, which raises money to help families of injured or slain F.B.I. agents, is a well-known figure among law enforcement officers for his interest in all things related to policing. He was made an honorary police commissioner several years ago by Police Commissioner Howard Safir.
Mr. Bergamo is licensed by the Police Department to carry a Colt .45 handgun and two Smith & Wesson handguns, a .38-caliber revolver and a 9-millimeter pistol, the police said. He has renewed the license repeatedly over the last decade or so, the police said.
According to the executive, Mr. Kerik "went to Bergamo asking for an apartment for emergency service workers."
It is unclear exactly who used the apartment and for how long, but after the cleanup of the site settled into a routine, the executive said Mr. Kerik "said he wanted to rent the apartment." Mr. Bergamo rented it to him. Mr. Kerik paid for use of the apartment, but the amount was not clear. Many apartments that were available in Battery Park City after the attack on the trade center were rented at well below market rates for months afterward.
After taking the apartment, Mr. Kerik, who is married with two children and lived at the time in Riverdale, the Bronx, began to meet there with Ms. Regan, said the person who spoke to Mr. Kerik about the matter.
That person said that one bedroom faced the pit of ground zero, and that Ms. Regan visited it while Mr. Kerik was police commissioner, meaning between Sept. 11 and Dec. 31, 2001. Mr. Kerik refused to answer any questions yesterday regarding the apartment.
Ms. Regan, like Mr. Bergamo, received an honorary badge on Dec. 31, 2001, this one from Mr. Kerik himself. It was Mr. Kerik's last day as police commissioner.
Questions have been raised in the past about the tradition of bestowing these ceremonial badges, and whether they create the appearance that those who receive them are in debt to those who grant them. Bearers of the shields are not to become involved in law enforcement activities.
Many residents of the apartment tower said this week that they were unaware of Mr. Kerik's presence, although one man who requested anonymity said that he boarded an elevator six months ago with him. "I said to myself, 'Hey, that's Bernie Kerik,' " the man recalled. "It was surprising. But then I thought, well, maybe he keeps a place down here because he's involved with security and 9/11."
Contacted at the annual Milstein holiday party at the New York Public Library on Monday night, Mr. Bergamo declined to comment and had a reporter escorted out of the building.
Several people who know him describe Mr. Bergamo, who once ran the Milstein family's Milford Plaza Hotel, as a police buff, a man who is fascinated by law enforcement officers. In 1987, he was one of the founders of the Federal Law Enforcement Foundation, whose board included Ronald Perelman, chairman of Revlon, and Tommy Mottola, the music executive.
Mr. Bergamo told Newsday last fall that each member must contribute or raise $30,000 for the foundation. Some members, like Mr. Bergamo, Mr. Perelman and Mr. Mottola, were made honorary police commissioners and given badges. The group also issued parking placards like those used by the New York police.
Several years ago, Mr. Bergamo undertook an assignment for his boss, Howard Milstein, in connection with a $100 million lawsuit filed by Mr. Milstein against John Kent Cooke, the former owner of the Washington Redskins, over the developer's failed attempt to buy the football team.
Posing as "Anthony Burke" and using a hidden tape recorder, Mr. Bergamo arranged to bump into Mr. Cooke and the former Redskins general manager, Charley Casserly, during a trip to Bermuda in an effort to elicit damaging information.
He did not obtain any incriminating statements, but he did chalk up over $6,500 in expenses.
From the people who brought you the Bill Clinton rape story--oh, that's right, they didn't.
Today Ridge was here in San Diego talking up that open border miscreant Asa Hutchinson.
Talk about dirty laundry, and for all the world to see.
And we post this story, why?
no. . .none of it. I am disgusted by the Lib vulchures carrying this story. . .sick of it - their motivations and their hypocrisy.
Kerick does not deserve this and should there be a 'collective scream' to STOP; I add my voice.
Exactly. The guy is a NYC cop who worked his butt off, put his life in danger working undercover to get to the top, then when he gets there, out comes the dirt and they destroy him. Every paper I`ve seen today has him on the headlines, but where are the headlines of the recent story of Marc Rich doing business with Saddam right after Bubbas pardon? Where were the headlines when Hitlery had Bubba pardon 17 FALN terrorists who bombed NYC and Chicago 130 times? Hey it was only 130 times! Ted Kazinski is doing 4 life terms for doing a fraction of that, yet those punks were set free after doing 15 years all so Hitlery could buy votes. Totally brushed under the rug.
why shouldn't i post one of the top 3 political stories of the day? if you don't want to read it, move along.
Kerik is a complete embarrassment.....and seems like a pompous @$$.
The great irony would be if they found out that Kerik was having sex with an intern.
Speaking of that:
Senate confirmations made simple: A guide
I'm sure you'd agree that how you conduct yourself during your climb to the top is important. Every indication is that Kerik abused his authority and conducted himself like a Grade A *******. He brought this on himself.
Mr. Bergamo is licensed by the Police Department to carry a Colt .45 handgun and two Smith & Wesson handguns, a .38-caliber revolver and a 9-millimeter pistol, the police said. He has renewed the license repeatedly over the last decade or so, the police said.
"He has renewed the license repeatedly over the last decade or so, the police said."
My concealed-carrying husband has ALSO repeatedly renewed HIS license over the last decade!!! Wow! What a coincidence!
Yep, every time it expires, he renews.
I figure this whole "smear and destroy" Kerik thing is being done for 2 reasons:
1. Continue to discredit the Bush admin. any way and every way.
2. Begin to smear, discredit, and diminish Rudy Guiliani's credibility via his association with Kerik. We can't have someone with Rudy's value and stature (to the Republican Party) remain viable too long...Hillary needs all the help she can get.
Nah... Kerik prefers older, well-connected women.
He was having sex with his publisher instead.
And remember that the NY Post, two days ago, ran a MAJOR MAJOR story on the Marc Rich pardon and his ties to the Food For Oil disgrace at the UN.
So its not as if the Post is on an anti-GOP witchhunt or anything.... the Post is staunchly Republican.
But the Kerik mess is just too salacious to resist.
It's a legitimate story. Kerik was having an extramarital affair with his publisher, using an apartment donated for the use of 9/11 rescue workers. It shows a supreme arrogance and lack of character.
The other story is the Bush Administration's staggering lack of diligence in screening applicants. This is not the first time this has happened. Wasn't there a Labor Secretary nominee who had some problems? Or do I have that wrong?
Remember when Henry Kissinger was named head of the 9/11 Commission? Forget that Kissinger is one of the most well connected men in Washington and would never be seen as objective, he had Saudi Arabian clients. Why did no one check? What is the Bush Administration's problem?
Can't we just move on?
Jen
Jim, you've convinced me. Sordid, private, adulterous sex has no bearing whatsoever on public persona. Private character has no impact on public behavior. I want Bernie Kerik to protect my Homeland, not babysit my daughter. The two have nothing in common. I am totally comfortable in my cognitive dissonance.
Furthermore, I am a sophisticated 21st century man, not a 16th century Puritan Nazi moralist, therefore I dismiss immoral sex with a shrug, a roll of the eyes, and simply say "everybody does it." Anyone who asserts that everybody doesn't do it is simply too stupid and naive to be taken seriously.
Am I picking it up here? :) :)
You got it! Have a great evening!
Jen
2. This is no big deal if true
3. If you think this is a big deal, the problem is with you, not Bernie.
Nick, He was not fit for the job obviously, but I am struck by the ferocity being slung Kerik's way by the NYT and other liberal newspapers. Where were they when Bill Clinton was President? Do you recall this outrage then? I don't. No.. it was totally different then. :)
Peace.. have a nice evening.
Jen
He knocks the media for being irrelevant, yet he set the example of irrelevance today when he started going through second-hand dirty laundry attributed to Kerik.
I turned the station: don't have time to listen to such trash. Why should I or anyone care about Kerik's alleged follies?
See, when you have a life, you don't need to get all wrapped up in someone else's...
Hold it - if that's the case, then it was no longer donated for the 9-11 cleanup effort. The guy has no morals, but the press is having a field day with an aspect that is, at best, a half-truth.
(Of course, when has that stopped them in the past?)
Bernard Kerik is a sick pig.
Too bad it's all true. What a contemptible louse. Surely Bush knew about the bankruptcy, the lawsuits, the harrassment claims, the affairs. Was this all really just seen as "color" to his "personality"??? Seems that the same idiot who is coming up with our border-control policy was vetting Kerik for our President.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.