How do you save money on nannies?

Welll ....... ummm ........ if .......

If you are a big deal politician, you just do what the rest do!

Joel

TOO HUMOROUS.

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'Nanny Problem' Forces Kerik to Withdraw


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Dec 11, 11:50 AM (ET)

By KATHERINE PFLEGER SHRADER

(AP) Former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, left,
speaks in the Roosevelt Room at the...
Full Image


WASHINGTON (AP) - Bernard Kerik apologized to President Bush on
Saturday after questions about the immigration status of a
housekeeper-nanny he employed led the former New York City police
commissioner to withdraw his nomination as homeland security chief.

"I owe the president an enormous amount of gratitude for this
consideration. I owe him a great apology that this may have caused him
and his administration a big distraction," Kerik said in a telephone
interview with The Associated Press from his home in Franklin Lakes,
N.J.

"I'm going to spend some time with my family. I'm going to work on
getting messages out to people close to me who have been supportive,
apologizing for the embarrassment," Kerik said.

The surprise withdrawal late Friday sends Bush back in search of a
Cabinet official to help guard the country against terrorists.

While assembling paperwork for his Senate confirmation, Kerik said he
uncovered questions about the immigration status of a
housekeeper-nanny that he employed. As homeland security secretary,
Kerik would oversee the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

"I am convinced that, for personal reasons, moving forward would not
be in the best interests of your administration, the Department of
Homeland Security or the American people," Kerik said in a letter to
Bush.

In the AP interview, Kerik said that on Wednesday he discovered
financial records "that led me to question the tax filings regarding a
housekeeper and nanny that was employed by me in my house, a very nice
woman, a very good woman, someone who loves my children and they love
her."

By Friday afternoon, Kerik said, "I came to realize that that there
was not only a problem with the filings, there may have been a
question with regard to her legal status in the country.

"Based on that, and based on precedent, and really it was the most
important that this was the right thing to do, I contacted the White
House late yesterday afternoon and told them I would like to withdraw
my name."

In the letter to Bush, Kerik said he could not allow personal matters
to "distract from the focus and progress of the Department of Homeland
Security and its crucial endeavors."

Kerik was among a small group of leaders who became the face of the
response to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, often directing Manhattan's
response alongside of then-Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

When Bush announced Kerik's nomination last week, he won early support
in Republican and some Democratic quarters.

But others questioned whether Kerik had the management experience to
continue the nearly 2-year-long effort to meld the Homeland Security
Department, which has more than 180,000 employees from 22 federal
agencies.

Democrats also were focusing on Kerik's recent financial windfall from
exercising stock options in a stun gun company that does business with
the Department of Homeland Security. He earned $6.2 million from the
options received from Taser International.

Kerik's announcement marked an unusual disruption in the White House's
normally well-choreographed personnel moves. But he is not the first
prominent government official to fall victim to the "nanny problem."

Similar issues killed the nominations of three candidates for top
administration posts in the Clinton administration. That includes Zoe
Baird, who was forced to withdraw her name from consideration to be
attorney general after the disclosure she had not paid Social Security
taxes for a housekeeper, an illegal immigrant.

When Bush set up his first Cabinet in 2001, conservative commentator
Linda Chavez also stepped aside as the nominee for labor secretary
after it was disclosed that she had given money and shelter to an
illegal immigrant who once did chores around her house.

While Kerik confided in a close circle of associates, the announcement
came as a surprise to many government insiders.

One administration official helping prepare Kerik for Senate
confirmation, speaking on condition of anonymity, said his decision
shocked senior Homeland Security leaders.

As recently as midday Friday, the White House had defended Kerik
against questions of conflict of interest involving his relationship
with Taser. Now, Bush is turning his attention to finding a
replacement.

Among those mentioned as possible candidates before Kerik was chosen
were Joe Allbaugh, a former director of the Federal Emergency
Management Agency; Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Mike
Leavitt and White House homeland security adviser Fran Townsend.

Others believed to be interested in the job include Asa Hutchinson,
Homeland Security undersecretary for border and transportation
security.

Kerik's first anti-terrorism work was as a paid private security
worker in Saudi Arabia. He joined the New York Police Department in
1986, first walking a beat in Times Square.

In 2003, he took on a temporary assignment in Iraq to help rebuild the
country's police force. Most recently, he has been a consultant for
Giuliani Partners, working to rebuild Baghdad's police force.

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Associated Press writers, Donna de la Cruz, Ted Bridis and Devlin
Barrett contributed to this report.