Free Republic

Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani refused to renew his support for Jeanine Pirro's scandal-hobbled campaign - and ducked questions on how his firm received a no-bid contract.....Giuliani dropped a fund-raiser and was asked if he was still backing her....."Oh, jeez," he laughingly responded. "We're not here to talk about that today," he continued - refusing to say anything further. Giuliani's dodge came just hours after The Post disclosed that in 2004, Pirro steered a no-bid contact to Bernard Kerik and Giuliani's security firm.....rebuffing protests from one of her aides and from A & P, which was forced to pay for it....

What do Bernard Kerik and Michael Chertoff have in common? Both have proven to be disastrous choices to head the Department of Homeland Security. But that's not the only thing they share. Both were enthusiastically championed for this all-important post by Rudolph Giuliani. As it happens, Giuliani was largely responsible for putting each man on the political map and helping launch their careers. Kerik was once Giuliani's driver. Giuliani subsequently made him his city corrections chief and, eventually, his top cop. Kerik's 2004 nomination as Homeland Security chief was aggressively pushed by Giuliani, which helped persuade Bush to take a...