Ex-Publisher Says News Corp. Official Wanted Her to Lie to Protect Giuliani

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/13/nyregion/13cnd-regan.html?_r=3&hp=&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin

Judith Regan, the book publisher who was fired by the News Corporation last year, asserts in a lawsuit filed today that a senior executive at the media conglomerate encouraged her to mislead federal investigators about her relationship with Bernard B. Kerik during his bid to become homeland security secretary in late 2004.

The lawsuit asserts that the News Corporation executive wanted to protect the presidential aspirations of former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, Mr. Kerik’s mentor, who had appointed him New York City police commissioner and had recommended him for the federal post.

Ms. Regan makes the charge at the start of a 70-page filing that seeks $100 million in damages for what she says was a campaign to smear and discredit her by her bosses at HarperCollins and its parent company, the News Corporation, after her project to publish a book with O.J. Simpson was abandoned amid a storm of protest.

In the civil complaint filed in state court in Manhattan, Ms. Regan says the company has long sought to promote Mr. Giuliani’s ambitions. But the lawsuit does not elaborate on that charge, or identify the executive who she alleged pressured her to mislead investigators, nor does it offer details or evidence to back up her claim.

Ms. Regan had an affair with Mr. Kerik, who is married, beginning in the spring of 2001, when her imprint, Regan Books, began work on his memoir, “The Lost Son.” In December 2004, after the relationship had ended and shortly after Mr. Kerik’s homeland security nomination fell apart, newspapers reported that the two had carried on the affair at an apartment near Ground Zero that had been donated as a respite for rescue and recovery workers.

Of the 15 people running for office of either party, Giuliani is the one that on a personal level is not fit to be president. Those of us who live in the NYC area remember his mini dictatorship too well. Rudy would have been just another mayor from NYC if it hadn't been for 9/11, that's why he keeps mentioning it in every sentence. Let the Republicans choose him as their nominee and then all the skeletons will start falling out of his closet. Hillary may have high negatives because people know her well, but I doubt that there's anything left rattling in her closet that the Repugs can use to Swiftboat her. Rudy on the other hand could fill up a cementery.......

This has the potential to be a really really big story.