[Peace-discuss] Tasers and thuggery

Thu Dec 9 12:31:55 CST 2004

[The recent attempt by the Champaign police to acquire Tasers has an
interesting connection to the thug whom Bush has just nominated to be head
of Homeland Security. Terrorism has been very, very good to him. --CGE]

	Kerik made millions from agency contractor
	Homeland Security nominee sat on board of stun-gun maker
	The Associated Press
	Updated: 10:20 a.m. ET Dec. 9, 2004

WASHINGTON - Bernard Kerik, President Bush's choice to run the Homeland
Security Department, made $6.2 million by exercising stock options he
received from a company that sold stun guns to the department and seeks
more business with it.

Taser International was one of many companies that received consulting
advice from Kerik after he left his job as New York City police
commissioner in 2001, when he was earning $150,500 a year. Kerik remains
on Taser's board of directors, although the company and the White House
said he planned to sever the relationship.

Partnering with former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and also operating
independently, Kerik has had business arrangements with manufacturers of
prescription drugs, computer software and bulletproof materials, as well
as companies selling nuclear power, telephone service, insurance and
security advice for Americans working abroad.

The man who led the New York Police Department on Sept. 11, 2001, has been
effusively praised by Senate Republicans and Democrats for his management
during and after the attacks. He served the Defense Department in Iraq in
2003 as interior minister under the former U.S. occupation authority.

Federal ethics rules state that executive branch employees should avoid
participating in decisions where their impartiality could be questioned,
unless they receive approval from an agency ethics official.

Kerik's office said he was not available for comment for this story, but a
White House spokesman, Brian Besanceney, said the nominee would avoid any
possible conflict of interest.

"Commissioner Kerik is committed to the highest ethical standards and will
divest all his holdings in Taser upon Senate confirmation to avoid a
conflict of interest," Besanceney said. "In order to avoid even the
appearance of a conflict he will comply with all ethics laws and rules to
avoid actions that affect former clients or organizations where he served
as a director."

Kerik and other former New York City officials joined the ex-mayor in
Giuliani Partners, a consulting firm. In 2003, Kerik became chief
executive officer of an affiliate consulting company, Giuliani-Kerik. Many
of the clients needed security expertise.

Michael Hess, senior managing director of Giuliani Partners, said Kerik
will be severed from Giuliani Partners and Giuliani-Kerik shortly. Neither
company has federal contracts and neither does lobbying work, said Hess, a
New York corporation counsel under Giuliani.

Taser International President Tom Smith, in an interview, said the company
has sold Homeland Security between 300 and 500 Taser guns, which fire an
electrical charge that disables a person. He said the cost was about
$1,000 each, including holsters, batteries and cartridges.

"We're obviously hoping for further expansion," Smith said. "I don't see
how it's going to be a conflict because he will be retiring from the
board. I'm sure we're going to get questions, but I don't expect we'll get
preferential treatment."

Smith said he doubts that competition for future contracts would be
possible, since Taser is the only major manufacturer of the stun guns now
used by some 6,000 law enforcement agencies.

Taser's chief executive officer, Patrick Smith, said Kerik has been a
speaker for Taser at law enforcement conferences, presented checks on
behalf of the company to families of fallen police officers and advised
Taser on making sales presentations to police chiefs.

According to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission by the
Scottsdale, Ariz., company, Kerik exercised his options and sold stock in
November 2003 for $913,500. He made another sale last month for $5.85
million, for a total of $6.76 million, benefiting from a huge increase in
the value of Taser stock during the period when he held the options.

The SEC records show that Kerik's price for the options  counting both
sales  was $567,838, giving him a profit of $6.2 million.

Kerik, who began on the company board in May 2002, also was compensated at
the rate of $5,000 a year for participating in board meetings.

Since May this year, Kerik has served on the board of MedAire, a Tempe,
Ariz., company that provides a global medical network for travelers
needing assistance and consultations for Americans living abroad who face
an immediate security crisis.

Brant Galloway, a spokesman for the company, declined to disclose Kerik's
compensation as a director, a consultant and as chairman of the firm's
compensation committee, which approves salary adjustments for senior
executives.

Kerik has played a key security consultant's role for a number of Kerik
and Giuliani clients. Among them:

# Purdue Pharma, the company that makes the narcotic painkiller OxyContin.
Kerik helped the company improve security at two manufacturing plants
after it experienced employee theft and found that additional security
measurers were needed for the highly regulated drug. Kerik worked to
improve the capacity of safes to secure the product, upgrade camera
surveillance and install other security measures.

# The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the drug
industry association that opposes importation of medicine from Canada and
elsewhere. Kerik visited ports, reviewed prescription drug Internet sites
and helped prepare a report for the industry on dangers of importation. He
told a government task force in April that allowing imports could invite
terrorists to purchase drugs legally and use them in a biological attack

# Entergy Nuclear Northeast, operator of five nuclear power plants. Kerik
and others helped ensure the plants were operated with state-of-the-art
security.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6684832/