The Rudy and Bernie Show

Time was, particularly in the not-too-distant aftermath of 9/11, when just about anything associated with New York City’s then-mayor Rudy Giuliani and then-police commissioner Bernard Kerik instantly assumed the aura of unquestioned patriotism and credibility. It still seems to work for Rudy-the-Republican-presidential-frontrunner, but probably not for Kerik, who has proclaimed his innocence in the face of a 16-count federal indictment on corruption charges.
What a team they were -Giuliani and Kerik-first as the tough, city-smart crime-busters of Gotham, and later as principals at the go-to security consulting firm, Giuliani Partners L.L.C. The Dynamic Duo and their company brethren reportedly raked in more than $100 million in the five years following the Sept. 11, terrorist attacks.
Early on, Giuliani Partners became a major presence at the Federal Communications Commission. Nextel Communications Inc., before being acquired by Sprint Corp. in 2005, contracted with Giuliani Partners in May 2002 when Nextel’s 800 MHz public-safety interference imbroglio began to heat up.
And so it was that on July 8, 2004, a little more than a month after Giuliani was named to an FCC advisory committee, the agency approved an 800 MHz rebanding plan in hopes of resolving interference concerns.
Vital Alert, a public-safety wireless technology, chose to highlight a Kerik quote on its Web site to emphasize the importance of reliable first-responder communications in emergencies. “When the towers went down the cell sites were lost. As cell sites dropped, so did the communications. We operated on Nextel, then Nextel dropped, then they came back up. And the thing with the walkie-talkies-I’m not an expert, but I can tell you this: Go to any of the communications companies out there, go to the best, go to Motorola, go to the best there is, show me one radio, show me one radio that they will guarantee you this radio will go through that metal, it will go through the debris, it will go through the dust, you will have 100% communications 100% of the time. There is none. There is none.”
The words, once heavy weighted, have since lost their gravitas for the man Giuliani once deemed fit to head the Department of Homeland Security. It didn’t work out.