Remember Bernard Kerik? The former New York police commissioner, widely praised after Sept. 11 and for work on security in Iraq, was supposed to be secretary of Homeland Security under President Bush.

Today, in a New York courtroom, Kerik pleaded guilty to influence peddling. It was the climax of a fall that began in 2004. Back then, his withdrawal as Bush’s pick for Homeland Security was swift. Consider this. On Dec. 3, 2004, The Times reported these glowing comments about his nomination:

Supporters of Kerik who watched him lead the New York Police Department through the attacks on the World Trade Center said he was up to the job. "He has always been a very strong leader," said Patrick J. Lynch, president of the New York City Patrolmen’s Benevolent Assn., the police union. "He understands security needs, especially in response to terrorism." Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a statement that Kerik knew "the great needs and challenges this country faces in homeland security." "He has a strong law enforcement background, and I believe will do an excellent job in fighting for the resources and focus that homeland security needs and deserves in our post-9/11 world," Schumer said.

Then on Dec. 11, we wrote:

Former New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik on Friday abruptly withdrew himself from consideration as the nation’s next Homeland Security chief, saying he had determined that a former household employee might have been an illegal immigrant. Kerik’s unexpected withdrawal cast a temporary cloud over President Bush’s second-term Cabinet, and appeared likely to revive the contentious issues raised by the "nannygate" disclosures that derailed two of former President Clinton’s high-level nominees.

And with some prescience, the writers ended their story with this:

Trouble often followed Kerik. As a young soldier in South Korea, he fathered a child out of wedlock. As NYPD commissioner, he was fined $2,500 for sending two police officers to Ohio to help research his bestselling 2001 memoir, "The Lost Son: A Life in Pursuit of Justice." When the book’s publisher, Judith Regan, reported her cellphone stolen after a visit to a Fox Television studio, detectives reportedly showed up at the homes of Fox employees who had been on the set at the time. A Senate GOP aide speculated about Kerik’s withdrawal: "It was probably a mounting list of potentially embarrassing issues, and they decided to cut their losses before it got worse. Good timing too: late on a Friday night."

-- Steve Padilla

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File photo: Bernard Kerik. Credit: Associated Press